"A&P" Analysis

[@alejandrovinas3770]

This video is nearly 8 years old and still helping out students like me write essays on short stories!! Thank you for this analysis, it gave me a much deeper understanding on a good pieces of literature.

[@iren.emil.canada5935]

How can write refence?

[@NiniThomass]

You are a life savor to us AP English Students I am telling you. Keep doing what you are doing ! We love you !!

[@leamariebutcher]

You are reading this in an AP English class? I can reading it in an Acc. English and Communications high school class as a sophomore...guess AP English will be easy for me.

[@NiniThomass]

leabutcher AP, honors or not , everyone reads this. At least in my state and district . But depending on the person and assignment that is given to you determines the difficulty of the passage . Non honors/ap is not required to go as in depth as ap/honors. My class is collecting as many of john updike's pieces of literature as possible , then writing a DBQ , having all these short stories and some of his books as references and sources, then specifically with A&P we will be doing a 6 page essay analyzing his literary devices , concept , theme , tone , blah blah lol moral of story is , depends on the person , and education system . This video makes it really convenient

[@AriyaaLaine]

same but not AP 10 grade English2 prep

[@prestonwolterman656]

I’m here because of heather traeger

[@sheepapple7985]

yall r in highschool!? im doing this in 8 grade wtf

[@j.c.heckmaniii5210]

THANK YOU just deleted three pages of my essay and am going a completely different approach now. Really gave me a new understanding of this short story.

[@jacob2197]

I was staring at a blank sheet in Microsoft word for hours until you perfectly dissected AnP for me. Now i have a clear idea of the plot and theme, here I go. Thanks a bunch!!!

[@WhoWhatWhereNow]

Your analyses are amazing. Thank you so much for what you do!

[@SixMinuteScholar]

You're welcome!

[@beesknees5351]

I just wrote an analysis essay about this and what I took from it was a theme of the way women are treated differently from men; they are more scrutinized and their influence and worth is often based on their attractiveness and sexuality. Sammy hyper-focuses on the looks and physicality of the girls, yet we do not get a single physical description of a man in the story. Also, the difference in Sammy’s attitude towards the three girls versus the older woman at the beginning (the “witch”) and the other women he describes ( the “houseslaves” and the women with “varicose veins”) in the story shows how heavily a girl’s value is based upon how attractive she is. I doubt Sammy would have stood up for the girls if they had been older or more unattractive. Also, I did not think that Sammy quitting his job was noble or kind. He quit because he wanted to be the girls’ “unsuspected hero” and hoped that they would see him do it and thank him. Sammy’s last line of how his life will be harder now also reflects the idea of how men and women differ. He chose to speak against his boss and chose to quit and thinks of how hard his life will now be, yet he fails to acknowledge that the girls did nothing to bring on Lengel’s ridicule and did not ask for this hardship. They were criticized simply because they are viewed in a sexual way by the men of the story. What do you think of this idea? My english teacher said that this isn’t the correct way to view the story and that I’m too focused on a feminist view of it, which I don’t agree with haha. I’d love to hear your opinion. :)

[@tenorcenter]

My teacher told us to read this story while keeping in mind the idea of gender roles, so you may be right in that aspect.

[@victoriasamson6243]

I agree with this I would love to read your analysis

[@marianarocha5400]

When I first read it I found Sammy to be creepy type of pervert. The way he thinks of the girls. Calling Queenie boobs vanilla ice cream… ugh. How old are these girls?! To me they sound like preteens due to the fact they didn’t give that much attitude to the manager and they said their mom send them over, I don’t think they are older than 15. Which to me, makes Sammy even nastier. I also agree that he was trying to get their attention by quitting and when they didn’t notice him he was like “oh well can’t back out now or I’ll look stupid”.

[@FFAs]

@@marianarocha5400 They are all apparently supposed to be 19. Girls and Sammy too.

[@mividdaaa]

I totally agree with you. frick your English teacher. while reading this sorry as a woman I was completely horrified by sammy's hyper-focused and almost obsessive critiques on women.

[@Revolver1701]

Discontent with your own life opens the door to new possibilities. To step outside the mundane comes with a cost but there is also a cost to staying at the A&P.

[@Tony-tn2dj]

Thank you, professor. This helps me so much. You do commentaries on almost all the essays we are being assigned this semester. You must be a good English professor!

[@lngvly22]

Hmm. I was expecting some info on how to get low prices at A&P. I was not aware there's a story called "A&P".

[@friswy1483]

I was not aware there's a store called A&P

[@Tony-tn2dj]

There used to be back kin the days. I think they all closed now.

[@adamwilson7590]

Great Perspective! I found and listened to the short-story today and it's great to see others give their perspective on it. Thank-you.

[@SixMinuteScholar]

Look at how Sammy describes the girls who walk into the store. Right in the first part, he describes each girl and her swimsuit. Notice everyone's reaction to the girls. These girls stir things up, right? They wouldn't have this effect if they were clothed normally. Their bodies create the story. Sammy is lustful, sure, but he also defends the girls' right to wear swimsuits in the store. He respects their courage even though he doesn't get to know them. Maybe this helps? Hope so!

[@danobrien9947]

Their courage? No. He's just enjoying the show. He expects they'll take him as their hero as he walks outside, as he barely acknowledges a "young married." Think again about the moment Sammy eerily describes as his stomach rubbing against the inside of his apron. Think about the anatomical physics going on there. Again, I really enjoy your work, but you've mistaken the surface for the substance on this story. Thank you for what you do all the same.

[@leenamustafabooks1377]

@@danobrien9947 I think you're right, after he walks out to find them that they are already gone, I think he starts to Regret his actions, espacily when he said that the world is going to be hard.

[@awesomemantroll1088]

If she has to "stick out her lower lip" to keep their swimsuits, that isn't "courageous" in the least.

[@Bookauru]

@@danobrien9947 I agree he also expects “his girls” to be out there waiting for him.

[@oniongames2357]

From a story that seemed kind of weird for the ending, you made it clear as water the meaning behind it. Tysm.

[@dailyhadithguy]

Thanks for this great video! I had read the story but didn't understand what the point was. I appreciate you clearing things up for us :)

[@ALLINKNOTS]

I loved this story since I read it my first year of college- the professor never really analyzed it like this for us. He just made us write an an essay and I must have done well as I got an A in the course, but I never fully understood the significance of it, I just always knew I liked it. Thanks for the analysis.

[@Escko]

Thank you for doing these, you have helped me immensely by making it much easier to digest these short stories, it does not go unnoticed, again thank you so much for these videos.

[@nyaandmya4684]

You are absolutely the BEST! I have passed all my exams based on your Analysis. You are a life saver. Thank you very much! This video may be old but is new to me.

[@kkohler0624]

Hope you didn't just regurgitate everything she said. Learning to find details and analyze on your own is an important skill, and it seems like this professor gives all the answers instead of asking the right questions!

[@melgiveluv]

Great explanation, thank you! We are going over this for my English summer course and the professor linked your video.

[@SixMinuteScholar]

Glad it was helpful!

[@kaelafuller1196]

So grateful you wrote this break down! I had to read this for my english class and didn't understand what the girls themselves represented within the story, or what it was even ultimately about. Your video made SO MUCH SENSE TO ME! Thank you :)

[@anthonyzolanski8775]

Girl, thank you.

[@ShyGuy83]

I read this once in an English class in my community college years. For me, it's one of those stories that gets better and more relevant with time, especially when you are working a job that can get boring sometimes.

[@cheerleadingxx3]

I love watching you because I always have the same thoughts but you catch things I miss every time! Love it!

[@cheesyfudgeballs7171]

Thank you sooooo much, really helped me study for my final!

[@ginnachen2967]

Hi,I am an international student. From my point of view, the language Sammy use was not polite to women. He said "You never know how girl think...." Do you think Sammy is offensively sexist? [In fact, most of Chinese students in my class thought about that, but none of America students mention it.] Also, I am curious that the attitude Sammy have toward to the society (which you mentioned he want to have materialization life as Queenie has) is related to the social phenomenon in 1862?

[@ginnachen2967]

I mean 1962..sorry for mistyping

[@SixMinuteScholar]

You are right! Sammy is sexist. He knows nothing about real women, except his mother who still irons his shirts. But he is not intentionally degrading the girls. He is an honest teenager who accidentally reveals that he has very little experience with girls. Sammy likes the new energy brought by the girls into his life. He sees his town and his job as too small, too conventional. I hope this helps you!

[@SixMinuteScholar]

Good point. Because the story is from the Cold War era, Sammy's vision of the future includes the possibility of Soviet ownership of the A&P. He's looking toward the future in the story -- especially his own. He doesn't want a boring adult life. I'm not seeing a communist view here because Sammy doesn't want everyone to share wealth. He wants wealth. He admires the herring snacks, for example -- a sign of fine dining and high status. He rebels against the conventional. Bank, church=conventional.

[@rehammaqableh13]

Excuse me, Can you explain the short story (The lesson by TONI CADE BAMBARA)?

[@positivenursing]

you are saving me this semester,, literature is a lot of readings and it takes a long to get that right. thank you very much!

[@angie.mci10]

What is the representation of female's bodies in A&P?

[@SixMinuteScholar]

Hope it went well!

[@SixMinuteScholar]

An interesting idea. Queenie certainly inspires Sammy, and she isn't developed enough as a character to have her own goals and full identity. So that fits. It may be that Sammy projects an identity onto her, which also fits. But then, I think he sees her as more of a real person than Lengel does. For Lengel, she is a type. For Sammy, she is an actual girl whom he has observed carefully. I think you could make an argument that Queenie is a MPDG, but I can also see a counter-argument. Thoughts?

[@kkohler0624]

Was an English professor briefly myself, and I still enjoy teaching one-on-one from time to time. I enjoy sharing this story from my own college classes. Never heard "MPDG" before, so that observation was an interesting one.

[@jnet313]

Thank you so much! You give such great insight to help thoroughly understand the story!

[@lextehmex]

Thank you so much for your help and love your videos! I was able to write my essay and complete it. I also watched your video about "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson and it has also helped me! You're a life saver haha :)

[@gabbi2739]

Thank you! Helped me so much

[@SixMinuteScholar]

You're welcome!

[@CharlieDiaz12]

Wow you are amazing

[@tommyget7]

you saved my life

[@SixMinuteScholar]

So glad!

[@darkmkv]

thank you for the detailed explanation!

[@ducebabe1]

what are some motifs of the A&P that I should look out for when reading the story

[@SixMinuteScholar]

I think you can manage this one on your own. Good luck!

[@김혜원-s3n]

Thank you so much. Your analysis is very useful for my writing essay assignment :)

[@FirstReviewer]

Keep Up the Good Works! Much Appreciated. FR

[@carlosgavidia6459]

Thank you. You are always very helpful!

[@charlesgi5058]

great analysis.

[@nickipanetta8839]

this has been super helpful for my college English class thank you!

[@SixMinuteScholar]

You're so welcome! :-)

[@masudalam1985]

I read the story twice, but I didn't understand some Idea. However, when I watched the video it really me a lot what is all about. Thank you so much.......

[@SixMinuteScholar]

masud alam You're welcome! Thanks for your comment!

[@ChibiVampie]

Awesome! Thank you very much, I was able to elaborate even more with some notes I had taken while reading :)

[@SixMinuteScholar]

Great! Sounds like you are doing some good thinking of your own. Yes!! :-)

[@masterbrice]

SixMinuteScholar Brilliant! Thank you!

[@SixMinuteScholar]

You're welcome!

[@chihyiyang7242]

感謝你救了我的英文報告!! this is very helpful for my English report. Thank you very much!

[@DANGJOS]

You have some interesting thoughts that I haven't thought of. thanks

[@alyssafreow8719]

Great Video! So helpful!

[@SixMinuteScholar]

I'm glad!

[@gubadtvlouis8332]

What issues you believe was brought up in this story? For example, Sexism, gender inequality? Please help me, I can't seem to find a clear topic of issue to write about.

[@abisaigarcia1579]

thank you so much for the analysis will help me a lot

[@SixMinuteScholar]

You're welcome!

[@SixMinuteScholar]

Cool! You're welcome.

[@carlottabuceti898]

very good and precise analysis !

[@SixMinuteScholar]

carlotta buceti Thanks!

[@avapirie3177]

thank you so much! we had to read this in honors English and I really wasn't understanding it, but this helped a lot! :)

[@hebrewhammer1000]

Thank you! I really enjoyed the analysis.

[@SixMinuteScholar]

Zane Atkins I am glad! You're welcome. :-)

[@alexwise41]

Thank you! this helped so much.

[@delalhammouri9022]

thank you so much for the video💚 you are helping me a lot while studying for my exams

[@SixMinuteScholar]

delal hammouri Oh good! Good luck with your exams!

[@jimenavilla4534]

thank you very much :) i have a quiz over A and P tomorrow !

[@SixMinuteScholar]

Aww . . . thanks! You're welcome!

[@paoladelvillar5817]

Thank you so much !!! great explanation.

[@kelseyt2979]

Do you view Queenie as a Manic Pixie Dream Girl?

[@zeldris478]

Thank you for this video, madam.

[@PiznesPiznes]

Thank you for your videos!

[@SixMinuteScholar]

You're welcome! Glad you are enjoying them!

[@PiznesPiznes]

SixMinuteScholar Helped me to be prepared for essays)) Danke!)

[@SixMinuteScholar]

Tim Kurb I'm so glad this was useful to you!

[@zioncampbell5312]

Thank you so much! this really helped me out.

[@courtneyjones7582]

Thank you!!

[@Marmin18]

thank you! that was wonderful!

[@maria-xw3ob]

THank you!!!

[@elim7026]

Very Helpful!!

[@SixMinuteScholar]

I'm glad!

[@kennethtice4729]

THIS IS ABOUT OCEAN GROVE, NEW JERSEY I THINK.

[@sylky6900]

reading this in 9th grade, thanks for help.

[@WvyyFPS]

great video

[@SixMinuteScholar]

SoaR Wvyy Thanks!

[@lilmocha117]

Very well explained...thanks

[@SixMinuteScholar]

You're welcome. :-)

[@d2nt3]

Thanks for your insight

[@cindyrhodes]

Thank you!

[@mugiwaravace1172]

Very helpful

[@SixMinuteScholar]

Onandi Brooks I'm glad!

[@mairimrossini4574]

Omg thank you so much!😭❤️

[@pnovaz]

beautiful thank you

[@sujataacharya4979]

THANK YOU SOO MUCH

[@fethiyaaden8284]

One of the best thumbs up for u 🔑

[@danobrien9947]

With absolute and full respect: I am shocked. I usually love your videos. I like to hear an informed point of view on stories I teach myself, see if I have any gaps, etc. You missed the point of this story, entirely. You fell for the set-up. The tone (masked by a seemingly charming but unreliable narrator) and reality (his attitudes aren't much less grotesque than the butcher sizing up the girls' joints as they walk by) are at odds all the way through the story! Lengel is respectful and correct here. Even Sammy admits that the rules are reasonable when he's not paying as much attention to his fevered thoughts. You don't even address Sammy's resentment of his customers or the profusion of horribly objectifying and patronizing language in the guise of defending the girls. Love your videos, and I will continue to watch them, I'm sure, but you really missed the mark on this one.

[@joedelilo5608]

I don't think there is any indication that the protagonist it ready to face the choice he made at the end of this story. The implications of this story are a bit larger than what you've offered, and one of the largest implications is that Sammy is decidedly NOT ready to face the choice he made. There is a reason that he doesn't see the girls when he exits the A&P, and that reason is that the girls don't exist. The regulations of the world, here in microcosim, actively seek to eliminate what these girls represent. What we see in the supermarket is a kind of failed coup. The girls come in, radically different than the other shoppers and the moment they do, every shopper has a choice, and it's the same choice that Sammy has. It's business as usual, or it's something else. They can accept these girls into their world, or they can actively close them off from their world. The A&P chooses not to embrace them, the shoppers can hardly look at them, and the coup fails. Sammy doesn't accept this. He speaks out, feeling deep within himself the themes of the story, expecting that others may join him in his dissent, expecting that this very, very mild revolution may still be salvaged. But by his exhibitionism of publicly quitting, the shoppers are as off-put as they had been by the girls in their bathing suits. Nobody speaks out, nobody wants the world to be hard on them hereafter. Sammy goes out, leaves the store, but the girls aren't there. This does not surprise him. How could the girls be there? He just witnessed what happens to people like these girls; they are told by the powers that be to dissappear, they are told to change. Not to mention the fact that the girls could not exist as revolutionaries outside of the A&P. The second the walk through the door, and this is really crucial, they become ordinary girls in bathing suits. The grocery manager, in telling them to leave, has made them into ordinary girls. The whole world is agaisnt Sammy and these girls, and we see a parody of this theme at the end with the baby crying, refusing to behave after having been refused candy. The mother is described as shouting at the kid, and here the mother is the world and we have another demonstation through this description of the baby crying of the world vs rogue agents. He quit his job, and now sees the kin of his plight not in the form of attractive girls, but in the form of a baby. At the end of the story we see the strength of the world, and we know that Sammy has gone against it's grain. He knows it too. There is no optimism whatsoever at the end of this story.

[@renideni9774]

wow thank you so much

[@rubylynngonzales4689]

Yay thank you for this Analysis! (:

[@SixMinuteScholar]

You're welcome!

[@CaptainCheech]

You truly have exemplary teeth.

[@TheJiggaNasty]

Is there an underlining message regarding communism? In that part where Sammie says something about predicting how one day a&p could be called Alexander tea company... Something like that... when he looked outside Sammie describes seeing bank, church... I

[@7abali803]

You are a gift from GOD

[@Shhhhh19976]

Thank u sooo much

[@MsLH208]

Thks!!

[@SAIRAKhan-ft3ps]

You are good

[@Kasec23]

Crystal Balls to the future.

[@BataviaDispereertNiet]

I thought you were a dude watching the frontpage

[@Anastazjaaaaaaa]

Thank you💜

[@paoladelvillar5817]

Thank you so much !!! great explanation.