The short story A&P written by John Updike, is about three girls who change Sammys life. The three girls came from the beach and are not dressed properly to enter a grocery store called A&P. Sammy, the main character, is a check out clerk, and observes every detail about the girls. Sam even gives each of the girls a name. His favorite is Queenie. Sammy is obviously the type of guy who doesnt get a lot of girls. Sam has a conflict of person vs. society. Because of his dead end job, obsession with Queenie, and his noble act to save the girls from embarrassment, Sammy has a conflict between himself and society.

Sammy has a job checking customers out at a small town grocery store. Sammy seems to hate his job, he mentions of the old lady who catches him ringing up a box of HiHo crackers twice. He says Shes one of those cash-register-watchers, a witch about fifty with rouge on her cheekbones and no eyebrows, and I know it made her day to strip me up. Shed been watching cash registers for fifty years and probably never seen a mistake before. He knows the customers inside and out and categorizes them. Sammy also goes through the noises he hears when checking out a customer, he seems to know them pretty well.

Sammy seems to be the daydreamer type and probably wont ever be anything more than a checkout clerk for many years to come. Sammys obsession with Queenie shows how Sammy doesnt get much action. He is about a twenty year old guy who is obsessing over a 16 or 17-year-old girl. Sammy gives every single detail about Queenie; for example, he says, She was the queen. She kind of led them, the other two peeking around and making their shoulders round. She didnt look around, not this Queen, she just walked on slowly, on these white prima-donna legs.

About 80% of the story is dedicated to the description of Queenie. When Lengel sees the girls at the checkout counter, he says, Girls, this isnt the beach. As the girls leave the in a hurry, Sammy says, I quit. Sammy hopes that the girls will hear, but they dont and just keep on walking out to their car. Lengel reassures Sammy that he doesnt want to quit, but Sammy wants to be these girls hero. As Sammy gets out to the parking lot, he looks around for the girls. He hoped that they would wait for him.

Sammy thinks that he could hook-up with Queenie if he quits his job. Even though Sammy hates his job, I can see him working at the A&P ten years down the road. Sammys conflict with society comes from his life in this small town. He does a lot of daydreaming and probably wishes he could be somewhere other then this small town. Sammy also is obsessed with Queenie; this was just one instance in this short story, who know how many other girls that come in the A&P that Sammy obsesses over. Sammy doesnt realize he has an problem, and probably never will.

The short story A&P written by John Updike takes place in a small town grocery store just north of Boston. The story is being portrayed through the eyes of Sammy. Sammy is a nineteen year old who works there as a checker. One Thursday afternoons the store is empty for the most part. The only people that inter the store are old women or women with six children whom he refers both to as sheep, when three girls walk in dressed with nothing more than bathing suits. This catches his eye and he watches them closely and studies each one of them with great detail.

He give the leader of the girls the name “Queenie” for the way she carries herself and the way the others follow. Sammy knows that they are not dressed according to the stores guidelines but makes no effort to say anything until his manager Lengel steps in. Because of this there are consequences at stake. The moral to the story is to stand up for what you think is right even though there are positive and/or negative consequences to consider. Queenie is confronted by Lengel at the check-out counter for the way they are dressed which causes her and the others to blush.

In responds to this she says “We werent doing any shopping. We just came in for the one thing. ” Lengel still tells them that they arent decently dressed and cause a big embarrassing scene for the girls. Queenie stands up for them by saying “We are decent,”. Lengel feels that even though they are a small group of harmless teenage girls picking up an item that one of their parents had sent for, they were causing a scene and violating the company policy. He has a job as the manager and it is his duty to abide by the rules. He states that “Girls, this isnt the beach. We want you decently dressed when you come in here. ”

He allows them to make the purchase but also says, “After this come in here with your shoulders covered. Its our policy. ” On the other hand Sammy feels that Lengel was wrong for his actions and tells him that he is quitting. In this he is trying to take up for the girls. Sammy says, “You didnt have to embarrass them. ” Sammy is acting out as if he were the hero and was protecting the girls. He knows that by him quitting he and his parents were going to be hurt, but he felt it was right.

At the end of the story Sammy says, ” and my stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter. ” In conclusion, John Updike is teaching the reader that the moral to the story is to stand up for what you think is right. Queenie felt she and the others were not in the wrong by the way they were dressed. Sammy thought he was doing right by taking up for the girlseven though it cast him his job. Lengel thought he was doing right by following the company rules and guidelines but he also lost a valued worker. In theses scenarios the author is trying to support is idea so the reader can have a better understanding.