A & P Response

Okay so i seem to have misunderstood literally the entire assignment? i just wrote about what i believed the story meant. Oh well, ill post it and if its acceptable great, id rather do it this way than answer "questions" about it.

“A & P Response”

While reading this story I had a bit of a crisis. I liked the way the author described things in a kind of humorous metaphorical tone, but as he went on I felt increasingly uncomfortable with the sheer amount of metaphorical description he was giving these three, presumably teenage, girls. As I read the story it became clear to me that the main character is just starting to be presented with the real world, he obviously hates his job, and later on when his manager is introduced he very obviously hates him too. The decision at the end of the story helps me in my interpreting of the overall message as almost a changing of the guard. A story about a younger, newer generation being controlled or stifled in some way by the values of the older generation. The main character quits that old way of life so that he can go into the harsh world he has ahead of him on his own terms and with his own newer values. The three girls are also young, presumably teenagers and they too are attacked by that old value system in the form of that manager, who almost seems to be a pinnacle of post WWII American male ideals. The fact that the author tells us that the girls are almost assuredly rich or well off enough to be considered such confuses me, I dont understand its significance to the plot other than to illustrate how hard life is for our main character. He works for A & P, we already know his life is terrible. This may also give a reason for the other cashier character, as a sort of glimpse into his own future. All these things add up to this old portrait of life that the main character obviously doesnt want to live in, so he quits. At the same time however, while he is quitting, he remembers the words of his grandmother and an old axiom which makes him go through with it. Pieces of the old guard give him the will and reason to push out on his own into the harsh world. I believe that is what this story is about.


Let me know if this falls under the "summary" catagory. I dont think it does but i dont know anything about writing