At first glance, John Updike's short story A & P seems to be another coming of age piece. But with taking a deeper look, in many ways you see how the A & P grocery store could be viewed as microcosm of North American society in the 1960's - and it's not a very positive portrait. The general bleakness of the people, the accepted coldness of the store itself, and the theme of class consciousness throughout the entire story causes you to really see how this story parallels society and many peoples, especially young peoples, views in North America during this turbulent time of policy, rules, conservatism, and some of the actions taken against them.

The store and the people paint a picture of an oppressively conservative and narrow-minded America based on policy before people, and rules of the corporation. You can either follow policy, or be labeled as a...