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A&P (John Updike) 19316 Views

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Three scantily clad young girls enter a store. No, this isn’t your grandfather about to tell an inappropriate joke. And no, you’re not watching a Carl’s, Jr.® commercial. We're talking about John Updike's short story "A&P." In this story, the protagonist quits his job. Was it in hot pursuit of the ladies? Was he embarrassed of his cashier job? Or was it something else?

Author:

Author / Updike - John Updike

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English Language

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Transcript

00:00
A&P, a la Shmoop. The sight of a pretty girl has been known
00:14
to cause traffic accidents…
00:16
…maybe the occasional hot-coffee-down-the-front-of-the-shirt…
00:23
…but it doesn’t usually result in someone abandoning their job.
00:31
Even Clinton stuck it out. But in John Updike’s short story A&P…

00:36
…that is precisely what happens.
00:43
His protagonist, Sammy, is one smitten kitten.
00:46
One second, he’s ringing up customers in his grocery store, going about business as
00:52
usual…
00:52
…and the next second, he’s hanging up his apron for good.
01:00
His decision was certainly prompted by the arrival of the three scantily-clad bikini
01:05
babes…
01:08
…but what was the REAL reason for Sammy to vamoose?
01:14
Did he think he might have a shot with “Queenie” or one of her friends…
01:17
…but only if he didn’t work at the A&P?
01:20
He looks for them in the parking lot after exiting the store, which seems to support
01:25
the idea that he was looking to… hook it up.
01:27
Of course, quitting his job made him unemployed, which is not something that generally works
01:33
with the ladies, so… maybe he should have thought that one through a little better.
01:42
But it could be that he was simply ashamed of what he was doing with his life…
01:46
…and wanted to show the objects of his affection that he was a changed man.
01:53
But maybe Sammy was a tad more realistic than that. Is it possible Sammy quit simply because
01:59
he was enraged at how Lengel, the manager, treated them?
02:02
He could just be a man of principle… someone who isn’t going to stand idly by while a
02:09
few innocent…ish girls get reamed by some crotchety grump.
02:14
Was this just his way of taking a stand for human decency?
02:18
Or was the way that the girls flaunted their freedom… inspiring to Sammy?
02:22
We don’t know all that much about our hero, but we get the sense that he feels trapped…
02:29
...in a dead end job, that probably isn’t very fulfilling.
02:34
Not unless he truly gets his kicks by heating up hot dogs.
02:37
When Sammy saw these girls, not playing by the rules…
02:41
…uninhibited by the boundaries set by society…
02:43
…perhaps it just suddenly jolted him out of his living sleepwalk.
02:47
So why did Sammy give his job the ol’ heave-ho?
02:50
Was he freeing his inner playa?
02:53
Taking a stand against jerks everywhere?
02:55
Or saying “good riddance” to The Man? Shmoop amongst yourselves.
Full Transcript