A&P by John Updike
Answer the following questions. Please use complete sentences and rephrase the questions.
1. How accurate are Sammy’s judgments about the other characters? Use evidence from the text. How might the characters be portrayed if the story were told by Lengel?
2. Is the supermarket setting vital to the story? Why or why not? Could the story have been set in a car wash? In a fast-food restaurant? In a business office? Would these settings have the same effect?
3. What is the point of view of the story? Who is the narrator?
4. What rules and conventions are customers expected to follow in a supermarket? How does the behavior of Queenie and her friends violate these rules? Use evidence from the text.
5. At the very end of the story, Updike has Sammy describe his customers figuratively as pigs and sheep. Why do you think he does this? What does this choice reveal about Sammy’s attitude toward them, and toward the adult ways of living he is on the verge of? Use evidence from the text.