"A & P" By: John Updike

A & P by John Updike is an intriguing short story. The story begins with the sentence, "in walks these three girls in nothing but bathing suits." This first line immediately drew me into the story and I was anxious to find out where the girls were walking around. I was quite surprised to find out that they were in a grocery store. It was somewhat humorous. As the story continued from the male narrator's perspective, I realized that he was very critical of the girls and their physical appearances. The twist comes at the end when the narrator, Sammy, decides to quit his job. While he has not been sympathetic to the girls up to this point, he is offended by the way Lengel, the store owner, criticizes the girls for being in the store with bathing suits. Lengel tells the girls that they should be dressed "decently" when they come into the store. The girls claim that they are "decent." Even though Sammy has examined every part and move that the girls make in the store, he is sympathetic to them. It is interesting how he views himself as the "unsuspected hero" and comes to their rescue. He quits his job as a statement. He defends their honor. This was a very satisfying ending and in a way surprising. I enjoyed this short story. 

Favorite passage: "You know, it's one thing to have a girl in a bathing suit down on the beach, where what with the glare nobody can look at each other much anyway, and another thing in the cool of the A & P, under the florescent lights, against all of those stacked packages, with her feet paddling along naked over our checkboard green-and-cream-rubber-tile floor." 

Why I like it: I like this passage because it creates a contrast between the expected and the unexpected. We expect to see girls in bathing suits at the beach. We do not expect to see them in the cold and boring environment of a grocery store. I really like the image of the florescent lights and the stacked packages as a background for the girls in bathing suits.

Purpose it serves:  This passage shows us how out of place the girls are in the setting of the grocery store. It connects the end of the story when Lengel says that the girls are not "decent" to be in the store. They do not belong under florescent lights and on tile floor, but they belong on a beach with the warm sun hitting them.