A&P

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What are some typical reactions individuals experience when they feel out of place or at odds with their surroundings? What might they do or say in this situation? Write a few sentences that describe the actions and reactions you have noticed in yourself and others when this occurs and how they were received by others.

Teaching Suggestion: If your students cannot think of a time they experienced this personally, you might suggest they think of a time they witnessed another person who did something at odds with their surroundings. Consider listing a few examples from your own life as a springboard, such as wearing the wrong item of clothing, going to the wrong address, clapping at the wrong moment during a musical performance, etc. Students might benefit from sharing their experience with a partner or a small group first, and then you might ask for volunteers to share their experiences with the whole group. At the close of this opening activity, you might ask students whether conforming to public perceptions of correct behavior is always helpful. Make a list of examples generated from the class of times when conformity is useful and not. Student input may create the opportunity to introduce a connected theme like Conformity and Individualism.

• “The Price of an Organized Society: Conformity in the 1960s” from The Saturday Evening Post, August 2010, provides helpful context for the tension between Conformity and Individualism in the first half of the 1960s, when John Updike published “A&P.”
• John Updike published “The Individual” in The Atlantic in the last years of his life. This brief piece includes his thoughts on the importance of individualism in democracy.

2. Consumerism refers to the concept that an ever-expanding consumption of goods is advantageous to the economy and therefore to society. Do you agree with this concept? How does consumerism affect the lives of people who do—or do not—have enough money to consume required goods?

Teaching Suggestion: To assist students who may not know how to approach the first question on consumerism, consider asking the class to write down a list of items that cost a lot of money that most families own or want to own (for example, a flat-screen TV, a dishwasher, a car, a smartphone for each member, etc.). Then ask them to make a checkmark next to the truly optional items and those that are truly essential (for example, perhaps if a family lives in a big city they do not need a car because they can walk everywhere). Then, in pairs, ask students to share their lists and discuss what happens to a family who cannot buy the items on the list that are essential. Ask them to consider the role of consumerism in the lives of those with and without sufficient funds. Open the discussion up to the whole group by asking for volunteers to share one idea discussed in their pairs.

• “A Brief History of Consumer Culture” from The MIT Press Reader takes a critical look at how capitalism redefined the 20th century by molding the ordinary person into a consumer with an urge to acquire material goods.
• This blog post from Investopedia defines consumerism and discusses the pros and cons of consumerism from an economic perspective.

Short Activity

“A&P” tells the story of a teenager in the 1960s living in the Northeast who is bored with his dreary, middle-class life and dreams of an exciting future of possibility and wealth. Imagine you were a teenager in the 1960s living in a low-income community. What careers would likely be available to you? What choices would you have to shift to a higher social class? Brainstorm a list of possible jobs and futures for boys and girls during this era. Share your list with peers to see how they compare.

Teaching Suggestion: To help students prepare for this activity, ask them what they know about life in the 1960s. What were some major social and political events that occurred during that decade? Students might mention President John F. Kennedy, The Vietnam War, or the civil rights movement. Ask them to imagine what it was like to be a teenager then, what teenagers were rebelling against, and how. Students may discuss these questions with peers before embarking on the Short Activity.

• This website, “The Sixties: Moments in Time” from the Public Broadcasting Service, features a timeline of key events taking place during the 1960s which may help students contextualize their understanding of life during this decade.
• This brief encyclopedia article from Cengage, “The 1960s Lifestyles and Social Trends,” provides a summary of the cultural trends affecting life in the 1960s.
• “The 60s Teen” is a brief, informal blog post describing high school life in the 1960s, including music, fashion, media, politics, and popular dances.

Differentiation Suggestion: For students who are English learners, this activity could be completed as homework by providing the articles listed above as pre-reading assignments prior to the class-based activity described above. Visual learners might enjoy the chance to create a poster showing a timeline of key events in the 1960s or a sketch of a classic teenager from that era. Students needing support with the organization of ideas may benefit from a blank table to fill out with information about life for teenagers during this era.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the novel.

Have you ever tried to change something about your life–either in big ways or small? What did you want to change, and why? Did it work? If this experience is not familiar to you, imagine what it would be like to experience a major change, such as where you live, future plans, or family life. What might be difficult about this experience? What might be positive about it?

Teaching Suggestion: If students have trouble recalling a personal experience of change, consider suggesting a few examples of life changes that people might experience such as choosing to immigrate to the US from another country, deciding to change jobs or home locations, or even simply changing classes or teachers. Consider providing an example from your own life if you have one, especially involving a job change or alteration in career plans. Divide students into pairs or small groups, ask them to choose one of these examples, and to write down the elements of the experience that might be difficult, as well as those that might be positive. Student input in this discussion may create additional opportunities to further discuss the connected themes of Conformity and Individualism, Growing Up, and Discontent With Class Status.

“Why Embracing Change Is the Key to a Good Life” is an essay from The Collection at the BBC on the importance of accepting change for a better life. This may assist with the Personal Connection prompt for students needing additional support coming up with examples of change.