A & P John Updike

A & P: Coming of Age John Updike’s A & P takes place in a small New England town north of Boston in 1961. The story’s main charter is Sammy a soon to be 19 year old checker at the local grocery store. He will be our narrator for the store giving us views of the town, patrons and the A & P especially. Sammy is frustrated with his boring minuscule life and seeks the excitement and freedoms he feels the three teenage female shoppers of the local A& P display. His unconscious decision to rebel against the people of the town, his manager and family in an effort to control his destiny and not be conformed to the life of his fellow employees will prove to be his own undoing. Hi fascination with the group of girls that frequent the store in their bathing suits will be the being of the end for Sammy. What he sees as a coming into manhood will prove to show a childish, immature and selfish young man that has not considered what quitting his employment would mean to family, co-workers and especially him. For Sammy the events that will take place within a few minutes will prove to be a true coming of age. He tells us that he’s not happy with his life and the direction he is headed. The feeling of being trapped in the tiny store is evident by his comment “The whole store was like a pinball machine” (Updike 89). His feelings about the customers and women especially are rude as he calls the customers “sheep pushing their carts” (Updike 88).

Sammy has a moment of realization when the beach clade girls enter the store fresh from swimming without a care in the world. It makes him think of his life and the time he has lost working at the store. He focuses on their

Cited: Updike, John. "A & P ." Trans. Array Portable Legacies. . Second Edition. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2013. 87-91. Print.