A Typical Man
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There are days that it would be nice outside and Ill go out for a walk; Id either go to the park up the block, the Bodega (a Spanish grocery store) at the corner, or a friends house. I would walk down the sidewalk and its like Im a famous person or an expensive car the way guys around me would act, and the thing is that it happens to all women. You get the “looks” by the guy across the street, the “stare” by the men driving by, the “whistles” from the group of guys sitting on stairs as I walk by, and then theres the occasional “neck-break” when a guy walks by me. All that attention is very uplifting to some and tolerable by most, but when a guy crosses the line and actually speaks his mind, thats when he becomes a sexist pig. In the short story “A&P” by John Updike its main character Sammy didnt cross the line on being a sexist pig.
From the moment the three girls-“Queenie”, “that chunky one”, and “the tall one”- entered the supermarket he acted like a normal typical man, Sammy couldnt keep his eyes off them. So much in fact that the girls were a big distraction, ” I stood there with my hand on a box of HiHo crackers trying to remember if I rang it up or not”(421). He watched the girls every movement as if they were the only thing that mattered to him at that time; “…the girls had circled around the bread and were coming back…”(421), “…and then they all three of them went up the cat-and-dog-food-breakfast-cereal-macaroni-rice-raisins-seasonings-spreads-spaghetti-soft-drinks-crackers-and-cookies aisle. From the third slot I look straight up this aisle to the meat counter, and I watched them all the way” (422). The three girls obviously had his undivided attention.
He deeply and metaphorically describes every striking detail about all three of them. With the chunky one he notices that her bathing suit is new; “…it was bright green and the seams on the bra were still sharp and her belly was still pretty pale so I guessed she just got it (the suit)”(421). “…and a tall one, with black hair that hadnt quite frizzed right, and one of these sunburns right across under the eyes and a chin that was too long-you know, the kind of girl other girls think is very “striking” and ” attractive”…”(421); and Queenie, “She came down a little hard on her heels, as if she didnt walk in bare feet that much…”(421).
Although he describes the three girls in extreme detail, you can tell that hes really interested in Queenie. The way she looks, the way shes dressed, the way she carries herself, the way she stands out among the other two girls. “The longer her neck was, the more of her there was.”(422), and “She kept her eyes moving across the racks, and stopped, and turned so slow it made my stomach rub the inside of my apron…”(422). His infatuation towards Queenie is clearly evident.
The argument was made that Sammy is a sexist pig. Whoever feels that way might think that way because of what he said about the chunky girl “…with a good tan and a sweet soft-looking can…”(421). He was just being a guy noticing everything about her. He wasnt rude