A&P
The narrator of "A&P"
Who is Sammy?
Leon and Louise's grandfather, Teofilo
Who is the man to send rain clouds?
He was killed in a railroad disaster
What we think happened to Brently Mallard? (before the story's end)
The minister's family, including Robert
Whom did the narrator's mother invite to Christmas Eve dinner?
The author of "Reunion"
Who is John Cheever?
The author of "A&P"
Who is John Updike?
Where the story takes place
What is Laguna Pueblo?
Everyone treats her like she is helpless, even though she really wants more self-possession.
Why is Louise Mallard's heart condition important?
"He was not Chinese, but as white as Mary in the manger. I prayed for this blond-haired boy, and a slim new American nose"
What is the opening evidence that the narrator is not comfortable with the Chinese aspects of her identity and she desires to be identified as a white American?
"As soon as I saw him I felt that he was my father, my flesh and blood, my future and my doom. I knew that when I was grown I would be something like him; I would have to plan my campaigns within his limitations... I was terribly happy to see him again."
What is subtext?
The narrator has mixed feelings about his father, and about the person he expects to become. The narrator feels his identity is not entirely his to control.
What is five miles?
He is a Catholic priest and Teofilo wasn't given Last Rites or a funeral mass. Also, he now knows that Leon and Ken weren't fully honest with him earlier in the day.
Why Father Paul initially refuses to bring his holy water to the burial?
The literary device in this quote:
"No, she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window."
What is a metaphor? Also, an allusion.
Her feelings are compared to an drink that would extend human life or possibly make a person immortal.
Effect: she is finally feeling excited to live and have a future that totally belongs to her
The literary device that is the beige tweed miniskirt.
What is a symbol?
The skirt, which the narrator's mom gives her, along with a lesson, "Your only shame is to have shame" represents the limits of how the narrator can shape her identity to conform.
Effect: We understand that she can appear like other American girls, but she will always carry her inherited identity inside her, and she has to come to terms with that
The significance of this quote:
"She turned him loose -at last. Roger looked at the door -looked at the woman -looked at the door -and went to the sink."
What is subtext?
Roger has been resisting the woman's physical force, but now that she has released him, he can choose what he wants to do. Running away would continue his resistance. He chooses to stay and listen to her rather than keep resisting. The woman shows him trust when she releases him, and he returns that trust by staying with her for dinner
The significance of this quote:
"That's policy for you. Policy is what the kingpins want. What the others want is juvenile delinquency."
How does Sammy see life as an A&P clerk?
He is an "other" not a kingpin. If he doesn't follow policy, then he's going to be regarded as a juvenile delinquent.
"He was happy about the sprinkling of the holy water; now the old man could send them big thunderclouds for sure"
How Leon feels after he faces the discomfort of including the priest in his grandfather's funeral?
The significance of this quote:
"And yet she had loved him.... What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being!"
How did Louise Mallard feel about her husband?
NOTE: she did love him, but this story is about her realizing that she wanted to love herself more than she wanted to be a wife
The literary device in this quote:
"I would've liked to have know her, a wild, horse of a woman, so wild she wouldn't marry."
What is metaphor?
Effect: in comparing her great-grandmother to a horse, the narrator conveys a sense of respect for her power and spirit. Wild horses are hard to tame; the comparison implies that being married is like being tamed. The narrator identifies with this wild spirit and does not want to inherit the experience of being "tamed" that is also part of her ancestral identity
The significance of this statement:
Sometime it is difficult to fathom someone's kindness, especially when people don't trust each other. However, kindness is a good way to build trust.
What is a theme of "Thank You Ma'am"?
The literary device in this quote:
"All of a sudden I slid right down her voice into her living room."
What is an indirect metaphor?
Effect: Sammy is comparing his reaction to Queenie's voice to riding down a slide into an imaginary scene that contrasts the setting of the A&P.
Significance: Sammy fully realizes the difference between his quality of life and the life the girls must come from
The literary device in this quote:
"The water fell though the light from sundown like August rain that fell while the sun was still shining"
What is a simile comparing this moment (at sundown during a winter burial) when the priest actively connects with his parish to a time when there was more light, warmth, and growth?
Effect: this is a small but significant moment of something good happening in the midst of sadness and dying light. A new thing has grown out of a death.
The figurative device in this quote:
"There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully.... But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air."
What is personification?
Effect: her abstract feelings of fear are given more detail as a personified "something" that creeps and reaches -as if someone is trying to physically take control of her (ironically, it's her autonomy and freedom, which initially scares her -she's never been free to be her own person before)
The literary device in this quote:
"It [my name] is the Mexican records my father plays... songs like sobbing"
What is both a metaphor and a simile?
Effect: The simile supports the specific quality of the metaphor. Both comparisons negatively connect the narrator's name to her national and ethnic identity (Mexican is a nationality that represents several different ethnicities, like American!). Her dislike for her name in this descriptive comparison implies that she doesn't like the way her heritage shapes her.
The name of the narrator of "Reunion"
Who is Charlie?