John Updike A & P Summary

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John Updike’s “A&P” is the best short-story because its setting, characters, and diction all show how love and growing up are equally tough but combine to support Sammy’s thoughts as it relates to social norms and the difficulties faced with adulthood. The setting is the A&P Supermarket, which was the epicenter for shoppers within many communities of the time, and was comparable to a Wal-Mart Supercenter of today. Additionally, the store was described as being a centerpiece of the community. The characters are well described through subtle wordplay with the main character and narrator having a life-defining moment where he has had an epiphany of sorts of the challenges that he and all young adults will face as adults. Updike’s diction …show more content…

Sammy begins to describe the girls, who are summer visitors to the area when they are first noticed near the bread aisle. He especially points out the chunky kid in the green two-piece and describes her “can” with the white crescents at the tops of her legs. Then Sammy proceeds to describe one of the girls as the queen because the manner, in which, she carries herself and how she led the others. Sammy then proceeds to refer to her as Queenie throughout the remainder of the story due to her high society demeanor. All the time he has his hand on a box of crackers that he cannot remember if he has rung them up yet. Sammy then goes on to describe the customer being rung up as “cash-register-watcher.” The author goes into great detail to develop most characters within this story. Sammy is developed throughout the story and even foreshadows the meeting with Lengel. Sammy’s defining moment is when he decides to quit his job as a grocery store clerk/ bagger in a show of defiance to the established norm, and as a way of standing up against the unaccepting society due to the way, Lengel treated the girls because of their attire. All the while, Sammy was hoping that the girls would take notice of his stand in their honor. When questioned about quitting by Sammy’s boss, Lengel, Sammy almost questions his decision but realizes that it would be detrimental to the gesture he has begun. The realization of this lesson for Sammy was also a life lesson of the difficulties that lay ahead for him and ultimately he was left all alone in the parking lot with his bad

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