A&p by John Updike

Motives of Sammy

        “A&P” is a short story written in 1961 by John Updike. This short story is about a young man named Sammy. Sammy is an employee at a supermarket called A&P. There is a group of girls that come into the supermarket on day with very revealing bathing suits. Sammy really enjoyed this. The girls were asked to leave the supermarket at the end of the short story by Sammy’s boss, Lengel. This all took place right before Sammy ends up quitting his job at the supermarket. I will analyze the motives for Sammy’s actions that led to him quitting his job. In my opinion, Sammy’s choices and actions were motivated by longing for something new, a realization of his future, and standing up for what he believes in.

        Firstly, the short story shows evidence that Sammy is longing for something new. A reader of this short story can see that Sammy is looking for something new throughout the whole story. This can be seen from the way that he talks about the supermarket and the people who shop there. Sammy calls the usual shoppers at the supermarket ‘the sheep pushing their carts’. With Sammy calling these shoppers sheep, he also goes on to say that they are muttering things to their checklist while crossing things off. As a reader you get a sense that Sammy feels bored of being a supermarket cashier. I feel like when I read this short story, I could see Sammy’s boredom and no doubt longing for something new. The result of his boredom was one reason that I believe he quit his job.

        In addition, I feel like Sammy has a realization that his future can hold more than a cashier at a supermarket. Sammy has a coworker named Stokesie who is also a cashier. Stokesie has two babies and is married. Sammy says a little joke about Stokesie being promoted to manager. However, this joke about Stokesie being promoted to manager is something that will likely never happen as Sammy mentions afterwards. With this being said, I feel like Sammy sees himself in his coworker’s position and doesn’t want to be there. This to me could another of the many motives that make Sammy quit his job.