John Updikes a & P Is a Coming of Age Story Essay

John Updikes short story, A & P is ab place a 19-year-old boy, Sammy, and his short still decisive transformation from a c ar secrete teenager to a gr knowledge man with the consequences of his actions weighing overburdened on him in the end. On an otherwise unremarkable day, the course of Sammys life is changed by an out of the inveterate experience which challenges him and compels him to bedevil a rash stopping point that is based on what he knows in his subject matter is right for him. Sammy tells the story as if it is just other day while the life-changing aftermath unfolds in a manner of minutes. He gives insight about the townshipship by giving short slip descriptions that atomic number 18 revealing, non only of each character, precisely similarly of Sammys feelings about the town, the people in it, and his personal position on the life that he is living there. Although the character descriptions paint a negative picture, the negativity has much to do with Sammys thought of living in this town with these characters for much more of his young life.It is clear that Sammy is more than ready to move on, beyond where his life is now. Sammy offers hardly a(prenominal) facts about himself other than that he is 19 and lives with his parents in a small, conservative, New England town. Sammy points out that the town is non far from the location of the Salem entrance-hunts and burnings in centuries past. The case to Salem leaves an image of a lingering puritanic cloud over the town and its people. The story studys browse in the A & P grocery investment trust in the heart of the downtown area where Sammy working as a checkout clerk. Sammys co-worker, Stokes, is 22 years old and married with two children. Stokes station in life represents a lifestyle that is not out of reach for Sammy, but certainly not the lifestyle that Sammy desires for his life although it is not clear even to Sammy what scarcely the lifestyle that he desires is. Sammys boss, Mr. Lengel, who is a conservative and outspoken man, is a Sunday school teacher and the music director of the A & P. Mr. Lengel is the living image of invariablyything that Sammy does not ever want to be.The customer that Sammy refers to as the cash-register-watchers and a witch (560) is a character that epitomizes Sammys disdain for the attitude of the usual customer that comes through his check out force on a daily basis, as well up as the entire citizenry of his small hometown. The life-altering event begins to unfold in the very first seam of the story. In walks these three misss in nothing but bathing suites (560). The very first characters who are introduced in the story are everything that is not acceptable in this revolutionary conservative town, although the three girls bring with them a burst of pure innocent sunshine. Everyone in the utter in gawks at the three girls as if they have neer seen a girl in a bathing suit. The fact is that they probab ly had never seen a girl in a bathing suit anywhere other than a place to swim which emphasizes that this is an ultra conservative town with prudish attitudes. Sammy and Stokes are very preoccupied with the sight of the girls and they enjoy every routine of it.Mr. Lengle, who doesnt miss that much (563) is fully aware of the purpose that Sammy and Stokes are having. Mr. Lengle insults the girls by telling them that they are not decently dressed. In the girls minds, uncluttered by the corporal oppressive attitude that is the norm in the store, they are decent and see nothing wrong with their appearance. At this point, Sammy feels embarrassment for the girls and at the resembling while realizes that he is part of their embarrassment, because he is a part of the joint puritanical attitude. He also realizes that this is a crook point for him. Sammy has arrived at a cross street in his young life and he realizes that if he is ever going to become what he sees for himself in his future, and if he is ever going to reach what he truly desires in his life, he must make a decision.He must decide to break free from the collective attitude or persist a part of it. Sammy makes the decision to break free from the puritanical and oppressive attitude of all of the generations sooner him. Sammy quits his job and he does it while the girls are still in the store hoping that the girls testament take notice that he does not have the same attitude and moral judgment of them and that he does not condone it.He hopes that the girls will see him as their hero. As Sammy takes off his A & P forestage and bow tie, he is shedding the old puritanical views and attitudes. As he walks out of the store, he embraces his newfound freedom and coming of age, although he also realizes that his parents will not be pleased. Sammy has known for some time that this is what he would eventually do, and this was the day, because the three girls provided a wakeless reason and the opportunity for Sammy to assert himself, to become his own person with his own perspective, values, morals, beliefs and attitudes.Works CitedUpdike, John. A & P. The sign Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 8th ed. Boston Bedford/St. Martins, 2009. 560-64.