Is this story fact or fiction?"A&P" by John Updike

One of America's most prolific writers, John Updike
reportedly remarked that he wrote "A&P" in 1961 when he was living in Ipswich,
Massachussetts.  Driving past the A&P, which at that time was the
grocery store franchise of America, Updike asked himself, "Why are there no
stories that take place inside an A&P?"  He proceeded, then, to write one, based
upon a glimpse that he had in the store of some girls shopping in the aisles clad only
in bathing suits. "They looked strikingly naked," Updike remarked. Originally, the story
ended with Sammy going down to the beach to find the girls, but Updike's editor felt
that it should end where it does now; Updike agreed.

So,
while Updike's story is based upon a real incident, is not factual about the main
character, Sammy.  However, the readers' identification with Sammy lends it much
verisimilitude. Its common themes of teen angst and accepting the repercussions of one's
actions give Sammy's thoughts and actions much resemblance to those of many teens,
including Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in
the Rye.