Who is the antagonist in "A&P"?

The antagonist of John Updike's short story "A&P" is the store's manager, Lengel. Lengel is also a Sunday school teacher and is described as being "pretty dreary." When the three young ladies wearing revealing bathing suits enter the grocery store to buy Kingfish Fancy Herring Snacks in Pure Sour Cream for Queenie's mother, Sammy's boss, Lengel, reprimands the girls for their attire. Sammy, the store's nineteen-year-old cashier, listens as Lengel embarrasses the three girls by telling them that "this isn't the beach." After Queenie innocently responds to Lengel's comment, he repeats himself and tells the three girls that the next time they enter the store they need to be decently dressed. Sammy, who harbors romantic ideas and wishes to be the girls' "unsuspected hero," tells Lengel that he quits as the girls leave the store. When Sammy tells his manager that he embarrassed the girls, Lengel replies by saying, "it was they who were embarrassing us" (Updike, 4). Lengel is clearly a strict, callous man, who is authoritative and inflexible. Lengel proceeds to warn Sammy about his decision to quit, but Sammy remains obstinate and heads to the parking lot in hopes of seeing the girls he stood up for.

The antagonist in "A&P" is Lengel, the manager of the store. The narrator describes Lengel as a "dreary" Sunday School teacher. Lengel intervenes when Sammy, the protagonist and narrator, begins to ring up the purchase of the three girls he has been watching. The girls enter the store barefoot and in their bathing suits. They seem to attract a great deal of attention as they walk the aisles because, as the narrator shares, women "generally put on a shirt or shorts or something" before entering the store. As they bring the item they wish to purchase to Sammy's register, Lengel approaches and reprimands the girls for the way they are dressed. Lengel says, "We want you decently dressed when you come in here." Sammy rings up the purchase and takes the money from the girl he refers to as "Queenie." Realizing the girls are embarrassed, he hopes to be their "unsuspected hero" and informs Lengel that he quits.