Sammy’s Reasons for Quitting

Sammy’s Reasons for Quitting

Updike’s story A & P is about Sammy, one of the grocery store employees. In the story, Sammy ends up quitting his job at the grocery store. Sammy had several reasonable motives to support his decision to quit. His job at the grocery store was not very interesting, and Sammy was often tremendously bored while on the job. Not only did Sammy find the job unentertaining, but he also loathed the fact that he had to rely on his parents to get him the job. Sammy also did not really care for the way his boss acted towards some of the customers at the grocery store. Although Sammy’s decision to quit was sudden and unexpected, there were several different reasons that led him to his decision.

To begin with, Sammy’s job did not interest him at all. Sammy would often get so bored while on the job that he began to notice everything going on in the store. Updike tells of a particular time when Sammy noticed a group of girls in the store. He observed everything little detail about them from their wardrobe down to the little details like their laughs. If Sammy wasn’t paying close attention to all of the action going on in the store he zoning out into a daydream, probably about the girl in the store that he had a little crush on.

In addition to having a very boring job, Sammy resented that he had not got the job at the grocery store on his own, but had to rely on his parents for help. I agree with his decision, because I would not want to have to go to work everyday to a job that I despised and felt forced to do since my parents had got it for me. In the beginning of the story Sammy seemed to show a great deal of immaturity, but I believe that his decision to quit his job showed that he was beginning to mature. He wanted to be able to make important decisions for himself and find a job on his own that would actually interest him. It was also a way to show his parents that he is growing up and maturing into a responsible young adult.