The short story “A&P” is about the transition to adulthood of a nineteen-year-old boy named Sammy. In the story, Sammy ignorantly placed himself in a position that resulted in a revelation at the end. Sammy had a dead end job, but he felt like he was destined for something bigger and working at the local "A&P" grocery store was a waste of time. In an unnoticed act of heroism, Sammy quit his job at the supermarket without thinking about the consequences because manager Lengel embarrassed three girls who were entering the store in swimsuits. After this incident, Sammy thought about what his life would be like. This "A&P" story was written in 1961 by John Updike, winner of the National Medal of Arts and the National Humanities Medal. In “A&P,” Updike develops thematic maturation with the character Sammy. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"?Get the original essayJohn Updike, the author of this short story, was born in Pennsylvania in 1932. During his teenage years, "he devoted himself to writing and drawing, aspiring to make his mark as a cartoonist, for Walt Disney or perhaps for The New Yorker, which he read enthusiastically after his aunt provided a subscription for his family. Updike then attended "Harvard on scholarship where he studied English and contributed cartoons and articles to the Harvard Lampoon, which he edited during his senior year." After receiving his bachelor's degree from Harvard, Updike went to Oxford University to study drawing and fine arts. In the 1950s, Updike's dream came true. “He got a job at the New Yorker as a staffer where he provided them with stories, light, witty verse, and research reviews.” After a while, he left to become a full-time writer. Updike became a very good fiction writer and wrote over 50 books. During his career, he won numerous awards such as the National Medal of Arts and the National Humanities Medal. He later died in 2009. The story "A&P" by John Updike took place at a grocery store named A&P on a Thursday afternoon. A&P, in addition to being used in this story, is an actual store located in New England. I believe the story took place on a Thursday afternoon because Sammy pointed it out by saying, "The store is pretty empty, it's a Thursday afternoon." » Updike also paints a picture of the grocery store in our minds using details like "green and cream checkerboard rubber tile floor," "pushcart," "aisle" and "checkout location." This helps the reader become more familiar with the story because these are details we see or notice in the grocery stores around us. The characters in the story played an important role in developing the theme. To begin with, I believe the main characters were Sammy, Lengel and Queenie while the minor characters were Stokesie and Queenie's two friends. Sammy was the main character and narrator of the story. He was a nineteen year old boy who worked at A&P as a cashier. You could see in his actions that he had a critical and disrespectful attitude. His critical attitude was often towards his clients and colleagues. One example was when he referred to customers as “sheep pushing their cart down the aisle.” I think he was implying that they followed each other blindly. At the end of the story, Sammy ended up quitting as an act of heroism because his boss Lengel scolded Queenie and her friends for entering the store in swimsuits, but unfortunately his act of heroism is..