A & P

The first thing I would examine as a feminist criticism of “A & P” is the incredibly small amount of words that the females actually say. The entire story is basically one male’s thoughts about the situation (which mainly consists of ogling, but I’ll cover that more later). Even when the time comes for the girls to speak up they talk very little compared to the other males who speak. The conversation is basically a one-sided argument with the male character asserting himself in a way that gives little leeway to the females’ argument.

The second thing is the Sammy’s thinking on the situation. Basically the only thing he does is judge how they look and stare at them the whole time. He does offer some compliments on Queene’s body, but even then the attitude is still a disdainful one in that it demeans the worth of women to nothing more than how they look.

The statement that really irked me the most was what he said about “women with six children and varicose veins mapping their legs.” This is basically Sammy saying that it is ok for young, pretty girls to walk around in clothes that cover nothing but their privates but other women should have to put on clothes because we don’t want to see that. If I had to pick out the most belittling comment in the whole entire story this would be it hands-down.

Sammy’s attitude is clearly one that says women are worth nothing except their bodies. He never, at any point, regards the female mind as part of a woman’s worth other than when he says, “Poor kids, I began to feel sorry for them, they couldn’t help it.” This is Sammy inferring that the girls can’t even understand why everybody is reacting. He doesn’t see that maybe the girls realize the situation they’re in but have certain circumstances that made them have to walk into the store in their bikinis.