A&P by John Updike: Analysis of Sammy's Characterization

Running head: ENGLISH ASSIGNMENT
English Assignment
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1
ENGLISH ASSIGNMENT
A&P by John Updike
The short story A&P by John Updike portrays the character of Sammy, the protagonist of
the story. This young assistant of the study makes a remarkable, but useless gesture for
impressing a group of girls (Spark 2017). The ironic ending of the story is the major plot used in
this essay. The thesis statement of the study is to identify the consequences faced by Sammy due
to his chivalrous act and immaturity. The story starts with the description of Sammy who is a
nineteen years old boy and quite romantic and cynical in nature. The entire story reflects his
point of view and feelings towards others (Devi 2014). The other characters in this story are
described in terms of his perceptions. The entire story is about the struggle of Sammy with
morality, freedom, and authority. It started when three girls entered the shop dressed in swimsuit
to buy a jar of snacks.
Sammy started providing judgments about the looks of those girls that made him
infatuated with Queenie, one of those girls. It is also noticed that the shop manager reprimands
the girls for their dressing at that moment. Sammy started defending those girls in order to
impress them, which made him more immature (Kennedy 2006). The failed gesture provides the
amusing ironic end and it depicts the well-intentioned act that backfired. Sammy quit the job,
which was an impulsive decision. Sammy worked for A&P grocery store for quite a long time.
He took such immature decision for impressing those girls, but they did not even notice his
gestures. Sammy’s act clearly reflected his teenager mentality (Gale 2015). He was forced to
believe that his immature actions could meet a fatal consequences and he needed to have the
sense of responsibilities.