Essay Assignment “A&P”
This is a 1500-word critical essay. It analyzes the story, looking at the parts to see how each functions within the whole. You paper has a thesis or, in your parlance, a point that it’s trying to make about the story. I’m looking for a paper that can utilize and explain the elements in the story as they relate to your thesis. Use the literary terms as they apply to the story: plot, antagonist, protagonist, motivation, point of view, unreliable narrator, theme, symbols, historical setting, physical setting., etc. Again, your paper should address as many as these parts of the paper and their thematic and possible symbolic function: the girls, sheep, the descriiptions of the townspeople, the town itself, Sammy’s contempt for the people, his admiration of the girls, first person point of view, unreliable narrator, Stoksie, Lengel, the motivation for Sammy’s quitting, the last line of the story, the ocean, the fantasy scene, and whatever else you see. Look for contrasts and comparisons. BUT FIRST AND FOREMOST READ THE STORY CLOSELY. HAVE IT NEXT TO YOU WHEN WRITING THE ESSAY. One possible theme is to answer the question as to why Sammy quit. Another is how sexuality disturbs order but in suppressing it one pays a price. Another is that Sammy is simply a naïve 19 year old with big dreams and little sense of the real world he will have to enter.
Possible ideas to explore
• Is Sammy a hero, already mentioned above.
• Sammy quits because …
• How do plot, setting, and character support the theme of person versus society?
• Coming of age and recognizing actions have consequences
• Rebellion versus conforming.
• Individuality versus the social norm.
• Sammy is a naïve dreamy boy who knows little of the responsible world. Here you would have to first establish the theme of individuality.
• Class
• Compare and contrast Sammy with the main character from “Kansas”. This would be a longer paper
• The relation between sexuality and order and its implication for the individual as expressed through the text.
• Sammy as sexist pig
To emphasize: Your paper should consider the function of the following within your main idea:
Sammy’s comments about the townspeople, especially the one introduced in the beginning of the story, and the attitude they reveal
The town, what its descriiption represents
The girls, especially Sammy’s fascination of Queenie, and the contrast between them and the townspeople
The fact that Sammy is an unreliable narrator, that Sammy is telling the story. What does that say about his observations? Keep this in mind. It’s important.
The ocean
Lengel
Stoksie, as foil
A&P
Order
Sheep
The girls’ behavior while in the store
The dialogue between Lengel and Sammy
Sammy’s fantasy of the Queenie’s parents cocktail party compared to his parents’ idea of a wild time
The naming of brands
The time of the story
Sammy’s naivete (he does not know what a martini is, he thinks herring is a fancy snack served at upscale cocktail parties
Why life is going to be hard for Sammy hereafter
