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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. The narrator states that when his parents do serve alcoholic beverages at a party, they serve what?

2. Sammy spouts a nonsense word that he attributes to which family member?

3. Sammy says that once a person uses the cash register enough, "it begins to make a little" (21) what?

4. Stokesie takes what action deliberately and quietly?

5. As the young woman referred to as "Queenie" (5) answers Lengel, she takes what action?

Short Essay Questions

1. Which comment of Lengel's causes the young woman dubbed "Queenie" (5) to get angry rather than embarrassed?

2. Of what crime does Sammy accuse Lengel when he quits?

3. Describe an example of Updike's use of metaphor within the story.

4. What unique form of imagery does Updike create to depict Queenie's anger at Lengel's words?

5. Why does Sammy use haste when saying "I quit" (22) the first time?

6. How does the young woman dubbed "Queenie" (5) by Sammy react to Lengel's actions?

7. In what way does Updike use the animal motif within the customers' reaction to the scene involving Lengel and the young women?

8. How is repetition utilized within Paragraph 21?

9. How is the theme of family bonds depicted within Sammy's reply to Lengel's claim about the harm inflicted by the young women?

10. For what reason and in what manner does Lengel confront the three young women in the store?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is Updike’s message concerning the link between integrity and suffering?

Essay Topic 2

How is the topic of masculinity treated within Updike’s story and how does its treatment relate to the story's depicted messages?

Essay Topic 3

William Faulkner once famously claimed that the most important literature deals with the subject of the human heart in conflict with itself. Explain how the theme of Human versus Self is demonstrated within Updike’s story “A and P.” Create a decisive, arguable claim and prove it with quotes from the story.

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