A&P

Throughout the story, Sammy invents a narrative about the girl he names Queenie. Although he knows nothing about her except how she looks from his perspective, he creates an entire explanation of her life, background, and predilections that lends meaning to her actions in the grocery store. What does the narrator’s story about the girl and her friends tell us about his beliefs and values? Consider these points as you reflect on the text to answer the question:

• How does the narrator view the people in his town? Does he feel he is like them?
• What is the narrator’s socio-economic status? How do you know this?
• What does the narrator imagine to be the story behind the girls’ trip to the store?
• What does the narrator want for his future and how does he try to get it?

Teaching Suggestion: Because Sammy’s observations of the people around him are quick, colorful, and often amusing, readers may accept them as objectively accurate. Asking them to track the assumptions he makes about everyone during the story and then encouraging them to challenge his assumptions with a plausible alternative explanation can show them the power of a narrator to shape a reader’s judgment, and the importance of a reader to question a narrator’s reliability. This may also help them as they prepare for the “Unreliable Narration” activity that follows.

Differentiation Suggestion: Students who benefit from assistance with structured writing might find it helpful to utilize a graphic organizer that includes a column to note statements about the people living in the narrator’s town, a column to note the story the narrator invents about the girls, and a column to note what the narrator wants in his own life. Alternatively, students could be grouped and work together to focus on just one of the bullet points listed in the question above, with each group then sharing out loud to build a communal understanding of the narrator’s beliefs and values.