"A&P'

In the story “A&P” by John Updike is written in a very masculine tone. The narrator is Sammy, a supposed 19 year-old boy who is a clerk at a local supermarket, or for Lewiston locals an A&B.  When he describes the girls in the supermarket he describes them in great detail from a man’s point of view. For example, “She was a chunky kid, with a good tan and a sweet broad soft-looking can with those two crescents of white just under it.” When the narrator described the girls he mainly describes and focuses more on their bodies rather than faces and personalities, granted they are in bathing suits and revealing a lot of skin. The girls in the story play a role of being the antagonist. They make the cashier almost stop in his tracks and keep his focus on them. Throughout the whole story the narrator seems to play hide-and-seek with the girls. When the leader of the girls is confronted by the manager about needing to wear more clothes when entering the store she just blushes and makes and excuse. After the purchase, Sammy quits and his job runs after the girls or “his” girls, but they are gone. In a man’s point of view this is what women do, they are supposedly simple, beautiful, and keep men chasing them.If the roles are switched this is what women believe men do.