The Characters Of Heroism In John Updike's A & P

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The protagonist/ narrator of John Updike’s short story “A&P”, is a caucasian, heterosexual, nineteen year old male, by the name of Sammy. The story takes place in the summer, on a Thursday afternoon, in small town north of Boston, Massachusetts. The story takes place over a short amount of time, when three young caucasion females walk into the local A&P with only their bathing suits on. Throughout the story Sammy 's emotions turn from lust at the beginning of the story (when the three females walking into the local A&P with only their bathing suits on) to judgmental when he begins to talk about the type of people working inside the store. In the conclusion of the story, Sammy sympathizes for the girls.
When the three girl first walked into
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He performed an act of heroism by quitting his job when Lengel chastised the girls for dressing inappropriately. Lengel told the girls it was policy for the customers to walk into the store dressed decently- meaning Lengel didn’t approve of the garments the three girls were wearing. Sammy sympathized with the girls because all the “sheep” gathered and watched the show. Sammy could tell Lengel embarrassed the females because Queenie began to blush. Shortly after the girls left the store Sammy advised Lengel, “I Quit.” Lengel tells Sammy he will regret quitting and Sammy knows he will; although, at the moment the only thing Sammy could think about was the way the girls blushed when Lengel embarrassed them in front of the store.
The conclusion of the story is pretty sad; Sammy quits his jobs as an act of heroism for the girls. Unfortunately, when Sammy walked out of the store none of the girls were in the parking lot. The girls knew nothing of how Sammy stuck up for them to Lengel and nothing about Sammy quitting his job. After Sammy walks outside and notices the girls are missing, he somewhat regrets quitting his job. While he stands outside the store and watches Lengel in the windows he thinks over his decision and how hard his world would be after the

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