Sammy's Struggle In A & P

Sammy is a boy who is nineteen years of age employed at a grocery store named A&P. On a Thursday afternoon, Sammy sees three girls who stop by to do a quick shopping. While in the store Sammy and his working partner Stokesie realize these girls are only wearing bikinis. He is mesmerized about one of the girls whose nickname is Quennie. The three teenaged girls who had entered A&P appeared to be coming from a near beach. They went to buy some herring snacks. While in the store these teenaged girls don’t think much about it and decide to walk inside the store in just their bikinis. Several people looked at them weird. Sammy who was employed at the time could not help himself but to observe the three girls in every move they made. Sammy can notice almost all things around him and analyses the girls entering the grocery store …show more content…
There Lengel, the store manager approaches the three young girls confronting them by how inappropriate they are dressed. This causes a big embarrassment to the girls. Sammy came to defend the three girls where in the store finds in unfair that Lengel embarrassed them he way he did. The leader of the girls, who is dubbed “Queenie”, inspires Sammy not only to lust, but she also stirs his profound psychological reactions, ultimately compelling Sammy to quit the job. She is not only "the queen" of herself and the other girls, but also "the queen" of the society. Her defense against Lengel of “We are decent”, expresses her indifference to public-image and the agitation induced in people’s minds against the values of the older generation. In her mind, natural youth and beauty are always decent. While it is not embarrassing at all, it is impractical to go to grocery in bathing suits. No one should feel guilty about being attracted to the opposite sex. Sammy thinking, he was being hero defends them and decides to just quit and leave his