In reading A & P, I found myself imagining that this sort of situation could have happened on any given day, in any given five and dime store. I immediately began thinking that this story was taking place in the 60’s -70’s even before I had a chance to look again and see when it was 1962 that this story actually took place. Mr. Updike does a very good job of making us feel as if we are right there in the store Sammy as he is defending what he feels are these three young women’s honor or right to dress how they please, not only that , he feels they have the right to wear what want where and when they please and not be ridiculed for it. I think that all the characters in this short story are very believable. Furthermore, In a certain way I could find myself relating to more than one of the characters but for different reasons all together. In many respects I could see how this poor young man, Sammy, felt invisible and was hoping if he stood up for what he felt were injustices being done to them, that hopefully “ his girls” as he referred to them , would pay attention to him as he so greatly desired. He felt if he was there “knight in shining amour”that possibly he would be a godsend to them , yet it didn’t quite work out that way . He ended up quitting his job, folding up his apron and going to the back parking lot and there were no girls to be seen, they left him, His heart crushed. As for the three young women in this story, I also think that they seem to be very realistic, maybe not very sympathetic, but realistic. They went in the store dressed how they chose, not thinking about how it make others feel. In this day and age we see a lot of that as well. The one of the three girls Sammy referred to as “ Queenie “ comes in and treats him in a very condescending manner, she feels her family is much better off than his, when she doesn’t know anything about him really , so whom is she to judge? “Lengel”, the