In "A&P" by John Updike, Updike describes his past experience observing three young girls in the grocery store where he works and how they led him to teenage rebellion. The story begins with a young Updike mindlessly scanning items and illustrating different types of people who shop at A&P. He notices three young girls from out of town enter in swimsuits and no shoes, and details the "fat" and the "Big Tall Goony-Goony". The narrator then notices the unofficial leader of the group, whom he names Queenie, and describes for a page and a half how attractive she is. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay We meet the narrator's co-worker, Stokesie, a married man three years her senior and expecting his second child. Updike watches the girls wander aimlessly around the store like a "pinball machine", before deciding to buy a box of fancy Kingfish herring snacks. Unfortunately, the girls are confronted by Lendel, the conservative Sunday school teacher/principal, and scolded for their dress. Updike, upset by the way his manager talks to the girls, decides he has had enough of the grocery store and leaves in a heroic gesture, only to realize that the girls had left before they could notice his grand exit. Updike's story is one of his past teenage rebellion; We are presented with the idea that this event is a flashback of the narrator describing that his parents were saddened by his behavior, but "he doesn't think it's that sad." The author uses the characters Stoksie and Lendel to create an image of conformity. Stokesie "thinks he'll be a manager one sunny day" and has already started a family, while Lendel is the embodiment of what this nineteen-year-old wants to become. “Politics is what the barons want” and Updike wants no part of it. The narrator juxtaposes his co-workers' mundane establishment at the grocery store with the new, shiny girls from out of town, particularly Queenie. She is almost a goddess to him, as he follows her every move and describes every inch of her body, down to the "two sweetest vanilla balls" he calls her breasts. In many ways, Updike's depiction of Queenie is sexist and exaggerated, even to the mind of a teenager. The author deliberately makes the reader uncomfortable to show the rebellion he felt against the boring life he felt forced into. Out-of-town girls knew better than to walk into a grocery store "five miles from the beach" in swimsuits, no shoes, and a "look at me" attitude, and Updike envied their carefree attitude. Although they were not the reason for his departure, they became the straw that broke the camel's back. When Lendel began scolding the girls, the narrator found himself confronted with an internal turmoil that caused him to question the future he had planned for himself. He saw a future that would not require the monotony of running a grocery store for the rest of his life and chose a different path, even though he knew "how hard the world was going to be for him afterward." Keep in mind: This is just a sample.Get a personalized essay from our expert writers now.Get a Custom EssayUpdike's story, while provocative and slightly uncomfortable, details teenage rebellion and how it can change and shape the rest of your life.