Innocence And Experience In John Updike's A & P

I most relate to the story A&P. Since the theme is innocence and experience, I believe we gain lifetime lessons as we lose our innocence. For me innocence means being naïve and inexperienced. I believe that our lifetime experiences impact our lives greatly. The story A&P, is about a teenage named Sammy who works at a grocery store. Like Sammy, I once worked at Subway and viewed people exactly the way he did. I was eighteen, when I was forced to work at my aunts Subway. I had no choice, but to work at her place to help her out as her husband was seriously sick. My aunt treated me more like her maid than her employee. Like Sammy, I mainly worked on the cash register during the busy hours of lunch time. Just like any teenager, my opinions regarding

That customer was like the one Sammy described in the story; the “cash register-watcher” (456). Every time, she ordered her food, she would watch me with the meanest look. One day, I had enough of her, when spoke to me rudely. I did not say anything back to her but looked back at her the same way she looked at me. That day she was the unhappiest person ever; she called my aunt and complained about my attitude. Just like Sammy’s manager, my aunt came up to me lecturing me about my behavior and rudeness. My aunt made me say sorry to that customer for something I did not do. I had it enough that day, and told my aunt “I quit.” I was an “unsuspected” who was no “sheep” to follow others around. I wanted to show my co-workers that I have guts to go against my aunt and can make my own life choices. That day “my stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter” (460). I did not know the consequences of this incident until the following day when my parents yelled at me. By making a big decision of quitting my first job, I learned that world is a harsh place and we must stand for ourselves. In A&P, one of themes of the play is