In the short story “A&P” by John Updike, Updike develops a theme of maturation and humility. The story is one of growth and development in which the main character, Sammy, makes a foolish decision to do something he thought was an adult thing to do. Unfortunately, what Sammy sees as a chivalrous act goes unnoticed by Queenie and her friends, and ultimately must deal with the result of his youthful actions. In the A&P story, Updike portrays Sammy as having an internal struggle between freedom, morality, and liberty and is also a miserable young man whose immature behavior stems from his sexist views, dismissive personality, and judgmental attitude . The character of Sammy is portrayed as a disrespectful youth who has no regard for others; he seems to be in his own world. First, he insults the customers, calling them “sheep” in the sense that they mean nothing to them and they blindly and thoughtlessly follow each other down the aisles with their shopping carts. Sammy is exclusively rude to an older lady who he calls the "witch". This old woman is dreary and unattractive to Sammy, unlike Queenie. As Sammy is a cashier, I think he should refrain from insulting people in his mind and focus all his attention towards the customers and only care about their satisfaction. Sammy's disrespectful and alien behavior is not limited to customers, but extends to his co-worker, Stokesie. He despises Stokesie in his thoughts: “He thinks he will be an eater one sunny day…”. Sammy seems deranged into thinking that he is a more elite person than everyone else, when in reality he is more like everyone than different. His mindset is flawed and in dire need of correction. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Although Sammy is portrayed as judgmental towards his customers because he seems disgusted by the girls' dress and the way they behave as soon as they enter the store he has an eye for Queenie , to whom he expresses the beauty of his swimsuit with compliments: "I mean, it was beyond pretty." Right now, he's defying everything to please Queenie, even if it means losing his job. As a result, when Lengel, the store manager, shames the girls for the way they are dressed, Sammy found his time to shine by defending the girls, Queenie exclusively. “We shouldn’t embarrass them.” Undoubtedly, Sammy's goal was to attract Queenie's attention as a man who could stand up to his boss for her. However, this random outburst shows that he only thinks about the present and acts based on his emotions, that he does not fear the future and that he thinks rationally. His outlook on life is far too simple and he believes he was right to try to protect the girls from Lengel's heavy words. It is clear that Sammy needs to fertilize life experience to look at things from all angles before making spontaneous decisions. Sammy's unfortunate immaturity caused immense ramifications for him, leading him into a life of thorns. Due to his pride in girls and lack of thought, Sammy was willing to argue with his boss and quit his job in hope. that Queenie would see that he is a man who defends women. His false move of assuming that the girls need an unsuspecting hero to save them at some point further proves his immaturity. In addition to losing his job, Sammy would have to deal with his parents' disappointment for..