Motif of Play in John Updikes A&P Essay -- John Updike A&P

The Motif of Play in A & P In the short story A & P the author, John Updike, uses the subject of play as one of the main means by which he develops the character of Sammy, the nineteen-year-old narrator and protagonist of the story. In his many and varied references to play, Sammy reveals, along with his obvious immaturity, his rich imagination and potential for possible growth. The story takes patch in the summertime of 1960 on a Thursday afternoon. Sammy is employed at the A & P grocery store located in the snapper of a town north of Boston, about five miles from the beach. Along with Sammy, the opposite characters involved in this story are three girls shopping in the A & P in their bathing suits, whom Sammy names Plaid, Queenie and Big rangy Goony-Goony Stokesie, Sammys married co-worker and Lengel, the A & P manager. A & P is told from Sammys destine of view. Sammy presents himself as a nonchalant and flippant young man. He appears to be somewhat contemptuous of the ol der people shopping in the store. However, intimately the end of the story, we see that he does take responsibility for his conscience-driven behavior and decision, show his passage out of adolescence into maturity date through the courage of his convictions. We see Sammys immaturity at its worst with his snide labeling of the customers in the A & P. An example of this occurs when he calls one lady a witch about fifty with paint on her cheekbones and no eyebrows (p.33). Sammy bulge outs the blame on her for his mistake at the funds register. He claims she would have been burned at the stake in capital of Oregon if she had been alive then. In a nonher instance, he refers to the housewives shopping as houseslaves in pin curlers (p.34). He seems to be fo... ...gives him some insight into his future. As he is walking away from the A & P he sees Lengel in his place in the slot, checking the sheep through. His face was dark gray and his back stiff, as if hed comely had an injecti on of iron, and my stomach kind of fell as I matt-up how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter (p.37). Sammy begins his transition from adolescence into adulthood here. He realizes that if he stays at the A & P he may end up like Lengel or the other sheep. He wants more out of life and his fantasy about being Queenies unsuspected hero (p.36) allows him to escape. Sammy comes to the conclusion that life is not going to be faint and he is going to make decisions for himself that the people around him will not necessarily support. Work Cited Updike, John. A & P. Literature (4th ed). Ed. Robert DiYanni. New York McGraw-Hill, 1998.