What Makes Sammy Run?

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1941

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-9

Chapters 10-12

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

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Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Sammy’s Shoes and Running

Sammy’s shoes are a recurring symbol throughout the novel, and they emphasize the leitmotif of running. When Al first meets Sammy as a young copy clerk, he is continually, literally running. This image quickly becomes a visual symbol of his character, as he is incapable of standing still, ceaselessly scheming to rise in wealth, power, and status. Al often notices Sammy’s fine shoes, signaling that he has risen in status and wealth. Sammy also often obtains new shoes immediately after having tricked someone or taken their job. Sammy’s first new pair of shoes, for example, are bought with money he got by taking advantage of both Al and another coworker at the newspaper. This sets the tone of Sammy’s increasing wealth, as it is always gained at someone else’s expense. His shoes grow increasingly expensive and gaudy as he becomes more and more successful.

Sammy’s obsession with his shoes and the repeated focus they garner also factor into Al’s questioning of what made Sammy the way he is. Al eventually learns that Sammy often went without shoes as a child, showing the relevance his fine shoes have to his own self-perception. Sammy is continually trying not only to outrun everyone else, but also to outrun his own childhood. Each expensive pair of shoes puts further distance between himself and Rivington Street.

“What makes Sammy run?” is the central question of the novel, and his interest in having the best shoes possible reinforces The Price of All-Consuming Ambition. That the shoes are constantly being replaced also adds to this idea—Sammy constantly needs new shoes because he is constantly wearing out his old pairs, his old identities, on his way to the top.

Houses

In What Makes Sammy Run?, houses often symbolize a character’s approach to life and their personal values. For example, Sammy is continually moving to newer and bigger houses, all of which lack individual personality. He follows the most popular and expensive trends to the point of excess, exposing not only his lack of internal life, but his background. Growing up poor and being generally uninterested in culture, he doesn’t know how to combine his wealth with a sense of style. He decorates based on social status, not personal sentiment. This also ties back into Sammy’s constant running. Never being able to settle in one place, always moving to the next big thing, Sammy’s homes are a microcosm of his inner self.

Other characters are also represented by their residences. When Julian is being used by Sammy, he and his wife Blanche can’t afford their own home. Thus, they are stuck living in Sammy’s apartment, symbolically and financially tied to Sammy. When Julian becomes a successful writer, free of Sammy, his stability and happiness are symbolized by his home. His desire to keep his “little yellow house with the surf splashing up below it” (207) shows his happiness in domesticity and stability.

Sidney Fineman’s home also exposes his internal life, having had a special house to store his rare books built on his property. Fineman, a man of culture and artistic talent, has a house that shows the value he puts in art. Kit’s house too is representative not just of her but also of Al’s feelings toward her. Al describes her home as “a cozy and inviting little house” (166), showing his comfort with Kit herself and his desire to be closer to her.

Money

Sammy often makes references to money, including specific amounts of money. These mentions of money and specific (high) monetary amounts symbolize the success that characters, usually Sammy, have or can obtain. Sammy specifically covets this kind of symbol. He is obsessed with obtaining a $2,000 salary less for its purchasing power than for the symbolic power of the number itself as a signifier of his success. This is another aspect of his relentless race toward higher status. The symbolic value of money is verifiable confirmation of how high he has risen, and of who he has risen above.

Sammy not only is focused on the monetary amounts for himself, but also often brings them up to others. While giving Al a tour of his new home, he makes a point to tell him that he is “looking at twelve hundred dollars’ worth of hibiscus plants” (265). His need to show Al how much money he has at his disposal serves a dual purpose, acting both as a reassertion of his power and as a way to cover his discomfort with living alone. Another instance of money being used as a reassertion of power on Sammy’s part is when he brings up Al’s salary in order to make it clear just how much more important he is.

Other characters than Sammy do bring up monetary values, usually when their financial security is threatened. Julian Blumberg, for instance, brings up money only as a way to show how Sammy is using him, making it clear to Al that in his financial situation he can’t fight back against Sammy himself. Money still symbolizes power, but, in this instance, it is the power needed to get away from an exploitative situation.