Need help with A&P by John Updike...

Question

What does the narrator learn about himself and his society. And in what way does he grow up?

Thanks

Answer 1

In brief, rules exist in a society.  There are followers (the shoppers, the sheep), and those who enforce the rules with social pressure (the manager, the sheepdog).  And there is the occasional person who does not fall into line, and that would be our narrator.

He finds that others will come down like a ton of bricks on you, and he found that you don't always get thanks for doing the right thing.  In fact, you often pay for doing the right thing because you've upset those around you by going against the flow.  You've made people think.  And that makes people angry.  They think "we have to follow rules we dont' like, so why don't you?"