On English Readings Enclosed
John Updikes in his story A&P describes the theme of choices and consequences. He describes the story of an 18 year old youth who is trying to fight the difficulties that are brought about by the stages of youth. He is compelled to result to some hard choices in the quest to achieve that which he desires and longs for in life at his age which leads to bearing some consequences that follow after his actions. John thus succeeds in developing this theme through illustrating the situations in which Sammy finds himself in (Updike 137).
Sammy finds himself in the middle of some stresses caused by youthful situations like anxiety in the job, fighting with hormones and disregard for authority that is above him that force him to quit his job. He is caught up by the hormones that play heavily within him that cause sexual tension. Hormones are a component of the physiological nature of Sammy. They thus carry the most part of his youthful psyche. Being a youth and at a very ripe age, his hormones are always on and searching for an outlet for the sexual tension that is within him.
The activation of the hormones is evident when the three young girls dressed up in bathing suits walk into the A&P grocery shop where he was employed and serving as a cashier. He identifies the three girls in the process of serving a customer and he is so distracted by them that he even forgets whether he rang up a box of nuts or not. He is so pissed off by the customer whom he describes as “a witch about fifty with rouge on her cheekbones and no eyebrows” because she does not seem understand what Sammy is going through. She presents him a hard time when he almost rings up the nuts again (Updike 142).
In spite of the trouble, Sammy is focused on these beautiful girls whom he gives all his attention. He is amazed, because they did not even have shoes on and the fact that they were putting on bathing suits not in a beach where nobody would care much about the other, but in the A&P groceries, under the florescent lights and in the midst of all those well dressed people. All these, add up to release some of the pent up pressure, giving Sammy a slight rush and doing away with the boredom in his life. The fact that the girls have broken the rules of the supermarket by walking in bathing suits simply excites him.
He comes up with nick names for each of the girls, and this shows how much of his attention they had drawn, disclosing much as well about his sexuality. This also points out his state of immaturity as much as he felt he is matured enough. His eyes follow the girls everywhere they go and he notes that the one he h ad named “Queenie” must be the leader. He loses attentiveness for his work. Sammy makes reference in the midst of all this to games he played as a child and games played by adults that he has been trying to ape. This reveals his state of immaturity thou he tries to act and look like an adult (Updike142).
The hormones inside Sammy are so addictive and push him to find the next fix. At this point he is ready to do anything only to find the pressure inside him released. He seeks the girl in the parking lot, who apparently disappears and he realizes he is intended for other conflicts between his personal ideals and the world he considers inflexible. He foresees a doubtful future ahead in a world of unbending rules. Sammy demonstrates this when he quits his job imagining that he is bonding with the girl when the manager embarrasses him. His manager fails to realize that he was not trying to get a date but was trying to be heroic.
The manager failed to understand that Sammy is a youth and that jobs can at times cause stress especially if it is a monotonous thing. He was fed up with handling the not-so-pleasing customers each day that he describes as boring. There was under-stimulation in his job which caused production of mental strain for such a young m an as he who was seeking adventure. He needed a change and was determined to achieve this no matter the consequences. John succeeds in bringing out this theme when he compares his situation to Sammy’s when he used to be a writer. He terms his customers as “sheep” and ridicules them for the way they viewed the world. These bring out the kind of frustration Sammy was going through in daily life (Updike 133).
Sammy is forced to rebel against his boss, Lengel who was the authority figure. He does not appreciate his position because his boss does not seem to understand his situation. Lengel represents everything that Sammy hates. He thinks he has a Sunday school character because he handles him like a school kid who can not use his senses to think and must be handled with extra care. He believes he is a grown up, and wants to prove his heroic nature which he is not given ample opportunity to do.
Lengel finally decides to ruin the one thing that has broken the autonomy of Sammy. Sammy was able then to see the girls and even speak with them. He is excited when he receives the dollar from the queen who comes up and gives it to him from between her breasts. He is however embarrassed and frustrated by Lengel who approaches them and destroys the entire situation when he says, “Girls, this isn’t the beach” and ends up preventing Sammy from achieving his goal of breaking the monotony of A&P and of proving that he is a hero. He cannot believe his boss had to confront the girls about not being properly dressed (Updike 133).
Sammy is compelled to come up with tough decisions that he is well aware will affect his future. His family is seriously affected by his decision and he finds himself account for the situation as “sad”. He soon recognizes that quitting was the worst mistake he did. The reality of not getting the girl and of spoiling his job at the same time hits him so had. He knows life will be difficult for him, but he will have to put up with the consequences. He would rather face whatever consequences are to come than face his boss humiliating the girls (Updike 134).
Sammy’s hormones are cooled down and he is so mad that he cannot stand the frustration of crashing down the situation. Being too fed up to stand it any longer, he quits. He has taken a step to correct the situation that was disturbing him by quitting thou he has to abide by the consequences. The theme of choice and consequences therefore airs out the views and feelings of teens who, at work find themselves under authoritative figures and rude customers. They live a life of routine which contrasts with their adventurers lives and once they find something exciting to relieve them of their boredom they would do anything to go for it.
Work Cited
John, Updike. Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. New York: Cambridge University Press, 6th Edition, 2009.
