Character Analysis
Stokesie (or just Stokes) is Sammy's 22-year-old married coworker. He has two kids and hopes to be manager of the A&P one day. Updike says he is a man who has "acquired the dignity of his last name becoming his name." Stokes gets very few lines of dialogue in the story, but he's a sympathetic character because Sammy likes him. He doesn't do anything to advance the plot, and he doesn't change or grow.
