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

The Motif of Play in A & P In the picayune story A & P the author, John Updike, uses the motif of play as one of the main means by which he develops the character of Sammy, the nineteen-year-old teller and protagonist of the story. In his many and varied references to play, Sammy reveals, along with his obvious immaturity, his loaded imagination and potential for possible growth. The story takes place in the summertime of 1960 on a Thursday afternoon. Sammy is employed at the A & P grocery store located in the middle of a township north of Boston, ab come forth five miles from the beach. Along with Sammy, the other characters involved in this story are three girls shopping in the A & P in their bathing suits, whom Sammy names Plaid, Queenie and Big Tall Goony-Goony Stokesie, Sammys married fellow worker and Lengel, the A & P manager. A & P is told from Sammys point of view. Sammy presents himself as a nonchalant and flippant young man. He appears to be somewhat supercilious of the older people shopping in the store. However, near the destination of the story, we stick let out that he does take responsibility for his conscience-driven behavior and decision, revealing his passage out of adolescence into adulthood through the courage of his convictions. We see Sammys immaturity at its hit with his snide labeling of the customers in the A & P. An example of this occurs when he calls one skirt a witch about fifty with rouge on her cheekbones and no eyebrows (p.33). Sammy places the blame on her for his mistake at the cash register. He claims she would accommodate been burned at the stake in Salem if she had been alive then. In another 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 external from the A & P he sees Lengel in his place in the slot, checking the sheep through. His heart was dark gray and his back stiff, as if hed just had an injection of iron, and my jut out kind of fell as I felt how hard the dry land was deviation 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 windup that life is not going to be easy and he is going to make decisions for himself that the people around him will not necessarily support. contrive Cited Updike, John. A & P. Literature (4th ed). Ed. Robert DiYanni. New York McGraw-Hill, 1998.