"A&P"

Sammy gives the readers information about himself throughout the story through his descriptions of others and situations that take place in "A&P." We learn that he is interested in women through the distraction he describes the girls that entered the store had caused for him. We also see his interest through his detailed descriptions of the three girls as they move through the store. In the middle of the story, we learn that his family is of a lower class than the leader of the girls through his description of serving lemonade versus serving herring snacks to guests on page 222 of the text. We also learn that Sammy has this job because of his parents' friendship with Lengel, which is described on page 223 of the text. We see that Sammy has a lot of respect for his parents and does not want to hurt them. All of these descriptions of Sammy tell us that he is a boy struggling with the emotions and hormones of a boy, which is consistent with him telling us that he is nineteen. Hormones can cause us to do crazy things when our beliefs and morals are challenged in the presence of those we are attracted to. This type of situation is unraveled for Sammy through the story's progression.
Sammy's primary motivation for quitting his job seems to be the urge to impress the three girls that were embarrassed by Lengel. We see this because he says that he watched for them to stop and look back at him, but they keep walking. Another reason he quits seems to be that his beliefs were challenged in the way Lengel publicly embarrasses the girls. Finally, we see his belief to always go through with your actions as his final motivation to go through with quitting his job.
Overall, we see Sammy struggle with his own personal beliefs being challenged and how to handle it without disappointing his parents. In the end, he quits his job regardless of how his parents will feel about it.