John Updike's A&P is short story which issues great enjoyment to readers of all ages. Updike writes the story from a viewpoint of a younger, more contemporary person. Even though it does not compare to masterpieces in short stories, the story holds it's own merit by its uninvolved nature and its simplicity. The style used by John Updike truly contrasts that used by other short writers such as Flannery O"Connor and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Instead, Updike writes a short story which even a young reader can appreciate and enjoy. .
One downside to the story is that it begins with almost no warning of what it's about. It doesn't communicate to the reader anything but babble until about half way through the piece. But, all of a sudden, the person reading A&P is cast right into a supermarket in an era where women wore "high rouge" and no eyebrows and people were listening to the sounds of the Carribean Six in phonographs and riding around in Falcon station wagons. A younger reader would feel sort of like Alice when she stepped through the looking glass. They"re in a time period totally unknown to them but fun and exciting. .
We know that the main character, Sammy is a young man of nineteen years old. Updike makes him, however, an immature nineteen year old if we compare him to nineteen year olds today. There are many clues that want to point to him as being a girl watcher or admirer and Updike again makes this a comical scene showing Sammy as a show off with great immaturity. .
You know the kind of girl other girls think is very "striking" and "attractive" but never quite makes it, as they very well know. (27).
Humorously, Updike wants you to think that this character has a careful observation of the opposite sex which only a man can appreciate. But the careful and observant reader will notice that in his description of a particular girl Sammy switches theories at least three times. .
There was the chunky one, with the two piece.