The two stories, "A and P", and "Where are you going, where have you been"" are very similar in the perspective that they are coming of age stories. While Oates and Updike write from different points of view, they are still writing on the same theme. The main characters in the stories are Connie and Sammy. They are very typical american high school students, Sammy is obsessed with girls looks and in a way so is Connie. Connie is not as obsessed about other girl's appearance as much as her own. Like most teenage girls she tries to make herself older than she really is. In the two stories both Connie and Sammy learn important life lessons that will change the way they view life and the opposite sex.

In "A and P" Sammy is a 19 year old cashier at the grocery store, A&P. Sammy wanted to...