Mystifying And Delusional Decision Making In A & P, By John Updike

Sometimes, the insane choices some men make to gain a woman’s attention works in a way the opposite it was intended too. John Updike delivers an impeccable short story, which can be related to many men’s decisions’ in life. A & P is about a nineteen-year-old man, Sammy, who makes a decision late on in the story, which will haunt him for the duration of his life. For those of you who don’t know, A & P, also known as The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, is a supermarket and liquor store chain in the United States. What makes A & P exceptional, is how John Updike utilizes the grocery store setting as a backbone to influence Sammy’s mystifying and delusional decision making, which then leads to a feeling of regret that will eat at Sammy’s heart forever.

At first, this might not say much, but it shows that the short story takes place in time of American prosperity due to the ending of World War II. The store that they used in the story was located in a beach town, which led to the three girls in bathing suits shopping in A&P. If the story wasn’t located in a beach town, the whole plot would have been drastically changed; Sammy wouldn’t have felt the urge to show off to the girls because they would be wearing acceptable clothing in the store, resulting in Lengel, the manager, not confronting the girls as they were checking out. Sammy wouldn’t have felt the urge to quit his job just to stand up for the girls, because there would be nothing to stand up to. Sammy would have then retained his job and moved forward in life. This whole twisted scenario of A & P greatly shows the importance of the main setting and the outcome of the story. Sure, John Updike could have put the location of A & P somewhere else, but having it be in a beach town makes the whole specific scenario depicted in the short story seem more likely to actually