A&P by John Updike - Question 2 Reading Response

Insoo Cho
Prof. Raquel Corona
English 102

Question 2.  At the end of the story Sammy says, “I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter.” What does he mean?  What do you think he learned from this experience?

Sammy is a typical sarcastic teenager with a strong sense of egocentrism, not only he believes himself to be different and distinct from his co-works and the customers of A&P, but he even view them with contempt. He seems to believe that he is better than them and thinks he’s on top of everyone’s head although he is not much different from them.

For example, when the girls walk in to A&P in their bikinis, in spite of instant spark of his interest, he had his back turned towards them, pretending not to notice them. Even when he was watching them, especially observing every detail of Queeni, who he finds most attractive out of three girls, like all the other co-workers with lustful eyes, he tried to set himself apart from the co-workers by feeling sorry for them. Then the realization that in the eyes of Queeni he is just one of the ordinary people, who he despises, induces his impulsive action to prove that he is different from the others.

However, his attempt of being an “unsuspected hero” by quitting his job, bravely standing up for Queeni and trying to retrieve her shattered pride against the “kingpin”, Lengel, to prove to the girls that he’s on their side, quickly fails as the girls walk out the door and disappear unnoticeably.

The last sentence, “I felt how hard the world has going to be to me hereafter”, represents that after he realized “his girls” were gone and nowhere to be found, the only thing left is the stiff back and dark gray face of Lengel, who warns him that he will soon regret his rash decision. Sammy has mixed feelings of bitterness as he faces the consequences for overestimating the rewards of his action upon impulse and a mild fear for the possible conflicts that he will face in the future in real world situations.