A Feminist Perspective of A&P by UpdikeTwo Works Cited John Updike's story, "A&P," begins: "Enter three girls dressed in nothing but bathing suits." , and that pretty much sums up everything about (Update 1026). In the story, not only are girls in bathing suits considered sexual objects, but other women are viewed negatively as witches, farm animals, or slaves. This story is about how a young man in the early 1960s viewed women as a whole, including his mother. At the beginning of the story Sammy complains about an older woman, a fifty-year-old "witch" with lipstick on her cheekbones. and without eyebrows, who is waiting to check his shopping. He gets angry at Sammy because he is too busy drooling over the young meat that just walked through the door (Updike 1026). The first half-naked girl to enter the A&P and catch Sammy's attention is a stocky girl in a two-piece plaid bathing suit that shows off her "sweet, broad, soft-looking can" (Updike l026). As if staring at this girl's butt wasn't enough, Sammy also noticed "those two crescents of white right below, where the sun never seems to hit" (Updike 1026). How would this girl feel if she knew how intensely this guy was keeping an eye on her? Or better yet, how would you feel if someone's eyes were glued to your butt while you shopped? That behavior, no matter what he was wearing, is totally unacceptable especially in a grocery store. Is Sammy guilty of having no self-control? It might be acceptable for this 19-year-old to look at a girl in a bathing suit; however, that wouldn't excuse old McMahon, the deli guy, patting himself on the mouth and "measuring joints" while the girls walked away from the counter (Update 1027). “Goony-Goony,” the next victim of Sammy's intentional harassment, was introduced in the story as a rather tall girl with “black hair that wasn't quite frizzy” for Sammy's liking (Updike 1026). He found some reason not to be interested in this girl, probably because he was intimidated by her height. Of course, perfection wasn't something he saw in anyone, except perhaps the girl he referred to as "Queenie," who Sammy says, "has the prettiest two balls of vanilla breasts" he's ever seen (Updike 1028).