“A&P,” a Tragicomic Short Story by John Updike

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In this 1961 short story by John Updike, we meet a teenager named Sammy who works for the A&P. His job as the store clerk exposes him to various types of people and attitudes. He views the elders as people who are set in their ways and often just waiting for the youth to make a mistake so that they can bear down on them. This is one of the reasons for the conflict in the story. When 3 girls walk into the store wearing only their bathing suits, Lengel, the store manager is appalled and openly admonishes the women. Sammy views this as disrespect for the women and cannot abide by it. In the hopes of showing the girls that he does not view them the same way as the store manager, he quits his job. The manager warns him of the repercussions of his actions but Sammy still pursues it because he felt like he had no choice.

At the beginning of the story, we see Sammy as a happy-go-lucky 19-year-old who does not have many dreams in life and probably works at the store on a part-time basis to help out at home. However, his observations of the clientele help him shape a view of the others in the community, and sadly, it is not an image that appeals to him. Even though he is treated rudely by one of the customers, he still manages to speak to her calmly and respectfully. After all, this was expected of him. But, he also expected that the people of his age could have been treated with an ounce of respect as well when tact and decency were called for in handling the bathing suit clientele situation.

In the end, we saw Sammy suddenly thrust into a mature world of having to take a stand for what he believed in and following through on his actions. Although we can say that he became an adult in a matter of hours, the truth is that he was still more of a child as he wondered about and feared the repercussions of his actions. Exactly how would the world treat him from then on?

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