A amp P, is a short story by John Updike published for the first time. The story is narrated by Sammy, a nineteen-year-old boy who works as a cashier in a small A & P grocery store. He is the protagonist. Heather Ringo and Athena Kashyap. City College of San Francisco through the ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative. Table of contents: Poetry: Fiction: Poetry. Attribution. The following examples are essays in which student writers focused on close reading of a literary work. A writer with the versatility and range of John Updike, whose fiction reveals a virtual symphonic richness and complexity, offers readers a variety of touches or themes with which to explore his work. The growing and already significant number of critiques sparked by Updike's work therefore reflects a.