... . When the girls enter the store, the reader begins to get an idea of exactly how stuffy this town really is. The store is located only "five miles from the beach"(10) and yet the customers react as if they had never seen people in bathing suits before ("You could see them when Queenie's white shoulders and on they pushed."(5) ) Sammy ... and Stokesie's reaction to the girls also gives some insight as to how uncommon it is to see girls walking around a store in swimsuits. At any other town near a beach, such as Miami, it is commonplace to see people of both genders walking around town in...

• Word Count: 864
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... in Sammy's shoes. As a final point, the reader can see how the setting of this story has created an atmosphere. Updike gives the town a very narrow-minded atmosphere, and the beach only five miles away has a very liberal type of atmosphere. Sammy says that most people in the town have not been to the ... beach in years. The girls walk into the A&P and cross the invisible gap between the two atmospheres. This sets the stage for conflict in the story. Then there is Sammy working, ... ...

• Word Count: 697
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... Updike illustrates the life of an idolizing nineteen-year-old named Sammy through the teens private thoughts of his life and the lives of people around him. Sammy lives in a beach town just north of Boston where he works as a checkout clerk at A & P. Most of his days at work are long and repetitive, but he passes the time by categorizing and ... , although Lengel only appears in person at the end of the story when girls are purchasing a jar of herring snacks. Lengel criticizes their dress by saying, "Girls this isn't the beach." The queen answers, "My mother asked me to pick up a jar of ...

• Word Count: 911
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... keep reaching and checking oatmeal off their lists ( )- Added to the controversy of the three young girls in swimsuits, it is even more extraordinary due to the fact that the beach is 5 miles away from the town. And above that, the A&P is in the middle of the town. "Women generally put on a shirt or shorts or something before they get out ... that this is not true, and that he is just trying to justify it to himself. The Manager, a man with traditional values begins to chastise the girls "This isn't the beach (470)."" For the first time in the story "Queenie- speaks, "My mother asked me...

• Word Count: 1524
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... first view of Mr. Lengel, therefore, shows him engaged in hard, manual labor as opposed to the frivolous activity of the girls. Lengel's remark to the girls -- "This isn't the beach" -- reinforces this. Sammy observes that the way Lengel insistently repeats this remark seems "as if it had occurred to him, and he had been thinking all these years the A & P was ... Lengel shows towards their appearance in swimsuits. This is shown when he offers us a description of the A & P's location. Sammy states that A & P is in the middle of town, miles from any beach, and where "the women generally p...

• Word Count: 1947
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... 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 ... ...

• Word Count: 700
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... in the process of checking the girls out Lengel appears with his unpleasantness. "Then everybody's luck begins to run out He comes over and says, Girls, this isn't the beach." Queenie s appalled at his lack of courtesy; and so was Sammy. As Lengel and the pack leader "Queenie" are going back and forth with their disagreement, Sammy feels ... ...

• Word Count: 832
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... " (Updike 202). When, the girls come in one day, with just their bath suit Lengel sees this and does not like it he says, "Girls this isn't the beach" (Updike 203). Lengel says this in front of everyone and Sammy sees this is embarrassing: Queenie "Queenie's blush is no sunburn now" (Updike 203). When Sammy saw ... ...

• Word Count: 637
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... freeloaders tearing up Central Street because the sewer broke again. Updike also goes into great detail about how the world outside of the A & P looks. " [o]ur town is five miles from a beach we're right in the middle of town." Sammy describes what is not visible from the front doors of the A & P which makes his description even more vivid. By applying such ... ...

• Word Count: 813
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... the policies of the store. The next plot begins when Lengel, notices the girls as they go to the register and he comes over and says, "Girls, this isn't the beach."(Updike 17). Lengel is obliged to see the girls because he is the manager of the store. He feels he should confront them because his values and his position are ... ...

• Word Count: 2202
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School

... and her followers come to Sammy's checkout counter with a jar of Kingfish Fancy Herring Snacks. Lengel, manager of the A & P, notices the scantily clad females and says, "Girls, this isn't the beach." He may be a dreary man but, he is all about policy. As Queenie responds with, "My mother asked me to pick up a jar of herring snacks", the sound of her ... ...

• Word Count: 487
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... " cartoons stenciled on." (346) When Sammy marked that Queenie and the other girls were "walking against the usual traffic" (345) and "it's one thing to have a girl down on the beach, and another thing in the cool of the A & P, under the florescent lights,"(345) it's evident that he believes the girls to have a lack of concern for the opinions of the ... ...

• Word Count: 366
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... time' cartoons stenciled on." The girls are buying a jar of Kingfish Fancy Herring Snacks as Lengel, the store manager and Sunday school teacher, criticizes their dress, "Girls this isn't the beach." The queen answers, "My mother asked me to pick up a jar of herring snacks." Lengel continues to harass the girls. "Girls, I don't want to argue with you. After this come ... ...

• Word Count: 725
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... , the Maples, appear to be living in an almost paradise-like region. Images of a "metallic blue river, the emerald marsh,"(69) and "the scattered islands" with their "white bits of beach"(69), imply such a beautiful setting. Overall, the aspects of the entire physical atmosphere are positive and optimistic. A place where happiness, "like the sunlight"(66) should "continue relentlessly"(66). However, the ... ...

• Word Count: 619
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... and her followers come to Sammy's checkout counter with a jar of Kingfish Fancy Herring Snacks. Lengel, manager of the A & P, notices the scantily clad females and says, "Girls, this isn't the beach." He may be a dreary man but, he is all about policy. As Queenie responds with, "My mother asked me to pick up a jar of herring snacks", the sound of her ... ...

• Word Count: 504
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... dressed in particular ways. Also, the various physical characteristics of the setting affected the atmosphere and mood of the story as a whole. The small grocery store five miles from the beach give explanation for why the girls were dressed the way they were, and also why they found no fault in walking in a grocery store wearing only bikinis. Furthermore, the geographical ... ...

• Word Count: 868
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... three girls walked to the store, you can obviously see stars in Sammy's eyes. His imagination goes wild: It's one thing to have a girl in a bathing suit down on the beach, where what with the glare nobody can look at each other much anyway, and another thing in the cool of the A&P, under the fluorescent lights, against all those stacked packages ... ...

• Word Count: 623
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... of it. Upon the girls' entrance to Sammy's check-out lane, the manager of the store notices them. Lengel, the store manager, comes over and says, "Girls, this isn't the beach."" As tension rises between Lengel and the three girls, Sammy is in deep thought about the entire situation. Once the girls have completed their transaction and left the store, Lengel ... ...

• Word Count: 752
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... usually free of it. After the three girls parade through the store for awhile, the manager, Mr. Lengel, comes on the scene. Lengel's remark to the girls, "This isn't the beach," reinforces his conservative nature. He then approaches the girls and scolds them, implying that their attire has violated his code of ethics. The girls" appearance does not stop him from ... ...

• Word Count: 314
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... rejection of Lengel's ideas (McFarland 323). While the girls are walking through the store, Sammy comments, "You know, it's one thing to have a girl in a bathing suit down on the beach, where what with the glare nobody can look at each other much anyway, and another thing in the cool of the A & P, under the fluorescent lights, against all those stacked packages ... ...

• Word Count: 1410
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... social stature from only hearing her voice. When Lengel scolds the girls for being in the store in their bathing suits Sammy picks up on his repeating, "this ain't the beach." He imagines that Lengel is repeating this because "he had been thinking all these years the A & P was a great big sand dune and he was the head lifeguard," (346). Further, Sammy ... ...

• Word Count: 1304
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... blithely unconventional; she is a challenge to the status quo. When Sammy sees the girls he comments "You know it's one thing to have a girl in a bathing suit down on the beach. Where . . . nobody can look at each other much anyway, and another thing in the cool of the A&P under the fluorescent lights . . . Sammy says nothing to indicate that he disagrees with ... ...

• Word Count: 1295
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... they looked and acted as though they did not live in his town. The girls were ignorant of Sammy's local culture as they seemingly had spent the day at the beach, and had not lived in his town nor spent much time in it at all. "The one that caught my eye first was the one in the plaid green two ... ...

• Word Count: 1194
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... notices the sheep, as he calls the curious people, wanting to know what all the commotion is about. They want to know why three young girls, so far from the beach, walked into the A&P in only their bathing suits. They walked the whole store and they thought they were doing nothing wrong. They finally walked down and had nothing but one ... ...

• Word Count: 615
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School