In A&P by Updike, Sammy the narrator is consistently watching a group of girls in their swimsuits who happen to walk in bare feet to a grocery store five miles away from the beach.  The speaker pays close attention to “Queenie’s” every move in the store. He notices apparent details like her “long white prima donna legs”, her white shoulders, as well as her “oaky hair”.  He analyzes the type of person she is and what role she plays in her group of friends—as the queen.  Then, he continues to imagine what her family is like at home.   The Speaker is not used to seeing a group of girls walk in with their swimsuit, especially on an empty Thursday afternoon, so when this random group of attractive girls comes in, it naturally sparks a great interest to Sammy and his coworkers.  Updike conveys details through his speaker to create a natural disposition to the given scenario.  When Sammy talks about the whole store feeling like a pinball machine, we the readers can understand the thrill and excitement he feels about these girls. Thursday afternoons at A&P seems grey and mundane. However, when girls wearing nothing but green plaid and pink bathing suits, it is only natural to feel excited.

After all the excitement, Sammy decides to act impulsively and quit his job because he felt the manager was disrespecting the girls and wanted to feel somewhat like a hero.  He says, “I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter”, after he leaves the store because he now had no means to make money.  Earlier in the story, we learn that Sammy’s family gets lemonade and “Schlitz in tall glasses with ‘They’ll Do It Every Time’ cartoons stenciled on.”  In comparison to Queenie’s family who drink “drinks the color of water with olives and sprigs of mint in them”, we can infer he is not from a wealthy family.  When he leaves the store to look for the girls, they are gone.  He quits his job because he wanted to stand up for them only to finds himself jobless and without a girl.