Home > A & P Summary & Study Guide > A & P Group > Discussion Board

Sammy is a sexist pig that suddenly see the light.  What evidence supporting or refuting this comment do you find in the story?

I don't really see Sammy as a pig, however I could see how someone may portray him as a pig.  Although he didn't say anything remotely sexist outloud we know what he is thinking.  When he says things like "plump one in plaid, that I liked better from the back – a really sweet can", "I uncrease the bill, tenderly as you may imagine, it just having come from between the two smoothest scoops of vanilla I had ever known were there", and "You never know for sure how girl's minds work.  (Do you really think it's a mind these or just a little buzz like a bee in a glass jar?)".  Sammy is just a teenager, and of course teenagers undergo many changes... all at once.  One thing they face are "raging hormones" and their sex drive is dramastically increased.  So I don't see Sammy as a "pig" just a normal teenager.

Let's get a dose of reality here.  Sammy is reacting sexually, not an uncommon way for teenage boys and men to respond when seeing scantily clad women.  Moreover, Queenie and her clan court the attention they receive.  Sexual response is not bad, nor is the desire to attract a mate.  To pretend otherwise is being dishonest. 

I don't understand what is meant by "seeing the light."  If you mean that he recognizes his magnanimous gesture has gone unaknowledged, perhaps so, but I see no evidence that Sammy would curtail his desire for beautiful women.