Anyway, the manager of he store tells the girls that they need to have the shoulders covered the next time they come to the store. I'm not really sure why Sammy does it, but he quits in protest for the girls. The girls are already gone, so for them to even notice what he did wasn't going to happen. Did he hope to be their Knight in Shining armor? I mean, really? That just seems really lame to me, but maybe some girls just eat that right up. I suppose that is what Sammy is hoping for. I can't wait to see the thoughts some of the other people had on this story.
Monday, February 17, 2014
A & P
This story was set back in the 50's, I believe, at a local grocery store in the summer time. The Narrator is Sammy and he is working the checkout when three girls, must be around his age come in wearing only their swimsuits. Sammy quickly labels the girls, which I find very interesting. I know that everyone has labels for people, but labeling one Queenie was, well weird for me. I guess I never really had a "leader of the pack" that I can remember.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
You might think a little more symbolically about the characters. What do Queenie and the girls represent versus the other customers and Lengel? We know that Sammy looks around for "my girls" once he leaves the store, but they aren't there when he takes his stand, so it's hard to support the idea that he was doing it to be their Knight. One way of reading the story is to see Sammy as a young, idealistic (some might say immature--that's okay, he's young) person who is rejecting his parent's generation's approach and values. He recognizes in the last line how difficult it will be to be different. You might draw parallels to Sonny in "Sonny's Blues." He, too, has chosen a different path that the mainstream, and that comes with both rewards and difficulties.
ReplyDelete