Conflicts in A&P

There are two types of conflict in the story, A&P, written by John Updike.

First, there is a human vs. human conflict. When the three girls walk into A&P in just their bathing suits, there's sort of an unspoken conflict between them and the rest of the customers in the store. "There was no doubt, this jiggled them [the other customers]" (221). The "houseslaves" (221) obviously did not agree with the way the girls were dressed. It seems as if there was some sort of tension in the air: the customers horrified of the way the girls are dressed and the girls trying to hold their own and stand up for themselves. This conflict is resolved when the girls leave the supermarket.

Another human vs. human conflict is when Sammy tells Lengel that he wouldn't have had to embarrass the girls and that he quit. Lengel tells Sammy that "[he] doesn't think [he] knows what [he's] saying" (223) and that Sammy doesn't want to do this to his mom and dad.
I think that shortly after Sammy tells Lengel he quits he regrets saying that. He knows how hard the world is going to be, and how hard it will be for his mom and dad if he doesn't have a job. Lengel tries to persuade Sammy to stay. Sammy deals with a conflict within himself when he's trying to decide whether he should really quit or not. But, he says, "It seems to me that once you begin a gesture it's fatal not to go through with it" (223). I think that this was his deciding factor. In a sense, part of the conflict is resolved when he takes his apron and bow tie off and walks out of the store, symbolizing that he quit his job. The conflict isn't resolved when the story ends, however, because Sammy doesn't what the future will be like as a result of quitting at the A&P.