A & P

Sammy works in a grocery store: The A & P. A grocery store is an establishment of explicit order and organization, a bustling center where everything, even herring snacks, has its own section or aisle. The only chaos that inhabits a grocery store is that one unruly wheel on your shopping cart. As each shopper walks under that electric eye in the door, the chilling produce air and elevator music consumes them and immediately they kick into grocery mode. After gr

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He describes this next episode as “the sad part of the story, at least my family says it’s sad but I don’t think it’s sad myself. Mayhem ensues, and Sammy decides that he should quit so the girls will see he is “their unsuspected hero. ” (Updike, 29) Lengel states that Sammy will “feel this for the rest of (his) life,” which is true: everyone remembers their loss of innocence. ” (Updike, 29) He takes up for what he thinks about the situation but still states his family’s opinion as the truth. Sammy spends the majority of his days in this fluorescent lit wonderland watching the sheep roll by.

When Sammy quits his job, he jumps into taking responsibility for his own actions quicker than he can think about it; all of sudden he is taking off his apron of youth and walking through the grocery store door- out of his world of order and organization. Sammy refers to them as “poor kids, I began to feel sorry for them, they couldn’t help it. Sammy has his first true epiphany, and it just happens to occur at the A & P. ” (Updike, 28) He puts the girls in a different category than what he considers himself (“Poor kids”), so he does not view himself as what he is, a kid. ” (Updike, 31) Aisles and price checks do not exist in the real world. abbing a cart, they join the herd of sheep already shopping in the store.

On a fateful summer day while Sammy is in his apron behind the checkout counter near Aisle 3, three pieces of trouble saunter into the store. “Everybody’s luck begins to run out. Sammy and his fellow checkout clerk, not to mention McMahon the meat guy, all appreciate the girls’ attire. He looks back through the windows of grocery land and his stomach falls as he “felt how hard the world was going to be to (him) thereafter.

Common topics in this essay:
, Lengel Sammy, grocery store, updike 29, produce air elevator, air elevator music, poor kids, store unruly, produce air, air elevator, elevator music,

Approximate Word count = 591
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

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