A&p Critical Analysts

Destiny Paisley

Christina Bisirri

English 1102

17 September, 2016

         In the short story A&P , three teenage girls wearing only bathing suits, walk into the A&P grocery store.  Sammy, a young man working in the check out line, watches them closely.  Sammy notes every detail about the way the three girls carry themselves.  Since the story takes place in the early 1960’s, which was a very conservative time it was very odd to see three girls in just bathing suits walking through a store.  I will be discussing how different the story could be if told through a different perspective.

         Sammy’s perspective shows us that he's willing to think and act differently that others around him.  At the beginning of the story he is complaining in his mind about the conformity of the town he lives in.  Queenie and her two friends show him a simple way of mocking his townsconformity by wearing bathing suits in the store, making everyone flustered.  He then follows  taking his apron and bow tie off “ I fold my apron, “Sammy” stitched in red on the pocket, and put in on the counter, and drop the bow tie on top of it”(21).  This shows Sammy’s rebellion against his towns conservative views.  Sammy says after walking out of the A&P “ I look around for my girls, but they’re gone, of course”(21).  Sammy is left alone with his ambiguous feelings and a growing sense of foreboding about what life has in store for him. 

         If this was told through Queenie and her friends perspective.  It would be a lot different.  The girls seem to be brought up in a wealthy, less conservative way.  When they mentioned they were at the store to pick up snacks for her mom “My mother asked me to pick up a jar of herring snacks”(20).  Herring snacks may not be a big deal to them like it may be to people of Sammy’s town.  Sammy mentioned when his mom has people over they get lemonade, making it seem like the girls buying Herring snacks is a more higher class snack to give to company.