Theme in John Updike's (The Struggle from Adolescence to Adulthood)

Theme in John Updike’s A&P: The Struggle from Adolescence to Adulthood Adolescence is an extremely crucial stage in an individual’s life due to preparing them to search for their identity in the uncaged world. Therefore, an individual’s learning experiences from mentors are significant to enhance their knowledge in order to propel them on a successful pathway. However, there are also many mistakes that an individual will find that can disrupt their course to adulthood. In John Updike’s famous short story, “A&P,” the main character, Sammy represents a young individual’s journey to adulthood. The story is essentially a coming of age story in which Sammy makes an immature decision he believes is an adult thing to do. Unfortunately for Sammy, his chivalrous act goes unnoticed by Queenie and her friends, and he is left to face the consequences of his childish actions. In “A&P,” Updike demonstrates the adolescent behavior of Sammy by portraying through his disrespectful personality, sexist beliefs, and poor judgement ultimately causing his destined fate. In “A&P,” Sammy is depicted as judgmental toward his customers and coworkers. For instance, Sammy rudely refers to the customers as “sheep pushing their carts down the aisle” (Updike 1). By Sammy referring to them as “sheep,” he is insinuating that they are blinding following each other and they are essentially beneath him. Sammy resents the customers and looks down on what he perceives as their priorities and lifestyle. He does not see the customers’ humanity causing him to judge them endlessly. Sammy’s disrespectful personality toward the customers shows how his immaturity is keeping him from looking beneath the surface. Sammy is only willing to value his assumptions based on their outside appearances. Furthermore, when he mentions his coworkers’ attitude toward Queenie and her friends, he seems to condemn them, forgetting that he has been acting in the same way. For example, when he notices his coworker, McMahon “sizing up their joints,” he says he feels sorry for the girls (Updike 3). Sammy immaturely judges his coworker without being able to see the same mistake within himself. Sammy has continuously objectified the girls’ by dwelling on their bodies rather than seeing them as human beings. Sammy’s disapproval of McMahon reveals how he feels he is not in the wrong of only focusing solely on the girl’s appearances. Finally, Sammy quickly judges Queenie to be of higher social class when he first hears her speak. He imagines a cocktail party at her house, suggesting the “men in ice-cream coats and bow ties” are drinking “the color of water with olives and sprigs of mint” (Updike 4). This exposes how Sammy has already formed his opinion of Queenie by only seeing what is on the surface. Sammy’s adolescent behavior peaks through due to him not willing to explore her identity beyond her appearance. Overall, Sammy’s impulsive judgments about the people around him convey how he is not mature enough to recognize his childish behavior. Sammy’s immaturity is very evident in his chauvinistic thoughts in “A&P.” For example, his descriptions of the three girls focus more on their physical attributes rather then their personalities. From Sammy commenting on Plaid’s “soft looking can” and on Queenie’s “two scoops of vanilla,” he has reduced the girls to only body parts (Updike 1-4). This shows how Sammy’s opinion of the girls are merely inseparable from his sexual attraction. In fact, when he contemplates what Queenie might be thinking, he wonders if she has a mind or is it just “a little buzz like a bee in a glass jar” (Updike 1). In his mind, Queenie and her friends are objects, not human beings. Sammy believes women are not capable of thinking for themselves and his male chauvinist attitude does not occur to him. He feels that since he cannot understand the workings of a girl’s mind, he assumes that girls do not have a mind to understand. If Sammy had more experience with girls and less of a sexist attitude toward them, he would know that girls have a mind of their own. The nicknames that Sammy he gives women further invokes his sexist attitude in “A&P.” Referring to the girl he finds most attractive as “Queenie,” to her tall friend as “Big Tall Goony-Goony” or other female shoppers as “houseslaves” this indicates how he feels that women have no place in society or identity beyond themselves (Updike 2-5). Sammy sees women as not having any power over their lives and in the world. Sammy’s sexist beliefs prove that he not only values a woman’s body, but that he also sees them as structureless beings in society. In “A&P,” Sammy’s lack of good judgment leads to him to ultimately meeting his doomed fate. For instance, because of his pride to the girls, Sammy is willing to quarrel with Lengel, his manager, and quit his current job without carefully considering the consequences that will come after this decision. It is only after Sammy has quit and openly contradicted Lengel that readers learn Lengel “has a been a friend of [Sammy’s] parents for years” (Updike 5). Lengel tries to talk Sammy out of the decision by reminding him of the burden that his decision will have on his parents. However, Sammy disregards the impact his decision will have on his parents and chooses to walk away from his job. From Sammy having poor judgment, he lets his pride get in the way of him going through with quitting his job after disagreeing with Lengel’s opinion of the girls wearing bathing suits. Sammy doesn’t want to acknowledge his mistake toward Lengel because he feels he needs to finish what he started. Due to Sammy quitting his job at the grocery store, this also reveals how his action was thoughtless and immature. Sammy assumes that the girls need an “unsuspected hero” to save them and this shows he was only seeking their validation from his heroic gesture (Updike 5). Sammy believed if Queenie and her friends would have witnessed his noble act, they would have granted him their affection. From the girls not overhearing that he quits his job, Sammy is left to face the consequence of what he has done. Sammy’s lack of judgment in the ending of “A&P” invokes how his decision to quit his job was not due to good reason, but was due to him wanting to win the hearts of Queenie and her friends. Sammy proves to be completely immature in his actions and attitudes throughout “A&P.” He makes judgments about people based solely on impression and never considers or admits that he may be wrong. He reveals he is a blatant sexist by focusing on the girls’ bodies and giving degrading nicknames to women. Sammy’s immaturity causes him to disregard how his actions will affect the people around him. “A&P” exposes how in order to make an adult decision, an individual must recognize the infinite consequences that will come along.