If understand a "round" or "dynamic" character to be one
who undergoes some sort of change over the course of a story (usually in response to a
conflict he encounters), then Sammy from "A & P" is a round character. When we
first meet him he seems to be a prototypically hormonal teenager, lustily eyeing three
girls in swimsuits as they traipse through the supermarket in which he works as a
cashier.
But then something interesting happens. The
manager, Lengel, calls out the three girls for being inappropriately dressed. Everyone
stops to stare as Sammy rings up the purchase while the "queen" of the group stands
there, publicly embarrassed and humiliated. Wanting to be seen as a sort of hero willing
to sacrifice his job to defend the girls' besmirched honor, Sammy tells Lengel "I quit,"
hoping that the girls hear him as they beat a quick path out of the
store.
They don't, but Lengel does, and he gives Sammy a
chance to retract his impulsive declaration. At this exact moment, the climax of the
story, Sammy has a choice. He can meekly apologize and go back to checking the "sheep"
through his grocery line, or he can stand on the principle that lay behind his hasty
decision. He chooses the latter, and realizes - even though he doesn't quite have the
words to express it - that he's the kind of person who will always be willing to
sacrifice personal gain and security for integrity. That's why, as he steps out into the
daylight, his "stomach kind of fell as [he] felt how hard the world was going to be to
[him] hereafter."
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