The story I am responding to is A & P by John Updike. I really liked the story, I thought that it was a good example of a young man coming of age and challenging his authority figures even to the point of self sacrifice. In the story the manager of the A & P supermarket talks to some girls about dressing inappropriately in his store. This causes the main character, Sammy, to question his boss’s authority and his decision to embarrass the girls. This is how Sammy comes of age in the story. He decides to quit his job even though it will upset his parents. He decides to leave the store because he realizes that he cannot continue to work for a boss that he doesn’t respect.
I like how in the end of the story the main character realizes that due to his decision the world is going to be a much harsher place for him. He realized that doing what you feel is right will sometimes cause you to sacrifice things that make your life easy. The main character, Sammy, decides to do what he feels is right, rather than doing what is easy.
In the story there is a big difference between the main character and the customers in the A & P. The customers in the store advert their eyes as the girls in their bikinis pass. They all just stand and listen as the boss embarrasses the girls. Some of them probably agreed with the manager of the store, and if they didn’t they certainly were unwilling to say so. Sammy however, completely disagreed with the actions of his employer and he was willing to sacrifice his comfort to challenge his boss. The patrons of the store were unwilling to come out of their comfort zones to confront the store manager. I think this may have been a reason why Sammy felt compelled to say something to his boss, nobody was willing to challenge the bosses authority, besides him. Maybe when Sammy was challenging his boss, he was also challenging the customers is the store. Maybe this was Sammy’s way of challenging all of society.
