A&P

I think John Updike’s short story, A &P, is about manly decisiveness. He talks about how the dress code in the store states that your shoulders must be covered whilst in the store, but Sammy disregards the rule so he can “enjoy the view” of the girls in the store. Sammy ends up quitting his job at the A & P because of rude customers, how his boss treats the inappropriately dressed customers, and because he wants to be a hero to the girls. “The girls, and who’d blame them, are in a hurry to get out, so I say ‘I quit’ to Lengel quick enough for them to hear, hoping they’ll stop and watch me, their unsuspected hero.” At that moment, Sammy has an epiphany and decides to quit his job for the girls he stood up for and hopes that they will be outside the store waiting to thank him for what he did, but they aren’t. He realizes “how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter” seeing as how he just quit his job for nothing.