Sexism in the A&p

Sammy Needs an Overhaul

In the short story of A&P written by John Updike the main character is Sammy. After reading the story it is my opinion that Sammy is portrayed as a sexist, egotistical person who has no respect for rules or society or that of his fellow human beings. Sammy has a dark view on life feeling that he alone has the proper view on life and people. Sammy`s negative views on life and those around him seem to stem from a loss in his life as well as his lack of success in his own life. Sammy does know right from wrong however he chooses to do the wrong behavior.

The sexist comments that I read were numerous and directed to females only. Throughout this story the sexist comments began from the very start. First paragraph he explained the female he saw by saying "She was a chunky kid with a good tan and a sweet broad soft-looking can." (Updike) At this point of the story Sammy goes into specific details about the three girls in bathing suits with examples as follows, "chubby face", "lips bunched together" and "tall one with black hair that hadn`t quite frizzed right". (Updike) I say these statements are sexist due to the comments being about the girls in the bathing suits being referenced to their looks only. Sammy makes several observations about these three girls in which he only references their looks in a sexual manner. Sammy expresses a very low opinion on women. Examples of this begin in the second paragraph where he states, "The kind of girl other girls think is very striking and attractive but never quite make it which is why other girls like her so much." (Updike) This clearly shows his thoughts on women but further proof of this can be found in the next sentence "You never know for sure how girls` minds work. Do you really think it's a mind in there or just a little buzz like a bee in a glass jar?" (Updike) Sammy again states his low opinion on women further on. This time it is directed at women who are a little older. Sammy's reference to older women starts with "Women generally put on shirt and shoes. These are usually women with six children and varicose veins mapping their legs and nobody including then could care less" (Updike) and "a few house slaves with their curlers in." (Updike) Once again he refers negatively to a woman in the last paragraph by saying, "Some young married screaming with her children." (Updike) All of the reference statements clearly demonstrate his sexist opinion of women because all of these negative statements are directed at women only.

Sammy is also portrayed as an egotistical person by the many statements he makes about his self in his narration of the story. Some of the examples to support begin in the first paragraph first customer. "I know it made her day to trip me up." (Updike) When in the beginning it was he who made the mistake by not ringing up the customer. Even though he made the mistake he does not apologize for it he only goes on to say "After I got her feathers smoothed" (Updike) which further demonstrates that he believed it was the customer who was being a "witch" and a "cash register watcher for forty years" (Updike) and not his mistake. Further in the story Sammy compares himself to his coworker by saying, "Stokesie's married with two babies chalked up on his fuselage already, but as far as I can tell that's the only