Sammy's Observation To Theorize The Personal Life Of Queenie

In "A&P," Sammy is initially drawn to three girls, Queenie, Plaid, and Big Tall Goony Goony, perusing the grocery store and while he is drawn to the leader of the group, Queenie, he soon begins to note how they are a contrast of what middle-class suburbanites consider to be acceptable. Sammy notes,

We learn a lot about Sammy from how he speaks. We learned a lot about Sammy by his speech patterns. I think that Sammy in the story has been has a considerably bad boy attitude. To put it in other words, I think he has a very strong charisma of his personality because he continuously tries to examine the three girls that walk into the grocery store. With that, I'll believe he is strong and compassionate feelings for the girls because he because continues just tries to think about different scenarios.

Sammy begins the story by describing the three girls in bathing suits who have walked into the A & P grocery store. The girl who catches his attention is a chunky girl in a plaid green two-piece swimsuit. As Sammy continues to observe the girls, his interest seems to focus only on the girl who leads the other two into the store. Sammy refers to the girl he likes as "Queenie",someone showing poise and leadership, while the other girls

Sammy just doesn't judge them on their appearance, but also in their personalities. Sammy was checking out items and sees one of the girls coming towards him, the one he

Sammy, deemed to be the protagonist of the story, is nothing short of the typical nineteen year old, full of insecurity and self doubt, working an average job at a local supermarket. He’s desperate to break out of hometown, desperate to leave behind the people like Stokesie and Lengel, who he perceives to be just some “scared pigs in a chute”, but struggles to find an escape route. That is, until he encounters Queenie, a girl who lives a life Sammy can only dream of. Queenie resembles everything Sammy wants to be. She is a natural leader, hence the nickname “Queenie” awarded to her by Sammy. She’s also proud, and confident. She doesn’t care what anyone thinks of her and loves herself without apology. So when Queenie offers Sammy the opportunity to transform himself into the person he only dreamed of being; a rebellious, confident and fearless spirit with little regard for anyone else, Sammy jumps at it. As a result, Sammy makes a rash decision to quit, in hopes of following Queenie to her sophisticated world outside of the A&P supermarket. Sammy’s rash decision to quit was an attempt to escape, live a new and exciting life, but falls short when the girls leave him behind and reality slaps him in the

What truly gets the attention of Sammy is Queenie’s pink bathing suit that had straps that were pushed off which exposed her bare shoulders. He describes that with the straps down you can see just “her” and how she was “more than pretty.” Customers of A & P are in shock when they witness the girls’ appearance in the store. Stokesie, another cashier at A & P who is only three years older than Sammy, is married with two kids. He does not resist fantasizing over the girls. He makes commentary along with Sammy, again clearly displaying the mindset of that age group. The store is quiet, Sammy is anxiously awaiting the girls to come into view as there is nothing else to do. He fabricates scenarios in his head such as which check out aisle they will choose when their shopping has concluded.

From the moment the girls enter, Sammy describes in massive detail their looks and the way they uphold themselves. As he devotes his entire attention towards Queenie and the other girls he loses focus off of his job requirements and makes a mistake.The reader learns that Sammy has been working at A & P for a while because he is familiar with his customers, the cash register and the aisle. For instance, in paragraph 1 he labels his customer a witch because he wasn’t sure if he

Sammy is the only character in this story who asserts his individuality. Two of the girls are simply following their leader, and Queenie is easily embarrassed and capitulates to Lengel. The other shoppers

In the story “A+P”, Sammy is immediately interested in the three females that enter the grocery store. His interest possibly provoked by the natural tendency of being a young teenage boy and they being three girls dressed in bathing suites alone. Once the three girls make their way through the grocery store, Sammy immediately begins making his own judgment of their character based on the way they walk and the way they look. Sammy while observing the three girls, names the middle girl, “Queenie” simply based on her appearance and the way she walks. He describes Queenie in a condescending way, “She didn’t look around, not this queen, and she just walked straight on slowly, on these long white prima-donna legs. She came down a little harder on her heels…” (Updike 259) After watching the girls walk through the grocery store to find their item he insults their intelligence without having spoken to them, “…(do you really think it’s a mind in there or just a little buzz

Sammy, however, surprises us, just like the story does. His immediate infatuation with the girls and everything they represented (the youth he was quickly denying himself by being tied at such a young age to the very adult world of work) quickly brought him to realize that his life was still that of a young person. What he thinks is an act of bravery, which will certainly be awarded with the attentions of “Queenie”, turns out to be a solo act of personal assertion. Just when Sammie thinks his life is ending, it is truly just beginning.

Sammy is stuck in that difficult transition between childhood and adulthood. He is a nineteen-year-old cashier at an A&P, the protagonist in a story with the same name. John Updike, the author of "A&P," writes from Sammy's point of view, making him not only the main character but also the first person narrator. The tone of the story is set by Sammy's attitude, which is nonchalant but frank--he calls things as he sees them. There is a hint of sarcasm in Sammy's thoughts, for he tends to make crude references to everything he observes. Updike uses this motif to develop the character of Sammy, as many of these references relate to the idea of "play."

Even though Sammy’s mindset is childlike, he still tries to portray himself in an adult manner. The reader can observe throughout the story the way in which Sammy thinks to be immature and quick to judge. Having his concentration only on the girls, he made a mistake while ringing up a customer. Because he is so focused on how the girls are dressed and what they are up to, he has full descriptions of each girl and thinks he has them all figured out. He points out the leader and even names her “Queenie” while not giving the other two as much attention. The reader can see how Sammy sort of mocks some of the customers when he sees Lengel “checking the sheep through” (Updike 435). Sammy’s priority, which should only be ringing up customers, but happens to be seeing what the girls are up

Queenie is important to the story's conflict and theme because she creates them. Queenie causes the main conflict when she walks into the A & P. The manager of the A & P yells at the young girls about their attire when the are being rung up by the Sammy. At the end of the story, Sammy stands up for himself by exclaiming he quits as the girls are walking out of the door. He does this because he hopes the girls will see him as a hero. As a result he loses his job and never gets the

As the girls continue their journey throughout the store, Sammy can’t help but to notice anything and everything that they did. As they proceed, they grab fancy herring snacks and walk into Sammy’s checkout isle. Because they decided to go into Sammy’s lane might not have had anything to do with Sammy at all, however he took it as if he was chosen specifically because Queenie had some sort of attraction to him. Sammy instantly becomes emotionally attached to Queenie as he rings her up, even going so far that he fantasizes about the life he could have with her, and how much better his life would be with her in it. In the midst of Sammy’s daze, his boss, Lengel, emerges from his office to reprimand the group of girls for their attire. Lengel makes a scene, and publicly embarrasses the girls. As the girls scurry away to Queenie’s mother’s car, Sammy makes a desperate final attempt to impress Queenie by quitting his job and standing up for them. Lengel seemingly realizes what Sammy is trying to do, and offers him an out. Because of Lengel’s good relationship with Sammy’s parents, Lengel says, “Sammy, you don't want to do this to your Mom and Dad.” Although Sammy is given the opportunity to take back his foolish act, Sammy tells us, “But it seems to me that once you begin a gesture, it’s fatal not to go through with it.” This points to Sammy’s immaturity, his only

We believe that she killed her husband. Before Queenie left to go out and get a drink they were in a fight.