A & P

3 Pages 819 Words

Sometimes reality can be distorted by an intrapersonal conflict

Sometimes reality can be distorted by an intrapersonal conflict. The story “A&P” written by John Updike, illustrates how our perspective of a situation can be rearranged and become the opposite reality of what was originally perceived. “A&P” tells the story of a boy who works at a grocery store. One day some girls come in wearing only bikinis, he becomes very interested in everything these girls do. The people at the store are giving these girls dirty looks while the grocery boy is thinking in his mind that these are the sweetest girls he has ever seen. His manager comes out to tell the girls that they are doing something wrong and that he would like them to leave. As the girls are leaving the boy tells his manager that he quits, in hopes that the girls would see him quitting and he would become there hero. When the boy finally reaches the parking lot to see the girls he saved they were gone. He then realizes that when he did what he did he was not thinking with his full capabilities. If the boy had not been so wrapped up in these half naked women he would have been able to handle the situation in a more professional manner.
The problem starts at the very beginning of the story. “In walks these three girls in nothing but bathing suits.” So first of he notices they were people of the opposite sex and secondly he notices they were only wearing bathing suits. “The one that caught my eye first was the one in the plaid green two-piece.” A two piece bathing suit reveals more skin then most one piece bathing suit. While he is watching the girls he was also trying to ring up an old lady. “She’s one of those cash-register-watchers, a witch about fifty with rouge on her cheekbones and no eyebrows, and I know it made here day to trip me up.” Ok so this guy is checking out some girls and rings something up twice and he gets mad at the lady be...