FREE ESSAY ON A&P BY JOHN UPDIKE

A&P BY JOHN UPDIKE

A&P by John Updike
I think that in A&P the author describes how life was decades ago and how it seems to me
how life should be today, with out the arguments over petty situations.
I think that the story line of A&P is a typical situation in a small town in which the
story is situated. I think that this particular story is based in a small vacationing
town on the east coast where family's come back every year to spend there summer days in
the sun playing on the beach or in the ocean, where mothers can send there kids to the
store barefoot and not have to worry about strange people kidnapping them. Where
customers have been coming for years and are treated with the respect you would treat
someone in your own family. 
Sammy's role in this story seems to be a strange one. He seems to be a teenager yet
somehow attracted physically to adolescent girls. He seemed to be in a ways stalking the
girls and making sexual notations towards them. Of course I am sure that three girls
walking into a grocery store in nothing but bathing suits is not normal but considering
the size and type of town I think that it is acceptable. This strikes me in a bad way
because first of all it's not normal to see little kids in anyway but little kids who
like having a good time. Secondly, why would you quit your job in front of little kids to
try and impress them or maybe make them feel better that someone was on there side
because of the incident that the check out line and Mr. Lengal. It seems so childish how
people make a big deal out of something that is so tiny that people often forget what
they are arguing about when it really comes down to it.