"The one that caught my eye first was the one in the plaid green two-piece. She was a chunky kid, with a good ran and a sweet broad soft-looking can with those two crescents of white just under it"" (Updike). Sammy's constant correlation of the color white to Queenie, who he seems to begin obsessing over suddenly, also contributes to the story's artful beginning. Saldivar points out, ".for Sammy is describing his "queen" in terms that specifically call to mind Botticelli's Venus: the long, white legs, the bare feet with their tilting action from heel to toe, the astonishingly beautiful white body, the dark blonde hair, loosening from its bun and showing the effects of the salty sea, the prim face.". Sammy's description of Queenie begins to turn poetic when he points out: .
"They were off her shoulders looped loose around the cool tops of her arms, and I guess as a result the suit had slipped a little on her, so all around the top of the cloth there was this shining tin. If it hadn't been there you wouldn't have known there could have been anything whiter than those shoulders. With the straps pushed off, there was nothing between the top if the suit and the top of her head except just her, this clean bare plane of the top of her chest down from the shoulder bones like a dented sheet of metal tilted in the light. I mean, it was more than pretty" (Updike). .
"The girl he calls the "queen" presents so compelling an image that Sammy cannot stay distanced. As he continues describing details of her appearance, he moves from realism and mild irony to the language of poetic vision" (Saldivar). Sammy in one way or another can be compared to an artist, as he first notices the beauty and exotic nature if the girls, rather than their contrast to what is expected of the people who enter A&P. .
"She had sort of oaky hair.and a kind of prim face. Walking into the A&P with your straps down, I suppose it's the only kind if face you can have.
