We Live and We Learn

We Live and We Learn

In the short story "A&P", author John Updike introduces a nineteen year old grocery store clerk named Sammy. Sammy becomes so infatuated with one of three girls whom walk in wearing "nothing but bathing suits" (Updike 1313) that he goes to the extreme of quitting his job after his boss Lengel embarrasses the girls by confronting them about their attire. When becoming adults we are faced with experiences that we will learn from. Updike suggests that all of our actions have consequences which will contribute to maturity.

Conflict is the opposition presented to the main character of a narrative by another character, by events or situations, by fate, or by some aspect of the protagonist's own personality or nature (Charters 1788). The external conflict in "A&P" is that three girls walked into the grocery store wearing only their bathing suits. Society has developed a standard as to how an individual should act or portray themselves. Since the girls walked in dressed in that manner, the shoppers in the small town were shocked by the choice of their attire. " A few house slaves in pin curlers even looked around after pushing their carts past to make sure what they had seen was correct" (Updike 1314). It was obvious that in this era women did not wear bathing suits in indoor spaces without being covered up. The internal conflict that Sammy faced related to the story's central idea that all of our actions have consequences. Sammy's desire to be noticed by the girls caused him to make a horrible mistake of quitting his job to stand up for them. Sammy stood up to his boss and chose to rebel against the town's social order. Unfortunately for Sammy, the girls did not notice his heroic action and Sammy knew there would be consequences for his action. "And my stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter" (Updike 1317). Sammy knew that his actions would likely affect him and his family. Everyone in his town would know that he quit his job to defend girls that never even noticed him.

Setting is the place and time in which a story's ACTION takes place; also in a broader sense, the culture and the ways of life of the CHARACTERS and the shared beliefs and assumptions that guide their lives (Charters 1794)."A&P" takes place inside a grocery store located in a small conservative