Part one of term paper
The essential self is innocent, and when it tastes its own innocence knows that it lives forever. -John Updike (b. 1932), U.S. author, critic. Self-Consciousness: Memoirs, ch. 1 (1989)- Innocence is a quality that is often taken for granted and abused. We never know when we lose it and it is seemingly gone forever. We are ignorant of our in ...

Part two of term paper
... onto part of reality that they have been missing. This loss of innocence, and realization of such a loss, is John Updike's central theme in "A&P". "A&P" starts with three girls walking into a grocery store wearing only bathing suits and immediately catching the eye of a young, nineteen year old named Sammy. The girls and Sammy are innocent yet in different ways. The girls seemed to be different to Sammy as they looked and acted as though they did not live in his town. The girls were ignorant ...