The main character in John Updike's "A & P" is Sammy, a clerk at a grocery store. The grocery store is set in the suburbs about five miles from the beach. Throughout the story there are several different styles used. I will explain to you some styles that were used in John Updike's story "A & P". The three that I will talk about are informal or low diction, concrete words, and connotation.
             Informal or low diction is the type of dialog used in this story. For example, the narrator's first sentence illustrates informal, low diction by saying "in walks these three girls in nothing but bathing suits." It is also used in the conversation between Stokesie and Sammy as they are standing at their registers. Stokesie says to Sammy, "Oh Daddy, I feel so faint." Then Sammy says, "Darling, hold me tight." These are some examples of how Updike used informal diction.
             Concrete words are words that describe exact and particular qualities. This is seen in the first paragraph when the narrator describes the three girls in bathing suits. Saying that "she was a chunky kid." The word chunky gives you a clear understanding of how the girl looked. Also, he uses concrete words like "striking", "attractive", "and a tall one with black hair that hadn't quite frizzed right". As the narrator describes the one girl as having "oaky hair that the sun and salt had bleached" and how her bathing suit was "dirty-pink-beige" also shows the use of concrete words.
             Connotations are another style used in this short story and they are the meanings that words express beyond their actual meanings. In the first paragraph the narrator describes one girl as having "A sweet broad soft-looking can", in which he is referring to her backside. Also, as Sammy is handling a customer, that he misrang, she becomes upset...