Porter vs. Peden’s Critiques of John Updike’s “A&P”

Discuss and compare the critiques of John Updike’s short story “A&P” provided by M. Gilbert Porter and William Peden.

Porter disagrees with William Peden’s assessment of “A&P,” which Peden calls “nonsense” for being concerned with “nothing more significant than a checking clerk’s interest in three girls in bathing suits.” (Peden’s remark, by the way, appears in Porter’s final footnote to the original version of Porter’s essay, not the version you have.) Which of the two critics do you think better understands the story?