Destiny In A & P By John Updike

In John Updike's “A&P” we see first hand the fragility of destiny, through a single particular moment in Sammy's life. Deciding to abandon the pale and bland pre-destined life of being a “sheep”(as often referred to by Sammy) Sammy dooms himself to a life of uncertainty and struggle. Updike beautifully illustrates to us first hand how a single split-second decision can forever change our lives, regardless of the reasons we had for making our decision.

As the story begins we meet the protagonist, Sammy. Sammy, almost 19 years old, works as a cashier in the grocery chain A&P and possess a pair of keenly observation eyes. Induced by his young and rebellious mindset Sammy finds many faults with the world around him. He sees the world around him in a very bland light, from the women in the community being “women with six children and varicose veins” (Lawn 350) to the entire store being “like a pinball machine” (Lawn 351). But Sammy observations don’t stop at the social level, also describing the blandness of the store’s floor as a “checkboard green-and-cream rubber tile floor” (Lawn 350).

However, Sammy is not alone. Stokesie, his friend and fellow cashier, although, not spoken about much is portrayed very like-minded to Sammy. As they seemingly go on about their business, Sammy and Stoksie suddenly

One choice, made in a split-second, forever altered the path of Sammy’s life. Like a ripple in a lake, sometimes our choice end up having consequence that change our life forever. John Updike beautifully uses Sammy’s first person point of view, the irony of Sammy ending up rejected by the group he identifies with, the suspense regarding Sammy’s future and Stokesie mirror like image of Sammy himself to craft a realistic dilemma in the life of a teenager struggling with