Lo pequeño y lo grande

John Updike’s A & P short story conveys how certain decision affect our way of life, specifically when one is young and ignorant. Through Sammy, Updike presentshow this young teenager made a foolish decision but stuck by it, showing maturity and growth on his behalf. Sammy portrays that teenager that’s in between a boyand a man, striving for that freedom. This is seen by how he sees the girls, with those immature thoughts of how they our dress. John Updike gives out Sammy’spersonality in an indirect way in which one has to interpret his thoughts. The part he describes Queenie is purely in a sensual way, how his admiration pure instinctsinstead of experience. This shows how shy and childish Sammy really is. Nevertheless, as the story goes on, you see in Sammy somewhat of a jealousy towards thegirls. He seems them all free and careless, with no one to tell them what to do and he desires that. Of course, the only way to have that is if he did not have thejob, in other words, to accomplish that he need to be fired or renounces. Even though he got what he wanted, he accomplish it through a careless act. He lost hisjob because he thought that being the hero would automatically give you the girl. He never once thought that society does not work that way, instead it worksbase on how you grow as an individual and through experience. But you got to start somewhere, even if the first one is the cruelest. Sammy fits perfectly with whatMary Tyler Moore once said: “Take chances, make mistakes. That's how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave.”