Journal Six- A&P

The story, A&P by John Updike, is about three girls walking into a local grocery store called A&P with nothing but bathing suits on. One of the cashiers named Sammy was at the third check out counter, watching them as they walked in. Sammy notices every move that the girls make. He looks at the way they look and what they are wearing. He watches their personalities and makes judgements about them and even comes up with specific names for them by what they look like and they way they act. The girl that he likes the most, he calls her "Queenie". Sammy also has a coworker named Stokesie. They can somewhat get a long sometimes, while they joke around about the attractive girls roaming the store in bathing suits even though there is no beach nearby. Stokesie is claimed to be going to be working at A&P for the rest of his life, like their horrible, rude boss Lengel. Sammy does not want to follow in Stokesie's footsteps, but he feels that he will end up being in his shoes as well.
The girls end up choosing Sammy's line for checkout and he starts to get excited again. While he stumbles on some words with the girls, Lengel comes over and starts fussing about what the girls are wearing. No matter what Queenie said to defend herself, Lengel would say things like "we want you decently dressed when you come in here" (152).
After the girls leave, Sammy gets very upset about how Lengel spoke to them, so he quits his job right on the spot. Lengel tells him that he will really regret quitting and brings up his parents. Sammy does not listen and continues to walk out the door.
I believe that Sammy wanted the girls to seem him quit, but overall, I think he quit for himself because he did not want to be stuck there forever. When he walked out of the store, he saw that the girls were already gone. He stood there wondering what the "world was going to be to me hereafter" (154).


Work Cited

Booth, Alison, and Kelly J. Mays. "A&P." The Norton Introduction to Literature. 10th ed. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2010. 149-54. Print.