What Is The Theme Of Coming Of Age In John Updike's A & P

In the story "A& P" by John Updike readers are met with the dialogue of the main character, the protagonist, Sammy. This story screams "coming of age"; we have Sammy, our nineteen-year-old protagonist, who works in a grocery store as a clerk, in what we learn to be a small town. John Updike makes way for the readers to connect with Sammy through this transition as he breaks away from routine and expectations and makes his first true step into discovering who he is and what he wants from life. Sammy doesn't identify with the other characters in the story or the people he says within the town through the store window; this is a crucial part in Sammy coming of age and discovering himself, it's also clear that Sammy doesn't see anyone as happy

there is always some sort of negative cogitation in how he describes the people and what is occurring.
When we as readers are first introduced to the three girls who enter the store, Queenie, Plaid and Big Tall Goony Goony; who ignite the change in Sammy, it's how they break away from the norm that that Sammy has become so accustom to, reminding him that there is more to life than just the A&P. Queenie's independence and how she carries herself as a leader draws Sammy's attention, though he admits she is attractive, he's more focused on how she presents herself and how she's proof of more to life, "She was the queen. She kind of led them…this queen, just walked straight on slowly" (19). All aspect of these girls is a shift in the world of the A&P, alike dropping a pebble in a still pond. Their mere existence impacts the store, giving us the readers the ability to see just how conformed the store is; they become a 'distraction' to Sammy and Stokesie as they walk about in their swimsuits, Sammy states they walk the aisles the wrong way. Leading to the dispute with Lengel in not being dressed appropriately for the store, how Queenie argues that their attire is perfectly acceptable for a quick trip into the store. It is in Queenie and Lengel's dispute that Sammy realizes that alike those around him who he feels have been settled and stuck in a repetitive cycle he too has. Sammy quits, not as hastily as it seemed, not necessarily for approval from the three girls, Sammy quits because he needs more from life then routine.
The setting of "A&P" has a dual complex, the most obvious is in a time before 1990 in a grocery store, more specifically Sammy's register. We began to see the world as Sammy views it from the position in his life: the 'cash-register-watchers', 'freeloaders'; yet as readers we are also set internally in Sammy, with his frustrations in the mundane rituals that his life has become. Its expressed that Sammy should want nothing more than his job at the A& P, that he's obligated to his job: Lengel, the manager, states after Sammy resigns "Sammy, you don't want to do this to your Mom and Dad" (23)., as if respecting his parents should trump what it is that Sammy wants or needs to do for himself . We can begin to feel as if we are Sammy, his guilt for quitting becomes our guilt, his fear for what's to come is that of our own. John Updike sets the readers into Sammy, allowing us to see his perception of the world, to feel his frustration build, and to feel his fear for the unknown that's coming: "I felt how hard the world was going to be to me here after" (23)., something we all as readers can resonate with.
John Updike allows the readers to connect with Sammy, and his story through his first-person narrative, as he descriptively describes the characters we are introduced to (Queenie, 'Big Tall Goony Goony', 'Plaid', Stokesie, Lengel) and how he lays out the events leading to his resignation.

John Updike uses a balance between round characters, Sammy and Queenie, with flat characters, Lengel and Stokesie, it's the pull between what we can connect to: Sammy and his need to grow and expand, Queenie with her independence, leadership and confidence and Lengel and Stokesie's routine and adaptation to what is, creating a realistic balance to the world Updike has created. It's through character description that we are also given a better sense of what Sammy is feeling, as he refers to the people in his town and the store as 'sheep'. Everything is portrayed as routine, the people are categorized as together, like herds of sheep. John Updike makes it clear that Sammy's character isn't associating himself for those within the store or the town but also that he is unaware of how to be anything more. It's the three girl's characters, especially that of Queenie, that fully develop Sammy's wants and needs, showing him that more exist that what he has ever known. Quitting his job at the A&P, doubting it, wanting to take it back: "But it seems to me that once you begin a gesture it's fatal not to go through with it" (23)., begin afraid of what is to come, is the break in the cycle and the true development that he can be more than what is. As readers, we hold us breathe in the concluding moments, unease and yet relieved that Sammy is more than just a

sheep.