A&P
In "A&P", by John Updike, a boy, Sammy, quits his job because he thinks his manager has done wrong. During the story Sammy changes from an immature teenager to a person who can take a stand for what he believes is wrong. Sammy goes from young thoughtless boy to a young man who can make a decision and be proud of it.
At the beginning of the story, Sammy is a 19 year old boy working as a cashier in the local A&P in a town North of Boston. One day Sammy notices three girls walk into the store wearing nothing but bathing suits. At first, he cannot see the girls because he was at register three with his back to the door. When they got into his sight he started to size them up. "The one that caught my eye first was the one in the plaid green two-piece. She was a chunky kid, with a good tan and a sweet broad soft looking can with those two crescents of white just under it, where the sun never seems to hit, at the top of the backs of her legs" (333). He also gives a description of the other two girls. He says, "there was one with one of those chubby berry-faces, the lips all bunched together under her nose, this one, and a tall one with black hair that had not quite frizzed right, and one of these sunburns right across under the eyes and a chin that was too long- you know, the type of girl other girls think is very "striking" and "attractive" but never quite makes it, as they very well know, which is why they like her so much" (333). These statements show Sammy's immaturity. Sammy refers to one of the girls as Queen. He calls her Queen because she seemed to be the leader of them. Sammy watches the girls as they go down each isle. At one point, his friend Stokesie said "Oh Daddy, I feel so faint" and then Sammy said "Darling, hold me tight" (334). It seems now that he is making them out as pretty, while just a minute ago he called them chunky and said one had a bunched up face. When the girls come to Sammy's register to pay for the item that she...
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