I was reminiscing about a favorite high school English class that I had somehow survived many moons ago and I fondly recalled a short story titled A & P that I had been forced to read by the bearded ogre that was professionally known as "teacher." So, in my waxing nostalgic state of mind, I decided to re-evaluate that short story that had left such a favorable impact on me as a young man. Heck, I could even remember the title AND the author. Hmmm. Well, I'm tickled to say that in twenty-five years, few things have changed. I still hate going to classes and I still love this short story. A & P was first published by acclaimed author John Updike in the July 22, 1961 edition of The New Yorker magazine. It's been a perennial favorite of high school English teachers since!
This SHORT story simply describes why a young man quits his job at an A & P grocery store after his manager disapproves of three bikini clad girls who enter the store to buy herring snacks. Funny, witty, sharp and still relevant today, A & P is a story of arrogant adolescence and the consequences dictated by rash actions meant to win the adoration of the opposite sex. In other words, it's about a guy who acts cool to meet some cute girls and fails at everything miserably! A & P can be found, amongst many other short story anthologies, in this nice collection of John Updike's work titled Early Stories: 1953-1975.
John Updike (March 18, 1932 - January 27, 2009) was a highly accomplished author who wrote of middle class America with a unique prose style that was both distinctive and original. He was a Pulitzer Prize winning novelist for two entries in his "Rabbit" series of novels. He was also a acclaimed poet and critic.
Submitted by Dan@Central