Symbolism in 'A & P' by John Updike

“Life presents many choices, the choices we make determines our future.” This quote by author, Catherine Pulsifer, which signifies how every choice has a consequence, weather that being good or bad, fits well with how the characters in John Updike’s short story “A&P” had consequences of their own after certain choices. Sammy is the main character and the one who makes the most significant choices among the other characters. Sammy is working at A&P grocery store as a cashier when he gets side tracked by three girls wearing nothing but bathings suits in the store. His attention switches from his job to the three girls very quickly until his manager, Lengel, gets involved and begins to reprimand the girls for how they were dressed inside the store.

While he was ringing up a customer at the cashier he was distracted from the three ladies that walked into the store. Sammy was very heroic person at the end of the short story, he wanted to stick up for the girls before they left the store. Lengal the boss was complaining about the girls wearing there bikini in the store and Sammy felt like Lengal was being rude to the girls so he tried to get Lengal to apologize. Again being a heroic character he told Lengal that he quit hoping to grab the three girls

The short story “A&P” by John Updike introduces us to a young teenager named Sammy who worked at the A&P grocery store looking to find his freedom. Throughout reading A&P, I 've noticed the main character Sammy had a very keen eye that spotted every minor detail. When Sammy saw the three teenage girls only wearing bathing suits enter the grocery store, he perceived the girls dressed as if they were going to the beach. Sammy explained to us in detail the different bathing suits that the girls were wearing and their physical appearances. The primary symbol represented in this story is the bathing suits worn by the three teenage girls.

Upon Queenie’s arrival in the store, Sammy notes the reaction of the other women to her appearance: “A few houseslaves in pin curlers even looked around after pushing their carts past to make sure what they had seen was correct” (2). In referring to the other women as “houseslaves,” Sammy indicates that they are enslaved by society, within the walls of their homes. Their sole purpose in life is to clean the house and feed the men; as such, they clearly envy Queenie. Wandering the aisles of the A&P in her swimsuit, against the flow of the regular customers, she embodies everything that they have ever wanted to be: strong, independent, and free from social norms. This idea of female freedom, however, is not embraced by the male characters, who feel it threatens their masculinity: “It was they who were embarrassing us” (4).

A lot happens in John Updike 's short story "A & P", at first the reader speculates what the short story is about and why it is called "A & P". The narrator Sammy tells and describes all the things he sees and experience while working at "A & P". The text 's artistic value comes from its plot, characters, theme, and style. In the plot of the story the protagonist, Sammy starts by describing three girls who have walked into the A & P grocery store where he works.

In “A&P”, John Updike wrote a short story about a male clerk at A&P grocery, named Sammy, who worked at a hot summer day shift when three young women in his age entered the store only in swimsuits to purchase some snacks. Even though shirts and shoes are required, Sammy did not report on the girls to the manager, but instead he allowed them to continue shopping as he looked and imagined the girls based on their appearance. As Sammy watched, Lengel, the store manager, felt that the three girls did not had shirts and shoes on, reprimanded them the rules, which the manager thought Sammy reported on them. Sammy did sign out after the girls left, which he not just realized the three girls’ affection, also was disappointed on this

The main components of the story start with three girls dressed in bathing suits, one of which is a two-piece outfit walking into the A&P store. Queenie, who one of them is name, is the ringleader of her group. As the girls walk into the store and wander around, the conflict comes up when Sammy who works at A&P, notices

As the girls walk into the story and wander around, the conflict comes up when Sammy notices the customer 's body language and observations of disgust and shock when they see the unusual clothing outfit of the girls. The conflicts arise even more when the manager notices the girls dressed inappropriately, and scolds them when he comes up to them. As the manager asks them to leave, Sammy sees the altercation and stands up for his beliefs and the girls; resulting in the quitting of Sammy of her job due to their disagreements. 5A key moment in the story of A&P is when Sammy directly tell Lengel that he quits [his job.] When Lengel hears what Sammy says, he attempts to compromise with Sammy on his decision of quitting his job at the store.

Regardless the constraint he feels inside the store, A&P, Sammy simply expresses his wanting to have Queenie, who symbolises freedom due the actions she does that he considers rebellious to the principles and the ordinary. The story unfolds with Sammy noticing the three girls enter A&P “in nothing but bathing suits” and shows an immediate and strong attention to them enough to make him forget whether he rang the HiHo crackers. He begins to describe the girls and states that first girl’s “belly was still pretty pale” and that the second had “black hair that hadn't quite frizzed right”. After a short explanation of the previous girls, Sammy portrays an endless detail of the last one, whom he calls Queenie of how she “walked straight on slowly”

The pathos in this editorial comes directly from the author talking to restaurant workers and their stories allows for the reader to feel sympathy for what a worker goes through in order to make a living. “Filiberto Lopez moved to Boston from El Salvador seven years ago in hopes of finding the American Dream, and ended up sleeping in the kitchen of a East Boston Peruvian restaurant… His boss, himself an immigrant, was verbally abusive, regularly referring to Lopez as “Boy.” For this, Lopez was paid $5 an hour and never overtime.” Talking to people directly involved allow the reader to gain sympathy and understand the struggle that a worker may go through to receive very little pay in order to live somewhat comfortably.

Sammy, a nineteen year old boy who is employed at a grocery store, believes that his manager embarrasses the girls in the store. Sammy is from a world of girls in swimming outfits to no girl’s insight. He is leaving the world of a teenager and transitioning to the world of an adult. He goes through some stages where he is still a young and reckless teenager, but he makes a comment where we can see he is realizing it is time to act his age. At his age, he needs to act responsibly and plan ahead for the future.

“Bathing Suits” Setting helps contribute to the insight, knowledge and understanding to the meaning of many stories. In the short story “A & P” by John Updike, the setting plays a large part to the understanding of why the “three girls” in “bathing suits” are so criticized and judged. The main character Sammy, a cashier worker, sees the three girls walk in the A and P in “nothing but bathing suits” and instantly takes interest and starts checking out the girls. The reason him and others take sudden interest in the girls is because they are not dressed for the place, the social environment, or the time period they are in.

There is an image also of Sugar touching the boat. Even in the mind of a young child there is a separation of self from the other. She divides herself from white people and from the rich. She compares wealth to religion and something she feels shame from it. She sees the expensive store as holly and something you bow down your head for as if not an equal to.

Once upon a time a man named jack lived alone in his small city apartment in Chicago. Every day jack would go to work at his parent’s corner store mopping the floors cleaning the windows and re stalking the shelfs with food. But despite after all him and his family’s hard work they barely made it by every month. One day his mom told him to go sell the family car because they did not have enough for gas and to re stalk the shelfs at the store.

Sammy is a young observant guy, who seems to be very impressed by these girls who come into the A & P wearing nothing but their bathing suites. To me Sammy seems like the average 19 year old guy. Working at a supermarket, interested in girls. He seems to be intrigued by the way these girls strut through the store, heads held high with no concerns as to what anyone thought. The confidence that these girls exude seems to rub off onto Sammy, he feels as if he could go against the crowd and be different without any cares of others opinions just as they had.