Teenager’s Revolt in a & P and the Man Who Was Almost a Man.

Comment on the narration in the treatment of the teenager’s revolt in A & P and The Man Who was Almost a Man.

A & P is a great short story with simple words and unique point of view and skillful writing techniques, and in the story, we can find vivid depiction of the psychological changes of Sammy, the hero. From the character Sammy who is only a nineteen-year old boy, we see a rebelling teenager who, on the one hand, is still like a boy especially when he sees the girls is bathing suit, on the other hand, he is like a man sticking to what he believes. For a young boy like Sammy, the impulse to do something stupid might come easily, but the responsibility and the consequence are not so easy to take.
We can find some hint of Sammy’s revolt from almost the beginning when he is preoccupied by the girls’ entrance and not sure whether he has rung the HiHo crackers. When the customer, a lady, “starts giving hell”, he describes her as a “a witch about fifty with rouge on her cheekbones and no eyebrows”. He is like a child when he think about others especially those who blame him. And then he turns kind of humorous when he thinks that “I know it made her day to trip me up. She’d been watching cash registers for fifty years and probably never seen a mistake before.” The humor like this helps to calm and stop being rebelling, but he never considers that it is his fault, which illustrates his immaturity. However, when the something really matters for him, the rebelling spirit is hard to control. The mood starts with the confrontation of the manager with the girls. Obviously, Sammy likes the girls and it is not really wrong when they come in the store wearing bathing suit. It is just unacceptable for conservative people, but the manager’s attitude and the girl’s embarrassment stir up his revolt and finally he says “I quit.” to the manager. This gesture of protest shows his standpoint as a man. He sticks to what he believes which is heroic, but he never thinks this through...