The primary source of characterization used by Updike is
indirect. Specific techniques used in "A&P" to provide the reader with a
characterization of Sammy, the protagonist, are listed
below.
Thoughts are enormously
important in this story. Told in third person, limited, we are able to follow all of
Sammy's observations and reasons for his behavior. The story is told from an objective
point of view, so we do NOT receive biased judgments from the narrator, nor is a
physical description of Sammy important to our overall view of his
character.
Physical actions
provide insight into Sammy's character, especially when he stands up for the girls and
then quits his job.
Dialogue
and the judgment of others (how others react to the
character) provides us with the final pieces; most of what we learn of Sammy comes from
his thoughts, but some information is based upon what the manager says to him, and it is
the manager's judgment that foreshadows the change Sammy will go through now that he has
taken his first step into adulthood.
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