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Time To Grow Up In John Updike's A & P

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Time to grow up
In the story A&P a young boy named Sammy is nineteen and going through a questionable time in his life. He has transitioned from being a young adolescent and entering young adulthood. While working his job as a clerk at a local store in walks 3 girls that grab his attention. He’s mature in how he views them. The people in the store including his manager see things differently and Sammy is place with a decision that cause him to rethink life in general and how hard it will be. Updike’s story is a coming of age story where Sammy position in a convenient store and setting creates a conflict between him and his manager Lengel.
Sammy shows maturity in describing the way the girls look as they enter the store. All of the girls are wearing bathing suits which for any nineteen old with interest in the opposite sex would look with a lustful eye. However, Sammy notices with a keen eye of detail not ruling out him looking in …show more content…
Lengel is upset with the appearance of the girls. “That makes no difference,” Lengel tells her, and I could see from the way his eyes went that he hadn’t noticed she was wearing a two-piece before (Updike Para 15). “We want you decently dressed when you come here” (Updike Para 16). Sammy understands that the girls wear is inappropriate but thought that Lengel could have addressed the situation without embarrassing the girls. Sammy dislikes Lengels judgment on the girls simply because of what they were wearing and proceeds to take an act of bravery and quit. He realizes the girls never notice him because they are in a rush to leave from the embarrassment they had just received. This leaves Sammy in shock of being unnoticed of the act he committed for them. “The girls who’d blame them, are in a hurry to get out, so I say I quit to Lengel quick enough for them to hear” (Updike Para 21). Sammy is left with the thought of how life could be harder if he

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