"The Lesson" and "A &P" are both stories that deal with two opposite worldwide issues or views. "The Lesson" deals with the economic imbalance of the upper class and the lower class, and "A & P" contrasts the worldviews of the conservative, conventional, and stoic against the free-spirited, individualistic, and non-conformist.
             The stories are both narrated by their main characters, Sylvia and Sammy, who seem to be your average adolescent teenagers growing up in completely different worlds. Sylvia lives in an urban area located in or right outside New York City. The reader can tell she is rough around the edges because of the language she uses throughout the story. You get the sense that she comes from a lower income family because she pockets Miss Moore's five dollars and she seems to go into a state of shock when she enters the toy store. During the course of the story Sylvia learns a lesson which disillusions her about the world in which she lives, about the society of which she is a part. Against her will, she is forced to realize the unfairness of life and, as a black girl, her often low position in the scheme of things. Although she fights against this realization and indeed refuses adamantly even to acknowledge it, it is clear to the reader that the young girl is irrevocably affected by the events of the day.
             John Updike's story, "A & P," follows a similar structure to "The Lesson," in which the story slowly escalates and reaches its climax in the last few paragraphs. The main character, Sammy, is your typical horny teenage boy who finds himself quitting his job because his boss, Mr. Lengel, reprimands three girls for not abiding the "no shirts, no shoes, no service" policy. Sammy tells Mr. Lengel that "You didn't have to embarrass them," to which Mr. Lengel replies, "It was they who were embarrassing us." Since Sammy is clearly not embarra...