The plot of the story is a very complex, but a good one nonetheless. The plot meets all elements of the typical plot diagram. The inciting moment in the story is at the very beginning. Updike writes, "In walks these three girls in nothing but bathing suits." (p.1). These girls are the base for the story, and without them there would be no story at all, so they fill the inciting moment role well. The exposition of the story is met in the first few paragraphs of

This story has another element that is essential to a "good" story. This story has conflict. The type of conflict is man vs. man. Sammy is challenging authority, which happens to be another human. He is challenging his boss, Lengel. When Lengel approaches the young ladies in the story Sammy gets upset, Sammy then quits his job as a result of Lengel's suggestion that the girls need to dress nicer. Sammy plays the protagonist in the story; he is the good guy. Lengel takes on antagonist qualities; he approaches the girls in the story with a sense of authority, and turns into the "bad guy" of the story. He creates a scene in the store; all the customers stop and notice what is going on, and as a result of Lengel's actions Sammy feels like he has to quit his job. When Sammy announces that he has quit, he attempts to take on the hero role of the story, which also is a protagonist quality

Sammy's role as the hero of the story adds to Updike's excellent development of the story. When Lendel hassles the young girls in the story Sammy wants to stand up for them. To show that he cares about the girls, Sammy does indeed take their side, but it costs him his job and he does not gain a single thing for it. Sammy thinks that Lendel was in the wrong when he scolded the girls on what they were wearing so Sammy stands up to his boss, in an attempt to be heroic. However, Sammy's heroic acts go unnoticed, the girls have already left the store and don't even know that Sammy quit his job for them. Updike's hero does have a flaw, as should every hero. Sammy does his "heroic" act for the wrong reasons, he longs for the girls in the bathing suits to notice him. His motives are all wrong, and he realizes this when he discovers that the girls did not see what he did, and that they are gone

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1201
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)