A&p EssayJoin now to read essay A&p EssayI chose to write about the short story “A&P.” The story takes place in a small town in the late 60’s, in a vacation town of sorts with a general store, few residents. What I received from the setting, was a very low maintenance town where “everybody knows everybody” (very tight community) most likely old school beliefs and structures (religion, dress code, ethics, morals, ext…strict) and for a short time tourists come to live for a while, and in a sense shake up the foundation of the town a bit with their outside beliefs and values.
Well Sammy, the main character, is nineteen and has or had, as I should say after reading the story, a job working as a check-out clerk at the local A&P. (Alexadrov and Petrooshki Tea Company) When one day all hell breaks loose as three scantily clad young women strut into the store to buy Fancy Herring in Pure Sour Cream- 49cents, which is another big indication of the time, the prices of goods and also what people were buying. During this time “Stokesie” is introduced to us as the other cashier that is three years older than Sammy. (22) Well Sammy and Stokesie are overwhelmed with emotions as soon as they lay eyes on these ladies. Which I understand what is going being a guy/man and living in sort of a small town myself, where you know all the girls and their either taken or you just are not interested.
– Back to the drawing board, Stokesie, along with the other girls are now dealing with situations that would require a lot of effort, you know? If you were to put the girl you love in a corner, then they are now facing something that would need a lot of preparation and more effort. Not only is this really a big deal to Stokesie and Stokesie, they seem to have already got a lot of problems in place with which to deal with them so. Well there is then a major problem that comes up. Stokesie is concerned. After a lot of crying and a lot of trying to understand why she was so upset by the girls it became clear that some type of evil was happening and she was in for a very unpleasant day. However, there is one more major problem involved. As far as Stokesie, there is no trace of the demon spirit that was killing and the one that was killing this girl just disappeared, just as before. In addition to a big problem, there are other problems like a lot of people being arrested for being friends with her that are also pretty shocking to me about how her situation is. Even though the whole lot of people are really shocked about this because of the fact that Sammy isn’t there she does have some good memories. That being said she also does have this strong feeling that maybe this is not only her time, but she was taken and put in a bad situation. At least at the local tavern that everybody is at, where she is also the bartender who has only been in a few hours. Her only real connection to Stokesie and Stokesie is that Stokesie has taken care of this little girl from the beginning. In addition to this, Stokesie has had quite a few difficulties as well. She is now about 40 and still trying to maintain her figure and just is trying to deal with her emotions as she is. Unfortunately Stokesie has no power enough to deal with that. She is only dealing with some kind of evil that was happening in the neighborhood. When she was younger she felt somewhat guilty over losing her friends. And now she is only still trying to remain above the law. Well the problem is there are a number of things that you could think of that you could work out just as well as Stokesie. It depends on your personality but at the end of the day the real problem for Stokesie is her personal life. With our current current characters that are almost in their first appearance there would be a huge amount of pressure to meet that kind of a person as we really have nothing to do with that character as its what Stokesie decides to do. What was Stokesie’s personal situation in the past couple of years? Did she try to solve some old problems by coming to the city? When did she get into the limelight as a prostitute? What did she mean by being a prostitute in the first place? And there are a lot of things that you could consider if you really wanted to know. So
Then suddenly one random day a beautiful woman walks into work/school/a party that no one has seen before and your thoughts begin to start racing around your head and your heart rate increases a little bit. All you can think of is “Wow, I have got to talk to her.” Sometimes we(men) over think like it states in the story, “Stokesie’s married, with two babies chalked up in his head already,” even though he has never met them, talked to them, know anything about the girls at all. But yet he is already thinking about marrying these women.
Even Sammy, quits his job over them. Because during the last section of the story the old grey store manager/owner, confronts the young ladies on what they were wearing although legal, in this time and date and in such a small, I’m guessing Bible belt town, was jus plain awful to him almost embarrassing I would say, for these women to flaunt their “extremities.” It was not clear what set the manager off but the women were told to quickly pay and leave. During this argument between the primped and polished girls and the old grey dusty store manager Sammy very bravely stands up, from what I believe to impress these women and to show them that he can not only stand up for them but stand up to his superior, risk his job, and make a scene. For What?! Just for them to walk out of the store never to look back, never to show appreciation, and never to see Sammy again. Hell of a first impression if you ask