Sammy, the narrator of “A&P,” is
an opinionated, sarcastic, disaffected teenager with a healthy interest in the opposite sex
and a keen observational sense.
Is Sammy a dynamic or static character?
Sammy is
a dynamic character
because he changes in the course of the story. After he quits, he realizes that his gallant actions have been lost on Queenie and that no one understands his chivalry. He decides that he will no longer be one of the “sheep” in his small town and will instead make his own way in the world.
What kind of narrator is Sammy?
Sammy is a classic example of
an “unreliable” narrator
—that is, a narrator who is a full-fledged character in the story and whose opinions must be analyzed rather than simply accepted.
What is Sammy in A&P?
Sammy, the 19-year-old narrator of “A&P,” is
a cashier in an A&P grocery store
in a small Massachusetts town. The story he tells takes place on a Thursday afternoon in the summer. “A&P” author John Updike describes Sammy as “a typical well intentioned male trying to find his way in society” (source).
Is Sammy the protagonist?
Sammy is
the story’s main character
, narrator, and overall good guy. Although he seems a little shifty at first, he proves he’s a hero by quitting his job to protest his boss’ rude treatment of the bathing-suit-clad beauties who come into the grocery store.
Why is Sammy a round character?
He is a round character in his moment of epiphany at the end of the story when his “stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter.” Through this rite of passage, Sammy is on his way to
making his own decisions
and taking responsibility for those decisions.
Is Sammy a likeable sympathetic character?
You bring up some very important points that proves that Sammy is
a likable sympathetic character
. He is such an amazing character who despite being offended by girls he does not reciprocate. A real character is the one who is free to show his or her feelings rather than pretending.
What traits admirable or otherwise does Sammy show?
In the story “A&P,” Updike is successful in drawing Sammy’s character in a few brief strokes, showing that Sammy is
observant, imaginative, rash, impulsive, and longs for a better life
. He is no less heroic for wanting to be noticed by the girls for his heroism.
How do you know if a narrator is unreliable?
- Intratextual signs such as the narrator contradicting himself, having gaps in memory, or lying to other characters.
- Extratextual signs such as contradicting the reader’s general world knowledge or impossibilities (within the parameters of logic)
- Reader’s literary competence.
How is Sammy an unreliable narrator?
Like many first-person narrators, Sammy seems to be telling us the truth as he sees it, but
he’s unreliable because his point of view is limited
. … We think the fact that Sammy’s point of view changes over the course of the story is more important than his reliability as a narrator.
Why does Sammy not like his job?
In “A&P,” Sammy quits
his job as a romantic gesture in an attempt to gain Queenie’s attention and admiration
. Sammy hopes that Queenie will take notice of his gesture and possibly entertain the idea of dating him.
How does Sammy See Lengel?
Lengel is the A&P’s manager. Also a Sunday school teacher, he runs the A&P with a watchful eye, and Sammy describes him as “
dreary
.” Lengel acts as a kind of force for conformity, and reprimands the girls for wearing their bathing suits into the store, embarrassing Queenie and, ultimately, causing Sammy to quit.
What is the irony in A&P?
In “A&P”,
Queenie symbolizes Sam’s desire for a better life and to defy authority
. The A&P, in contrast, symbolizes the conformist, dead-end path he is supposed to follow. Ironically, Sam hopes to impress the girls by quitting after Lengel tells them to dress decently in the store, but they do not notice his gesture.
How does Sammy feel after he exits the store?
Lengel tries to talk Sammy out of quitting, telling him that he will regret the decision later and that his quitting will disappoint his parents. Sammy, however, feels that
he must see the gesture through to its conclusion
, and he exits the A&P. When he reaches the parking lot, he sees that the girls are long gone.
What is so ironic about Sammy quitting his job?
Why is it ironic? Sammy quits his job so
suddenly in an attempt to impress Queenie and gain her admiration
. Since Sammy hopes to personally benefit from his dramatic decision, his quitting is not genuinely heroic and would constitute merely the misguided idealism of a rebellious adolescent.
How does the manager react to the three rich girls wearing nothing but bathing suits to A&P?
He is amazed because they have nothing on except 2 piece bathing suits. Then the manager (Lengel) comes out
and yells at the chicks
because they are under-dressed. They argue and the girls tell him they are there for one thing (herrings). Finally the girls check out and leave.
