A&P

The short story “A&P” is about a young man named Sammy who works the checkout register in a grocery store.  Throughout the story Sammy is observing all the people in the grocery store, from the staff to the customers.  It is obvious from his observations that he is not happy working at the A&P.  When three girls wearing nothing, but their bathing suits walk into the store, they create quite a stir. The men begin to stare at them.   When Sammy sees them, he begins describing what they are wearing, and what they look like, starts wondering what they’re like and what is the purpose of them walking into the store dressed the way they were dressed.  From his observation, he determines which one is the Queen, so he calls her Queenie.  Queenie walked around with her head held high, she did not look around at people in the grocery store.  Instead she walked around purposely, she walked slowly, as if she’s giving the men an opportunity to stare at her.   In Sammy’s eyes, Queenie projected superiority over them at the store.  Queenie represented a way of life that Sammy was not part of.    When Lengel, the store manager, comes in from the outside, he immediately reprimands the girls for coming into the store in their bathing suits. Sammy thinks that Lengel embarrassed the girls, so he decides to quit his job.   He did this, partly because he wanted to be their hero, but I think Sammy wanted to quit working at the A&P because that job was a reminder to him of the situation that he was in.  He was not happy at the A&P.  It was a place that represented a mundane life, one that was boxed in, no room for growth, no room to go beyond the status he was in.   Queenie and the girls represented a lifestyle of freedom, one of a status that was different than his, a different culture or background.  This inspired him to make a change and that is why he quit.  These girls were not afraid to go against the grain, they owned what they did as they walked the aisles of the grocery store.   Sammy was unhappy at the A&P, he wanted to break out of his boxed in life, and the girls were the push he needed to do something about it and make that change.

So many times, I have seen people work in jobs that make them unhappy.  They socialize with the same people that are within their same circles, like their status, their culture, their background. They stay in those jobs they are unhappy in because they are either afraid of taking a risk and pursue something that is better suited for them or because they accept their status and work at that job because they must work.  I have seen both, where some have encountered situations which motivated them to escape the grind and pursue that which will help them improve their situation financially, and socially, while others do not take that step.