Tone in A&P by Updike

A&P reads like a long monologue of an overgrown adolescent, and this tone is probably the element that makes the story logical and make the character come to life to me. At the beginning, I didn't realize that the protagonist/narrator was just a boy. He sounded, or pretended to sound older, almost detaching himself from any personal feelings from the three girls. He has a mix of judgment and admiration for "queenie," which elevates through every one of his descriptions of her. And at the end, when he decides to quit his job and the conversation with his boss finally implies that he is much younger than his tone at the beginning seems to suggest, the story comes together really nicely for me. From what I can see, Sammy comes in two parts - the old-sounding judgmental know-it-all who thinks everyone is silly and hilarious and the adolescent boy who might have a crush on the girl in her bathing suit. The resolution of the story becomes clear precisely because the adolescent boy in him has won over the other part. This goes well with the image of him stubbornly deciding to quit his job just to prove a point to his manager and thus making the story much more logical.