A&P Assignment 1

Roth ENGL 2341

Assignment #1: Questions on Updike’s “A&P”

1) Notice how artfully Updike arranges details to set the story in a perfectly ordinary supermarket. What details stand out for you as particularly true to life? What does this close attention to detail contribute to the story?

2) What part of the story seems to be the exposition (opening portion that sets the scene, introduces the main characters, tells us what happened before the story opened, and provides any other background information that we need in order to understand and care about the events to follow)? Of what value to the story is the carefully detailed portrait of Queenie, the leader of the three girls?

3) Where in “A&P” does the dramatic conflict become apparent? What moment in the story brings the crisis? What is the climax of the story?

4) Why, exactly, does Sammy quit his job?

5) What do you understand from the conclusion of the story? What does Sammy mean when he acknowledges “how hard the world was going to be … hereafter”?

6) What comment does Updike, through Sammy, make on supermarket society?