In the story A&P by John Updike, Sammy is a local grocery clerk in a small New England town. He is a young man thrown into conflict with his much older manager, Lengel over some young female customers. Sammy is especially intrigued with one girl in particular and struggles to distinguish between adolescent fantasies of romance and the reality of the responsibility his manager has placed on him as an employee. His fantasy world is crushed by the narrow-minded views expressed by Lengel who really represents the social opinions of society. Sammy feels that he must take what he considers to be heroic actions to protect the honor of his queen. This conflict forces Sammy to discovery that he is no longer willing to accept the conventional attitudes of society.
Through Sammy first person narrative we discover his character and the protagonist he becomes. When Sammy is working he sees three girls in bathing suits walk into the store. Their beautiful appearance does shock Sammy but instead intrigues him. The first girl he notices is a little on the "chunky" side but has a "nice tan". He becomes so in awe of her appearance he accidentally rings up a box of Hi-Ho crackers second time. By his actions you can te
The two major characters obvious difference of opinion over the appropriateness of the three girls apparel cause one of the main conflicts of the story. Sammy adolescent obsession with the queen becomes a personal battle within himself against the overly narrow expectations of society. He is uncertain weather or not he should contain his urge to speak out against Lengel. He knows it is not what most would do, but he believes that Lengel was out of line. He quits his job as a statement of his him being able to break out of the conformity. Plus in his own mind this made him a hero to the girls. Unfortunately, the girls do not acknowledge his act of bravery, "They kept right on going into the electric eye; the door flies open and they flicker across the lot to there car, Queenie and Plaid and Big Tall Goony-Goony (not that as raw material she was so bad), leaving me with Lengel and a kink in his eyebrow." Our hero Sammy is left without the girl or even a job to face the enemy alone.
Sammy finds this girl to be hot and her image so inviting that she becomes his fantasy. He is only brought back to the real world by the expectations of his manger Lengel.
ll that Sammy places importance on looks. Most people would notice a girl wearing a bathing suit in a grocery store but the fact that he forgets what he was doing shows he is a bit immature. Instead of going back to work after that little mess up he quickly resolves to examining each girl. Next he notices the tall girl with black hair. But, he does n
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