John Updike is the author of “A&P”. Sammy, the narrator, is a grocery store cashier, and he observes the store. He finds interest in girls that walk in the store with bathing suits on. Everyone in the store wonders why these girls are walking in the grocery store with bathing suits, when there is not a beach for miles. He starts to observe them as they walk up and down the aisles. Who out of the three girls is the boss? Why are they here? As he starts to feel that it is his job to observe every move they make, he starts to describe them in more detail. Sammy finds out that his friends are being demeaning towards the girls and decides to take action. Sammy gains the confidence to quit his job and become Mr. Hero after viewing this misogynistic nature. He feels that they are beautiful in their own different way. The girl’s uniqueness is what caught his attention, thus showing Sammy’s unique mindset. From the beginning of the story he starts to describe the first girl he sees. He states “The one that caught my eye first was the one in the plaid green two-piece. She was a chunky kid, with a good tan and a sweet broad soft-looking can with those two crescents of white just under it… (1013).” He starts to talk about what she had on then talks about the tan she had. Why did he care about her tan like that? He was trying to say that her tan was not fully complete because she had parts of her body that the sun did not hit. Maybe she was not in the right position for the sun to hit her entire body. He was so focused on observing her, that the customer that he was ringing up started to give him hell because he could not remember if he had already scanned the idea or not. “There was this chucky one, with the two-piece- it was bright green and the seams of the bra were still sharp and her belly was still pretty pale… (1014).” He describes every single girl that he sees. It has come to conclusion that he is really attracted to these girls. It seems like he has a little crush on them. He even tries to compare them to the “kind of girl other girls think is very striking and attractive but never quite makes it (1014).” He tried to infer that the girls will never make it through in life but other girls are jealous of them because they are striking and attractive but never make it in the world. He starts to identify the girl in charge, the Queen or Queenie. He describes her as the one that was not tall because everyone else seemed to be tall but her. “She led them…she didn’t look around, not this queen, she just walked straight on slowly, on these long white prima-donna legs (1014).” To the fact that he called her “prima-donna” made her seem like she was better than the other girls, like she walked with her head held high. In the story it said that she “came down a little hard on her heels, as if she didn’t walk in her bare feet that much… (1014),” why would she come down on her heels so hard, then put more force on her toes? To test every step she took made it seem like she was afraid to put all her force in her walk. She wanted to look like she was the queen because she walked with her head held high then having the fear of walking. Stokesie, married with two children, and is twenty-two (1015). He is the other grocery store cashier, who is also watching the girls with Sammy. “Oh, Daddy,” Stokesie said … “I feel so faint (1015).” When you think of him saying “Oh, Daddy” you would like that he is dreaming about that girls has they are walking around the store. It is like he is weak because he saw these pretty young ladies walk into the store with bathing suits on. The store location is five miles from a beach, with a big summer colony, but they are in the middle of town (1015). Stokesie was busy checking out the other customers that he had at his register but he was so busy trying to see the girls approach Sammy’s register. He is the immature one out of this story. The girls finally finished walking around the store and were ready to check out so they came to Sammy’s register. “Queenie puts down the jar…(1015)” Sammy is looking confused because he has already scanned the idea but she did not have the money out. I guess she forgot to have the money out so “she lifts a folded dollar bill out of the hollow at the center of her nubbled pink top (1016).” Before Sammy could even take the money from her Lengel walks in and approached the Sammy’s register and said “Girls, this isn’t the beach (1016).” I do not think that he had to approach them like that and say what he said in a rude manner. He could have simply said “Excuse me young ladies but your attire is not acceptable in this store”. That was more respectful than what he said. Lengel was being disrespectful throughout him telling her that they had a policy about how you suppose to dress when you come in the store. Sammy felt that Lengel was being rude to them so he wanted to stick up for them. Sammy said “He quite (1017)” to Lengel and even loud enough so the girls could hear what he was doing for them. “He was hoping that they would stop and watch their unsuspected hero (1017). Sammy told Lengel that “he did not have to embarrass them like that (1017)” Lengel felt that it was only embarrassing for the store not the girls (1017). Sammy pulled off this apron, and walked out the store (1017). Sammy thought that if he stuck up for the girls and became their hero then they would be waiting in the parking lot for him. Sammy knew that his parents and Lengel knew each other; they were the reason why Lengel gave Sammy a job. Sammy was stuck in the hero mood because he just knew that the girls were going to thank him for helping them but when he walked outside, he saw that they had left. He thought that it was the right time to quit his job clearly to impress the girls but not thinking of the consequences. He had planned to take up for the girls in the beginning because he knew that they were not able to walk in the store dressed like that but he did not say anything. He planned on being the hero of the day because he thought that his reward would be the girls waiting on him. Sometimes being the hero does not always get you what you want. Now he has no job, no reward, and probably going to get in trouble when he gets home.

Works Cited Updike, John. “A&P.” Literature for Composition: An Introduction to Literature. Ed. Barnet, Burto and Cain. Boston: Pearson, 1952. 1013-1017. Print