The climax of John Updike's short story, "A & P",
comes when Sammy utters the words "I quit" to his store manager, Mr. Lengel. The
beginning of the climax (and completion of the rising action) occurs when Lengel
chastizes the girls for being improperly dressed in the grocery. Lengel reminds the
girls twice that his store "isn't the beach," but when Queenie blushes and tries to
explain, the manager tells her
"That makes no difference... We want you decently
dressed when you come in
here."
Queenie replies that
"We are decent," but Lengel then hints that their bathing suits and bare shoulders
borders on "juvenile delinquency." And with that, Sammy announced that he was quitting.
When Lengel asked Sammy if he'd said something, Sammy told him again that "I quit," and
he rang up a "No Sale" on the register and walked out, hoping that his gallant response
to the situation would impress the girls. But they had already left, leaving Sammy to
wonder if his decision was a wise one.
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