In John Updike's "A&P", a young boy by the name of Sammy works as a cashier in the A&P supermarket. Sammy's family is not extremely wealthy, so at the age of 19 he has to work and help support his family. He continues to work everyday for hours, but he feels as if everything is working against him. With everything working against him, and his personality, Sammy's character eventually leads him to quit his job. Sammy's character leads him to the decision of quitting his job, and Updike's theme in the story A&P. .
At the beginning of the story three girls entered the supermarket and caught Sammy's attention. He keeps close watch on the girls, but tries not to be noticed. Sammy describes two of the girls as not being very pretty, but he finds the other to .
be very attractive. He continues watching until they approach his register to check out, but then Lengel, the store supervisor, sees the girls. He approaches with a hateful attitude and begins questioning them about the bathing suits that the girls are wearing. The more the girls were insulted; the more Sammy wants to speak up and take their side in hopes of impressing them. As the girls were finishing checking out, Sammy finally decides to take a stand and quit his job. .
After words, he decided that quitting wasn't the smartest thing to do, considering his parents got him the job and would be terribly disappointed. He now realized that the girls, he was trying to impress, had already left and did not even notice what he had been taking up for them.
One of the main factors in Sammy's character is his personality traits. The job at "A&P" he is working and his personality don't exactly mix. Sammy shows no sign of an attitude or a problem, besides being a teenager and having to work all the time. His character strikes the reader as any ordinary teenager. The beliefs he shows of fair treatment and speaking before he thinks plays a big role in his decision to quit.