Reality In John Updike's A & P

In John Updike’s illustration “A & P”, a young nineteen year old boy, Sammy narrates the details of a time when he quit his job on a whim. Updike’s attention to detail contributes a large sense of reality to the narrator’s experience. The narrator describes himself standing “in the third check-out slot, with my back to the door” (Updike 17), and how young woman “turned so slow it made my (Sammy’s) stomach drop” (Updike 18). Neither of these details about Sammy or the young woman are essential to the stories plot; however, they are a part of Updike’s highly developed visual imagery and sense of reality within the story. Furthermore, both instances are true to life, thus intensifying the realness of Updike’s illustration.