What is the mood of John Updike's "A & P?"

The mood of the story is how the author makes the reader
feel.

The mood of John Updike's "A & P" is that of
wonder, at first, and later, of sadness and
resignation.

Sammy is the name of the narrator of the
story. He describes the day when three girls come to the grocery store where he works in
their bathing suits. One of the girls he describes as queen-like: in the way she walks,
carries herself and turns her head.

This may simply be his
perception, but he is as taken with her as any boy his age is taken with a pretty girl:
he follows her progress through the store, noticing even how her feet hit the floor as
she walks. To him, this unnamed girl is simply
amazing.

When the three girls make their way to the front
of the store, Sammy is lucky enough to wait on them. After he rings up their purchase,
the manager chastises the girls for entering the store in bathing suits instead of
regular street clothes.

After the girls leave, Sammy feels
he must speak up for them, defend them for some reason, even though they have already
left. It is here that the mood begins to change. Sammy defends the girls on principle.
The manager, a friend of the family explains the rule, but Sammy cannot and will not
listen: he quits on the spot.

Even as he leaves, he knows
that he will regret the move. He also knows, somehow in his heart, that things will
never be the same for him. He has turned a corner that has taken him from his innocent
youth, one step closer to being a man. The deed has been done, which makes him kind of
sad, but he is resigned to it, almost as if he knows this is the natural way of
things.