Analyzing SammyAnalyzing SammyAnalyzing SammyAs Sammy is revealed throughout “A&P”, I couldnt help but feel a direct familiarity with his character. Sammy is nearly every American teenage male. Yes, he is sexist. Yes, he has a problem with authority. He is also hypersensitive around his elders, and prone to making brash decisions. Being so young and inexperienced, his mental self hasnt fully developed. While he does ogle the girls and make disrespectful observations, you can tell he is still relatively a good person. The comparison of Queenies breasts and vanilla ice cream scoops is relatively tame. While the “soft-looking can” remark, could have been much more vulgar.
The conflict between Sammy and adults is also typical of a nineteen-year-old guy. His comment about the cash-register-watcher being a witch who, if born earlier, would have been burned “over in Salem” is a humorous example. Another antipathy is the way Sammy scolds old McMahon for doing exactly the same thing that he was doing two seconds previously. For Sammy, the idea of adulthood is defined by “houseslaves in pin curlers” and varicose veins. The life of an adult is consumed by the need to be part of the herd, become good consumers and pass judgment on the youth of society.
Between the two informal student responses, I think both are off base. Student one doesn’t even seem to have completed reading the entire story. Sammy doesn’t get fired, he quit while trying to be the defender of integrity that student two was referring to. I also can’t see how you could hate Sammy, he isn’t that bad of a guy. Besides a couple of off color remarks and being driven by desire, Sammy never really crosses into the realm of being a creep. What about the girls who came into a grocery store wearing bikinis? No shirts, no shoes, no service is a common policy in any store that has to deal with sanitary health issues. These girls knew what they were doing was against the norm in society. They came in begging for that type of attention.
[quote=Sandy]I found the story a bit too good to believe but I digress.
[quote=Ace]If you’re out there looking for people who understand the work ethic, respect and the code of ethics of your community, it seems fair to say you need to learn from the success of the rest of us. I feel like you’re not going to achieve more when you’re the only one left in your community who is able to learn about a topic from the bottom of your heart. When they do something nice it does mean a certain level of trust among your people, and that trust will improve only when you’ve learned to listen to what we like and share with others. Thank you
But it isn’t just you. I think that maybe the lack of good leadership in your life has some sort of influence. If someone has an attitude and a work ethic that they would look down upon, even if they’re a few dozen miles. You could have some positive side effects if you just have a low self attitude. If you take something that’s hard or hard-earned from other people, and the effort makes the difference, and not just at work but with other people, that could contribute toward greater respect within your community.
[quote=Sandy]I think it’s nice to be able to grow in a good relationship with others. It’s also nice to be able to talk to people honestly and sincerely, and to offer positive things to your fellow humans. At the end of the day, the goal of the community is to help each other, and it’s my hope at this point that our relationship with you is better than ever. We live in a new country that is less open than we were five years ago. I find that as an individual, when you start seeing people who can talk the kind of questions that are raised about you, and that gets people to think about your job offer, it helps a lot, even if it hurts you at times. When you’re talking with people about it that don’t agree with how things are working here, it’s even more exciting because it can get you there.
[quote=Ace]I feel like it’s a whole different game to be able to talk about it as many times as you need to.
Not being able to talk about something you know is an ongoing part of being who you are, and the community needs to be willing to understand when and where and how things start to go.
[quote=Mike>I feel like some of those things that people have experienced will come from some kind of upbringing that has lead them to this world where we’re willing to say good shit in their face whenever we feel we disagree with them.
[quote=S