Does anyone have a point of view on the story A & P on page 600? I did not see what it had to do with love or why Sammy quit his job? Did the young girls that came into the store made an influence on him?
for me, it had less to do with actual "love" and more with romanticism - or "romantic dreams," as the section is entitled. the detail of his description of the girls - queenie in particular - is expressed in a way that you'd expect someone to say about their spouse or someone very close to them, not just a pretty girl passing through a grocery store in a bathing suit. sammy takes everything about her into account: from the characteristic that most teenage males would quickly pick up on - that her bathing suit straps are off her shoulders, to the structure and color of her palms, as well as the tone of her voice and what he believes it says about the person she is. i feel that sammy had already felt oppressed in his position at a&p, and lengel's criticism of the girls just puts him over the top, if you will. the girls' presence seemingly makes him realize that he is not only missing out on summer, but missing out youth and just chasing girls. i feel that the final paragraph conveys the idea is that love, or the mere prospect of it, breaks up the monotony of everyday life, but we may get carried away with that idea in itself.
thank you jessica. your point of view cleared up a lot of questions that i had. it does make sense that sammy would quit his job after seeing how care free the other kids were. he did not have to do what his parents thought was best for him by working in a place he did not want to be.
I actually saw A&P slightly differently. I saw Sammie as having realized his mistake in quitting his job at the end. I believed the story was about a crush that Sammie had on the person that he had decided Queenie was. When he quit his job he was merely trying to get the attention of the girls, which failed, and he realized he would look rather foolish not finishing once he had started. For me the story was about a risk being taken in the pursuit of love.
where in the text lead you to believe that sammy made a mistake quitting his job? are you getting this from the last paragraph when he is watching lengel in his spot and he said, " my stomach kind of fell as i felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter? i am thinking he is afraid of facing his parents and he felt bad for quitting the way he did and that somehow this moment will come back and haunt him. i can agree with you that he was trying to impress the girls by quiting and he failed.
I think that Sammy would not have walked out on his job had it not been as mundane and monotonous as it was conveyed to be in the story. I know that I can certainly empathize with the endless sea of nameless faces navigated during an eight hour shift. Sammy's contempt for his profession combined with a lustful connection and encouraged his drastic action. But then again, life is all about taking chances and making mistakes...
for me, it had less to do with actual "love" and more with romanticism - or "romantic dreams," as the section is entitled. the detail of his description of the girls - queenie in particular - is expressed in a way that you'd expect someone to say about their spouse or someone very close to them, not just a pretty girl passing through a grocery store in a bathing suit. sammy takes everything about her into account: from the characteristic that most teenage males would quickly pick up on - that her bathing suit straps are off her shoulders, to the structure and color of her palms, as well as the tone of her voice and what he believes it says about the person she is. i feel that sammy had already felt oppressed in his position at a&p, and lengel's criticism of the girls just puts him over the top, if you will. the girls' presence seemingly makes him realize that he is not only missing out on summer, but missing out youth and just chasing girls. i feel that the final paragraph conveys the idea is that love, or the mere prospect of it, breaks up the monotony of everyday life, but we may get carried away with that idea in itself.
ReplyDeletethank you jessica. your point of view cleared up a lot of questions that i had. it does make sense that sammy would quit his job after seeing how care free the other kids were. he did not have to do what his parents thought was best for him by working in a place he did not want to be.
ReplyDeleteI actually saw A&P slightly differently. I saw Sammie as having realized his mistake in quitting his job at the end. I believed the story was about a crush that Sammie had on the person that he had decided Queenie was. When he quit his job he was merely trying to get the attention of the girls, which failed, and he realized he would look rather foolish not finishing once he had started. For me the story was about a risk being taken in the pursuit of love.
ReplyDeletewhere in the text lead you to believe that sammy made a mistake quitting his job? are you getting this from the last paragraph when he is watching lengel in his spot and he said, " my stomach kind of fell as i felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter? i am thinking he is afraid of facing his parents and he felt bad for quitting the way he did and that somehow this moment will come back and haunt him. i can agree with you that he was trying to impress the girls by quiting and he failed.
ReplyDeleteI think that Sammy would not have walked out on his job had it not been as mundane and monotonous as it was conveyed to be in the story. I know that I can certainly empathize with the endless sea of nameless faces navigated during an eight hour shift. Sammy's contempt for his profession combined with a lustful connection and encouraged his drastic action. But then again, life is all about taking chances and making mistakes...
ReplyDelete