The Downsides of Principle-Based Action.

Mr. John Hoyer Updike’s short story “A&P” is a tale that demonstrates the downsides and dangers of standing up for one’s principles. “A&P”’s narrator, Sammy, quits his job when his boss, Lengel, berates three young, swimsuit-clad ladies who are shopping in the local A&P Food Market. Sammy believes that his quitting will give him not only satisfaction for having stood up to “the man,” but also the affection of the three attractive young ladies whom Lengel scolded, saying that he wanted them to be “decently dressed when they come in[to the A&P]” (16). Unfortunately for Sammy, neither of his beliefs hold up in his post-quit world.

The satisfaction that Sammy gains from standing up to establishment is minimal, partly due to the negative effects doing so will have on his own life, and partially due to the disappointing reaction of Lengel. It almost seems as though Sammy is hoping for Lengel to explode at him when he says that he is quitting; it would make his action that much more satisfying. Instead, Lengel just “sighs and being to look very patient and old and gray” (30). It is right at that moment that Sammy begins to feel regret: he agrees with Lengel that he will feel the ramifications of his quitting “for the rest of [his] life”(30), and he admits that “it’s true” that he doesn’t want to “do this to [his] Mom and Dad” (30). The fact that Sammy has to consciously think to himself that it seems to him that “once you being a gesture it’s fatal not to go through with it”(30) indicates the regret that he feels for his actions.

In addition to the regret that Lengel makes Sammy feel, the three girls who incited Sammy to quit do not even see him do so. After his discussion with Lengel, Sammy “look[s] around for [his] girls, but they’re gone, of course” (31). The tone of my previous quotation signifies that Sammy didn’t really expect to impress the girls. He acted on an impulse, and his talk with Lengel made him quickly understand the consequences of such an action. The feelings of regret that Sammy feels at this point naturally set him up for this pessimism.

Although Sammy realizes that he made a mistake when he stood up to Lengel based on misguided principles of chivalry, he does not go back on his decision and grovel to Lengel to get his job back. That is because Sammy has real principles also, chief among them his belief that he once he has done something, he cannot go back on it. He quickly accepts the situation and even finds the positive aspects of it, noting that it was fortunate that the incident should occur during to summer because “there’s no fumbling around getting your coat and galoshes, [he] just saunter[s] into the electric eye in [his] white shirt that [his] mother ironed out the night before”(30). Although Sammy tries to find the positive aspects of his quitting, he fails, admitting to himself that his “stomach kind of fell as [he] felt how hard the world was going to be for to [him] hereafter” (31). (527)