“By the time I got her feathers smoothed and her goodies into a bag – she gives me a little snort in passing, if she’d been born at the right time they would have burned her over in Salem…”
“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?) but you got the idea she had talked the other two into coming in here with her, and now she is showing them how to do it, walk slow and hold yourself straight.” (Updike, pp. 15-16)
In reading this short story there are several adjectives that give me the impression that Updike’s character, “Sammy” is somewhat of a misogynist and perhaps a pervert. A word like “feathers” to imply the woman in his check-out line is a hold hen, and his suggestion that the girls’ minds (and those of girls in general) are relatively empty except for the “buzz.” He assigns each of the three girls a nickname to indicate a level of attractiveness as if they’re just objects to toy with.
Further on in the story it’s obvious he’s actually an immature hormonal post adolescent who finds himself in a moment of impulsiveness for, what seems to be, defending the honor of the young ladies who he disappear and miss his heroic act.
This story is colorful, humorous, and actively engaging. At the point where you begin to have total disdain for young Sammy, it takes a turn and it’s obvious that his family has aligned with his impetuous decision to walk off his job in defense of the young girls. At the conclusion of this story Sammy realizes that his actions were in fact quite dramatic by his statement, “and my stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter” (pp. 19). Did life really become difficult or was that just his fearful assumption at that moment? Did he actually meet the girls later on and befriend them? If so, were they impressed with his defense of their defiance of the store’s dress policy? Perhaps quitting the job at the A&P lead to better things for him; got him out of a possible rut. It’s all left to each reader’s imagination and what they want for the smart-alec young Sammy.
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Great discussion, Janet! I agree that Sammy starts out unpleasant. He seems to objectify people--the adults are worthless, and the girls are just eye candy. While I enjoy his transformation in the end (he turns out to have feelings and vulnerabilities), I wonder if his heroism isn't just the other end of the misogynist spectrum, imagining that somehow women need a champion? Quitting his job in reaction to his boss's treatment of the girls could be just another way he positions himself so that he can think well of himself. Nancy
ReplyDeleteYes, that was another consideration that I had as well; his show of superiority as a male needing to rescue the otherwise weaker of the sexes for the benefit of his ego.
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