Van Do

Dr. Angelique Medvesky

ENC 1102
28 March 2016
Sammy.
A&P is the story that has been written by John Updike in 1961. The whole story is all
about the cashier Sammy who stand against his boss in the grocery store with the hope his action
will impress the girls. Sammy share some traits that a hero need to have. However, he is not a
true hero, he is a foolish character in this short story
Sammy is the cashier of the AP store. Everything is fine with him until that Thursday
afternoon, when 3 teenagers come to the store with swimming suit. He watched them closely,
and there is Queenie, who awake him because of her beauty. However, according to Lengel as
store manager, wearing swimming suit is inappropriate in this store. He stopped them at the
checking isle in front of Sammy to give them a lesson. After being ashamed by Lengel, the 3
girls left the store. Sammy wanted to get attention from Queenie, he quitted that job as an action
to bnh vc the poor girl.
The author in this story made Sammy kind of heroic, a protagonist character in this story.
As a job of a cashier, he didnt insult the customers like the store manager. Sammy is only 19
years old, but he is very courage to ask to quit the job when he disagree with the behavior of
Legel. He is able stand against his boss saying out loud I Quit with the hope that his imaginary

girlfriend Queenie can hear it and admire him. He is not afraid of the authority, thats a very
important characteristic thats required to be a hero.
However, his action leads to the very ordinary purposes, that makes him become a fool
instead of a hero. The true hero is the person who is courage enough to do the right things not
only for themselves, but for other people as well. A hero will be able to sacrifice his life for an
ideals to make this world better, and they sometime do it in silences without anyone knowing it.
In this story, Sammys action serves a purpose of impressing the girls. He wanted to say he quits
this job really fast so the girls can acknowledge him. He did it without knowing the
consequences of his action. As a result, he is kinds of regretting at the end of story when there is
no one there cheer him up with his heroic action. I look around for my girls, but they're
gone. He made a big mistakes, and now he has to face with difficulty in this summer having no
job. A true hero wont ever regret what they did for the right, thats why the cashier Sammy is not
a hero in this story.
In conclusion, John Updike had successful creating an ironic character Sammy. Trying to
be a hero in girls eyes to get their attention, Sammy just became a foolish to quit his job. Even
though he stands up against what he thinks is wrong, but he is not consider to be a hero due to an
ordinary purpose of his action.