“In walks these three girls in nothing but bathing suits,” Says Sammy, the narrator in “A&P”, by John Updike, an American short story classic. It is a coming of age story about a boy working in a grocery store. One day three lovely girls walk in, and since Sammy is of the age, one thing leads to another and he finds himself jobless and alone in the parking lot with nothing but the sense that life is going to be very hard on him. This story has an abundance of all the literary elements discussed in the chapter. The chapter development is the thing that was most clear in Updike's writing. Without coming right out and saying it, Updike manages to show you every inner working of Sammy’s adolescent mind. If you look past his sexist comments and his horny view of these girls, particularly “Queenie”, the leader of the group. You can see his outlook on life and view of himself. That’s the point in the whole story. Seeing Sammy standing alone, looking back into the window of his former place of employment, you see him finding out what we’ve known all along.

Sammy is the main character. He works at the local A&P in a small beach town. This shows the read

Updike portrays Sammy as being somewhat one dimensional and sexist. In that he only sees the girls as objects and he’s only worried about how he looks to them. He says things like “two scoops of vanilla” referring to her breasts. Clearly he is supposed to be shown as viewing life through the eyes of an adolescent boy. However by the end we can see that Sammy sees himself as being truly good, noble, and responsible. He thinks of himself differently than everyone else sees him. And when he finds out, he also finds out just how hard life is going to be on him, unless he figures out the truth. This story is truly a classic, and Updike does an excellent job of showing Sammy for who he really is.

When the girls finally come to Sammy’s isle he enjoys every minute of it, that is until Lengel (the store manager) comes out of his office and embarrasses the girls by telling them to dress decently. Sammy, being the ham that he is, proceeds to quit his job after hearing this. He doesn’t do this for his own beliefs, rather he does it top impress the girls. He yells, “I QUIT!”, before the girls leave so they can hear him. He takes off his apron and walks outside. Making the point that it’s good that it is summer because there is no fumbling with your co

Some topics in this essay:
Queenie Sammy, Updike American, Seeing Sammy, Tea Company”, , erratic stupid, girls walk, updike portrays, grocery store,