A&P Comments

In the story A&P by John Updike, Sammy is pressed to deal with 2 major conflicts; human vs. self and human vs. human. In the beginning of the story he expresses his discontent with his job, his boss, the customers and his future.
He tells us the story of his co-worker, which dreams of being manager of the store and how that isn’t really what he wants. Sammy refers to the customers as “flocks of sheep”, all pushing carts around the store mindless of there surroundings letting us know that he is unappreciated
When he notices the girls walking around the store, without a care or concern about what others thought, I think it gave him a sense of hope. When the manager approaches the girls about how they are dressed, they seemed embarrassed. However I don’t believe that their embarrassment was caused by how they were dressed but by how the manager was talking to them. Before they entered the store, he was on the road to do the job that was expected of him. Sammy has always been forced to meet the expectation of his boss and his family, but what does he really want for himself?
I think that seeing the girls stick up for themselves, when the manager is expressing his distaste, gives Sammy the courage to quite. I also think that he is trying to impress the girls, showing them that he is worth their attention, not just a cashier. The gesture of setting down his apron and bowtie, making sure to let us know that they belong to the store, it a major turning point of Sammy’s life. He has set his future in motion, not knowing what it will bring, and will never be able to return to the mindless past.
Throughout the story he is basically telling us that he is not happy and does not know what the future of this job would be. Know he has to contend with the decisions he has made, learn not to think of what would have been and look towards the future.