Girl-watching is what sets “A&P” in motion, and Sammy provides copious details of the three girls as he watches them walk around the store. Sammy describes each of the girls in turn, noticing the details of their bathing suits, their hairstyles, and their bodies. His interest is explicitly sexual. Sammy appraises the first friend’s “can” and almost becomes faint over Queenie’s breasts. He notices the varied shades of their skin and even analyzes Queenie’s gait. Such detailed observations suggest the extent of Sammy’s rapturous appreciation of beauty as well as the underlying aggression in the male gaze. Sammy’s girl-watching leads to both a warm, imaginative interest in the object of his desire and a darker, more possessive feeling (at one point, Sammy refers to “my girls”). In the end, any possession of the girls Sammy has experienced is revealed to be an illusion. He has watched them, and that is all.