John Updike's "A&P"

"A&P," by John Updike is a short story that in its few pages, says more about love, desire and naivety than many works can in hundreds. The story centers on a seemingly-teenage boy, Sammy, who spends his summer working at a local A&P owned by a family friend. Sammy appears to be a hard-worker, going about his job with ease and precision despite the monotony of the situation, until one day when a group of girls walks into the store -- and everything changes. In viewing Sammy's character development in the short time over which the story takes place, in conjunction with the setting of the story and the theme of desire, readers are able to place themselves into Sammy's shoes and into a mindset in which summer love and desire seem to mean more than anything else the world has to offer.

The setting of the...
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