“A & P,” by John Updike
Discussion Questions
What is your favorite line in this story? Why?
(My favorite: “ ‘That’s all right, Lengel said. ‘But this isn’t the beach.’ His repeating this struck me as funny, as
if it had just occurred to him, and he had been thinking all these years the A & P was a great big dune and he
was the head lifeguard. He didn’t like my smiling – as I say he doesn’t miss much – but he concentrates on
giving the girls that sad Sunday-school-superintendent stare.”)
One of the elements I enjoy most about this piece is its detailed narration, in particular the way Updike uses
details to show rather than tell that this takes place in Massachusetts. What are some particularly “local”
details that you notice? What are some other types of details that really make the story work for you?
Does Sammy do the right thing when he quits his job at the end of the story? Do you consider this act noble
or stupid? Why? Do you think John Updike intends to glorify Sammy’s actions, or to make them look stupid?
Obviously Sammy thinks the girls will consider his act noble – he refers to himself as “their unsuspected hero”
– but does he change his mind by the end of the story? In what ways is this a coming-of-age moment?
English 11 Honors: American Literature
Mr. Ambrose
And now some college-level questions, courtesy of the English Department at Creighton University:
Is Sammy's quitting a form of rebellion or a statement of some sort? Does it have any meaning? What is he
rebelling against? Are there unconscious targets of his rebellion? Who is the enemy here? Are there any forms
of oppression at work in the story? Who is oppressed (or "embarrassed" for that matter)? Is Sammy's standing
up for the girls in some way a form of standing up for himself?
On what phenomena is Updike commenting in this short story? What's the connection between sexual
titillation, a chain grocery store, and a rebel without a cause? What makes Sammy quit? Why was he not so
sad about it? Why was the world going to be so difficult for him now? Is Sammy fully aware of the character
and implications of his gesture?
What tensions are at work in the story's situation? What kind of business is the A&P? What do the attitudes of
the manager reveal about his character and that of the business that he manages? What ethic is at work here?
(remember this is New England). Does the story take place in a traditional, capitalist, or mixed socioeconomic
environment? Keeping in mind that the story was first published in 1962, what social processes, tensions, and
changes become evident from the situation described? How does the girls' behavior relate to the issue of the
changing faces and adaptations of capitalism?
Is the girls behavior itself a kind of statement or rebellion of some sort? What message are they sending by
walking into the A&P in their bathing suits? What messages do they girls send through the commodities which
they pick? Why is it significant that they choose a supermarket for their self-display? What does this suggest
regarding the character of the human body in a commercial society? Are the girls' bodies in some way
commodified in the supermarket environment? Is this a willing choice or an effect of the environment they
find themselves in? What is significant about the language Sammy uses to describe the girls' bodies? Why does
the store manager oppose the girls' behavior? Is this a technical (i.e. insurance considerations) or a moral issue
for him? Should he be more concerned with making his customers happy? Are different sets of values clashing
here? Is the commodifying of the self presented in a sense as a sort of liberation from the oppression of
traditional values? Are there generational conflicts represented in the story? Are those conflicts related to
socioeconomic ones? Are the younger generations pushing for different (more liberal) models of economic
behavior?
What social class issues/conflicts become apparent in the story? Is Queenie an upper class girl? What does
Sammy think? How does he imagine her life? How does he contrast his own existence to that of Queenie? Is
Queenie her real name? What does Sammy know for a fact about her? What does her behavior reveal? Why
does Sammy imagine her to be of higher class? How is that supposition related to his later actions? What in a
sense is he trying to achieve by impressing Queenie?
What is the significance of the difference between and the different effects of fluorescent light and sunlight in
the story? How are the different types of light connected to different visions and ways of understanding?
What is the artificial light symbolic of? What does Sammy realize as soon as he steps out of the store and into
the sunshine? What illusions/delusions was Sammy a victim of while inside the store? What images await him
in the outside? How do they relate to Sammy's encounter with the girls?
Is the consciousness of the author (Updike) the same as that of the narrator (Sammy)? What does Updike
suggest concerning Sammy's limitations of perception and understanding? What does Updike know that
Sammy doesn't?
English 11 Honors: American Literature
Mr. Ambrose