The short story, "A&P," by John Updike, shows that when an impulsive decision is made, not everything turns out as expected. Sammy, the main character, meets three flawless girls who are terribly attractive; however, his boss does not believe that the girls are appropriately dressed. Because he has an opposite view, Sammy takes the courage to defend the girls in a heroic way. Sammy realizes that his actions are not as important as he believes.
Initially, the setting, takes place in a small city at an A&P store. Right away the reader can imagine a store full of people; however, in the story is the opposite. Sammy, a nineteen- year-old, is working at an A&P store empty of customers. The main character says, "The store's pretty empty, it being Thursday afternoon, so there was nothing much to do except lean on the register and wait for the girls to show up again." Since there was nothing to do, Sammy decides to watch over the girls. Sammy enjoys observing the girls unlike Lengel who says, "Girls, this isn't the beach." Lengel has an opposite view from Sammy. After having two different opposite views, Sammy decides to take a risk for the girls without thinking twice.
The story is written in first person, therefore, the reader can feel sympathy for the main character. We already know that Sammy was bored and there is nothing to do. Then, the group of girls changes his mood when they appear at the empty store. He decides to describe them by their looks. He first describes two of the girls. Then he sees Queenie who is perfect than the two other girls. Sammy says, ". What got me, the straps were down, they were off her shoulders looped loose around the cool tops of her arms," by Sammy's descriptions we can see how he starts to like the young teenagers. The main character takes the risk for the girls after his boss kicks them out. Being jobless and ending up without the girls we can feel pity for the main character.
