I chose the fourth prompt in which to write my response paper about a short story that includes a character that has to make a big decision that alters his or her life. In this case, I chose the short story by John Updike titled “A & P” to write about. In this story, Updike writes about a young cashier names Sammy, the manager named Lengel, and three girls that come into their store. The author writes about how these three girls unintentionally make a huge difference in Sammy’s life. The main character, Sammy, ends up making a decision at the end of the story that definitely changes things up.
Updike writes at the end of his story about how Lengel, the manager, tells the girls to leave the store because of how they are dressed in bathing suits only (p. 19). With that being said, Sammy’s motives for quitting his job was to protest how the manager, Lengel, was treating the beautiful girls. I think that Sammy thought the girls were…show more content… When he decides to quit his job because of these girls, he no longer has an income. Another consequence would be that thinking that just sticking up for someone will make them automatically appreciate what you did, but that is not always the case if you consider this story. After he quit his job, he ended up without a job and without any of the girl’s attention whatsoever (p. 20). Although there were many negative consequences, there was also a positive consequence that came out of it. Sammy was able to learn a valuable life lesson about people in general and how what you think should happen in a situation, is not always what will actually happen and you have to think that way before making huge decisions like he did. Overall, Sammy made a decision based off an assumption that the girls would want to talk to him after he stuck up for them. I think that in the end Sammy definitely regretted quitting his job to protest how the manager was treating the