John Updike "A & P"

The protagonist, a young boy who works as a cashier in the A & P, is brought to witness an event that bring the store to life. In the middle of a boring day, in boring Middle America, three young girls enter the supermarket dressed in only bathing suits. Never has anyone seen this occurrence, and the store is entranced by their appearance. Weather the young girls know the attention they are causing or not, the entire store awaits to see what isle they will come out from making it to be like “a pinball machine”. The girls walk barefoot through the store, and eventually find the item they are looking for. Once they come to the young boys register, the manager notices that the young girls are no dressed appropriately for his environment. He comes over and gives the girls a hard time. They seem unaware of the inappropriateness of the situation. As this story was written in the 60’s this event was probably the 1^st in a lifetime to witness of the scantily glad girls. The difference in the authority’s attitude and that of the girls and the young boy is that of not only a generation gap but also a revolution gap. The boy furious at the manager’s treatment of his young idols quits his job to support the unfair treatment of the girls. However once he is outside the store, the realization sets in that the world is going to be a hard place from thereon.