Coming Of Age In John Updike's A & P

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Coming of age is something that everyone will have to experience in order to officially enter into adulthood. In John Updike's story A&P, the main character Sammy experiences a quick, but necessary transition from adolescence into adulthood. Sammy experiences these changes through three different trials; ignorance to knowledge, idealism to realism, and being egocentric to altruistic. Sammy, along with the rest of A&P (the grocery store where Sammy works), is ignorant to the fact that there are many different beliefs, values, and upbringing in a diverse society. A&P is radically shaken when a group of girls comes in to purchase food while wearing little to no clothes and no footwear. The "sheep", as Sammy refers to the customers of A&P, …show more content…

At the end of the story, Sammy quits his job. Sammy that by quitting the girls are going to fall madly in love with him because he shows them support. Sammy decides to do quit when the manager of the store calls the girls out on their scandalous clothing option. Sammy recognizes that the manager has hurt the girl's feeling and says, "the girls, are in a hurry to get out, so I say ‘I quit'" (Updike 4). Sammy quits so the girls will see that he is on their side of this argument and is stepping up as the "man". After Sammy quits from A&P, he goes out of the store to meet the girls, when "[he] looks around for the girls, but [they are] gone" (Updike 4). Sammy takes in the fact that his massive, masculine attempt to support the girls means nothing to them. Sammy starts to see that the world is just and states, "[he is feeling] how hard the world [is] going to be to [him] hereafter" (Updike 4). Sammy clearly sees that his decision to support the attractive girls he barely knows is going to affect him in a negative way. Sammy realizes he cannot make rash decisions out of the blue as well as logically think about how they are going to affect him. When the girls leave Sammy outside without a job, Sammy's little world he made in his head broke apart into pieces and he sees that the world is not a fair …show more content…

When the girls first come into the A&P, Sammy sees them as objects there for his enjoyment. Sammy only thinks about himself in the way that these girls are in this store to please. Sammy egocentrically thinks that the girls are not in the store to purchase food but to please him and enlighten his day. Sammy does not see a problem with this because he only thinks about how the girls impact him. Sammy shows this behavior when saying, "with the straps pushed off, there was nothing between the top of the suit and the top of her head except just her… it made my stomach rub the inside of my apron" (Updike 1-2). Sammy sees these girls as objects for his pleasure instead of human beings with lives and personalities. As Sammy's eyes follow the girls around the store he catches sight of the meat butcher gawking at the girls from behind the meat stand. While the meat butcher is looking at the girls, Sammy recounts his actions saying, "Old McMahan [is] patting his mouth and looking after them sizing up their joints" (Updike 2). Sammy sees that while he is admiring and watching the girls, other people are as well. Sammy notices this as a problem because he sees that other people are also looking at the girls as objects and not real people. Sammy then starts to see the consequences of his actions. He realizes he is only thinking about his own desires. When the girls finish

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