John Updike's View on Sammy

John Updike describes the character Sammy in his short story, “A & P” as a well-intentioned young American. Updike views Sammy as an ordinary, “blue collared,” kid who wishes to be an individualist in a time when people were expected to conform. In Updike’s eyes, Sammy is a hero since he was sticking up for what he believed was right. His character was fighting a feminist’s battle as a young male. The fact that Sammy liked the girls he was standing up for was a natural reaction, being an adolescent.

Hearing John Updike’s opinion of his character makes my views of Sammy change slightly. At first glance Sammy seems like a selfish boy with an alternative goal rather than just trying to be the nice guy. Everybody is going to have some type of selfish motivation to get them to achieve a goal. I still see Sammy as choosing the hero role at a convenient point for him, however; perhaps he really did want to stick up for the girls since it was the right thing to do.