Expect the unexpected

Expect the Unexpected

Many people in the world get distracted with something they may desire. This is no exception for Sammy, the protagonist, in “A & P” by John Updike. Sammy works at the A & P grocery story and he sees something unexpected while he is working. The unexpected distraction causes him to do thing he did not mean to do which causes him to think about things at the wrong time and make mistakes that did not need to be made. Updike examines and shows the impact of one’s environment based on one’s decisions as shown by Sammy’s actions that he has made in the story.

Throughout the story, Sammy thinks about three girls that walk into the A & P store while he is working. He gets distracted because of the fact that they are wearing only bathing suits. While they walk, Sammy visualizes each girl up and down and seems to get fantasies while thinking about them. This causes him to make a mistake while working at the checkout line and the witch-like lady in her fifties gets mad and give Sammy trouble because he rang up “HiHo” crackers twice, “I ring it up again and the customer starts giving me hell. She’s one of these cash-register-watchers, a witch about fifty with rouge on her cheekbones and no eyebrows, and I know it made her day to trip me up…” (16). Sammy cannot concentrate while thinking about the three girls who cause his actions and his thoughts to collide with each other in the wrong way. As it can be seen, Sammy’s concentration changes as soon as he sees something unexpected. His desires overtake his minds and he does not know what to do as he is not able to think straight.

As soon as she finishes up with the lady, he starts to think about the three girls again and starts watching them as they go through the grocery store. He noticed one of the girls and dubbed her Queenie, because she seemed like she was the leader of the group as she was in front leading and noticed her the most. He names one of the other girls Plaid because she is wearing a plaid green two-piece bathing suit. He names the last girl Big Tall Goony-Goony because of the fact that she was big and tall. Sammy watches Queenie as she presented herself and noted her physical appearance. He describes her face, features, how she walked, and how she goes through the isle and visualizes things. He still is in shocked how the girls are in just bathing suits and was thinking why they did not put on a shirt or some shoes. He soon thinks about how he likes the bodies on the girls and how thick they are.

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As the story goes on, Lengel, the manager, comes and confronts the girls and tells them that next time that come into the A & P grocery store that they should wear shirts and shoes. The girls thought that they were decent when they came into the store but the manager did not want to argue with them saying that it is policy. As soon as that happens, they seem embarrassed and looked like they were in a hurry to leave A & P. Sammy tells Lengel that he did not have to embarrass them like that. Lengel explains to Sammy that the girls were the one embarrassing the store for what they were wearing. After that, Sammy says he quits in order to catch the girls’ attention as they hurry out the store because he did not like the way Lengel embarrassed them, “The girls, and who’d blame them, are in a hurry to get out, so I say “I quit” to Lengel quick enough for them to hear, hoping they’ll stop and watch me, their unsuspected hero…” (20). Lengel ask Sammy if he is sure because Sammy knows that his parents will be very disappointed to hear that he quit his job. As soon as he leaves the store, he can’t find the girls anywhere. It is as if the girls left no presence of them coming to the A & P. When Sammy looks back at the store, Lengel is in Sammy’s spot ringing up the rest of the items for other people, and at that point Sammy starts to think what is going to happen here after and how everyone will treat him, “Lengel in my place in the slot, checking the sheep through. His face was dark gray and his back stiff, as if he’d just had an injection of iron, and my stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter…” (20). Sammy’s actions and his thoughts collide which end up going at odds with each other which causes him to quit only to get some girls attention which did not happen at the end.

Sammy like most other boys thinks that they need to do something in order to catch some girls’ attention. Throughout the story, things did not go the way Sammy wanted it to go. Actions and thoughts interfere with each other causing him to make mistakes that did not need be made. Not only did he get a witch-like lady customer to get mad at him which causes her to give him hell but he also quit his job so he can be noticed by the girls he admires which ended up not happening. This can be seen as the conflict and the climax throughout the whole story. These actions Sammy makes cause him to make an impact on the environment and the people around him.

Work Cited

Updike, John. “A & P.” Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 6th Compact ed. New York: Longman, 2010. Pg.16-20.

Little, Anne C., and Robert C. Evans. “A&P.” Short Fiction: A Critical Companion ,1997. 252-255. Literary Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 20 Jan. 2010.