The exposition occurs in the first paragraph when Sammy becomes aware of the three girls entering the store. "In walks three girls in nothing but bathing suits" (Updike 12). Updike provides intricate details cluing the reader in to the setting and introducing Sammy as the narrator, as well as causing the reader to become suspicious as to what will happen to the girls. Critics draw attention to the fact that "Updike has found a voice of singular appropriateness for his narrative consciousness - a boy of nineteen from a working-class background who is working as a checkout clerk at the local A&P grocery store" (Magill 915). The age of Sammy is effective becau

The rising action is hidden amongst the detailed descriptions of the girls, but becomes evident in the fifth paragraph. Sammy says that "[Queenie] must have felt in the corner of her eye me and over my shoulder Stokesie in the second slot watching, but she didn't tip" (Updike 13). This incident adds to the suspense by creating wonder about what will happen when Sammy and the girls actually come face-to-face with one another. Critics also observe the suspicion created through the attraction that takes place "when three young women pass the boy's register, [and Sammy] is enchanted by 'the queen', a girl who appears 'more than pretty'" (Magill 2335). The attraction between the three girls, especially Queenie, and Sammy exhibits Sammy's typical teenage hormones and makes his character more realistic. The rising action perpetuates as the girls continue to move about the store drawing attention from both Sammy and other workers and building curiosity in the reader as to what will happen to them.

The reader is clued in that the crisis is about to take place when Sammy says, "Then everybody's luck begins to run out," (Updike 15) in paragraph twelve. The crisis actually occurs in the last sentence of that paragraph when Lengel, the manager, confronts the girls and says, "Girls, this isn't the beach" (15). This is the major crisis that the story has been leading up to, although it's not necessarily the first crisis to take place. The first crisis that took place happened when Sammy "stood there with a box of Hiho crackers trying to remember if [he] rang it up or not," (12) so he rang it up again and got caught by the "cash-register-watcher." Updike uses that small crisis as foreshadowing to show that the girls were eventually going to be a larger problem for Sammy. Critics also regard the major crisis as being the moment when "the girls arrive at Sammy's checkout slot, ready to buy a

Some topics in this essay:
Sammy Critics, Updike Sammy, Queenie Sammy, Sammy Queenie, Updike's A&P, Vilayat Kahn, A&P Essay, coming age, paragraph sammy, rising action, falling action, voice singular appropriateness, updike's short story, checkout slot, age theme, realizes mistake, coming age theme, sammy realizes, 16 sammy, exposition crisis climax, confronts girls,