John Updike's A&P illustrates how a few short moments in a person's life can change the outcome forever. The actions, speeches, and comments of others in the story influence the main character Sammy to make a life changing decision. Sammy is a complex character with many personality traits that were brought out by the actions of others.
             In the first part of the story an old lady at the cash register started giving Sammy problems when he rung up the box of crackers twice while drooling on three girls. Sammy suggests that "if she had been born at the right time they would have burn her in Salem" (344). By suggesting that the lady would have been burned made Sammy seem immature. Sammy was not patient with the lady which goes back to him being a teenager that didn't care about his job. The only thing he was worried about was the girls that just walked in.
             Being a teenage boy, the way Sammy was "checking out" the girl in bathing suits was only natural. The intense investigation of each girl is what defines Sammy's personality. He describes each girl in detail showing that he is an imaginative person while also showing that he is not very worried about his work. As he traces every step the girls make through the store, he develops in his mind from their looks only what type of people they are. For example, he talks about the second girl as, "you know the kind of girl other girls think is very "striking" or "attractive" but never quite makes it...". (344)
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             This personality trait of Sammy's shows him to be a bit sexist, but not overtly so as to get on one's nerves.
             In the next part of the story the girls are leaving the meat counter and Sammy notices McMahon looking the girl's bodi
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