Three young girls walk into the A&P, inappropriately dressed in bathing suits. They walk up and down the aisles looking for things, all the while drawing stares. Sam shows off his immature side of an adolescent male through his thoughts and actions. In talking with his fellow cashier, Sam describes the girls in terms of physical appearance, commenting on size, weight, curves, and prettiness. Talks as though they were pieces of meat. He also makes provocative comments to his coworker. As he does this, he also watches the movement of the girls aroun

Sam’s second stage of growth is seen in his actions that take place when the girls approach his register. He barely begins to scan their item before his manager appears and scolds the girls about improper dress in the store. Sam was speechless and motionless the entire time until his manager had finished yelling, at which point he rings up the food and takes the money. Here, Sam is unable to react in front of the girls whom he just labeled inferior a moment ago. In his third transition to adulthood, Sam realizes that he had been looking down on women when he himself could not react in their presence. He decides to defend the girls to his boss after they had already left, hoping that one of them would notice and he would get attention for a heroic act. Sam decided to quit and walk out to make up for his lack of response earlier.

In Updike’s tale, “A&P”, the persona of an immature teenage boy is used to illustrate an ambivalent attitude towards women and the growth into adulthood. Sam begins the story with an immature view towards the gi

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