The prompt you assign shapes the essay you receive, and "A&P" supports a wide range of questions. A prompt that asks only why Sammy quits tends to produce plot summaries with a thin opinion at the end. A prompt that asks students to evaluate whether his choice is courageous or self-serving produces arguments with real tension. Choosing prompts deliberately also makes grading easier, because the criteria follow naturally from the question.

Prompts generally fall into four families for this story. Character prompts focus on Sammy's motives, evaluative prompts ask students to judge his decision, craft prompts examine voice and diction, and thematic prompts connect the story to ideas about conformity, class, or adolescence. Each family calls for slightly different grading criteria. Matching your rubric to the family keeps feedback targeted instead of generic.

It also helps to vary prompt difficulty across classes. Students working on grade level may need a more guided question, such as asking them to explain how Sammy's attitude toward customers shapes his decision. Advanced classes can handle open prompts that invite them to challenge a common reading. In both cases, the grading criteria can remain consistent while the expectations for depth shift.

Character and Motive Prompts

A classic character prompt asks what truly motivates Sammy to quit. Strong responses weigh several possibilities, including his attraction to the girls, his irritation with Lengel, and his desire to see himself as someone who stands up for others. Grade these essays on how well students support a multi-part explanation instead of picking a single reason. Papers that acknowledge competing motives usually show a more mature understanding of the character.

• Character: What does Sammy's decision reveal about how he sees himself?
• Evaluative: Is Sammy's choice admirable, foolish, or both?
• Craft: How does Updike's use of humor shape our view of the customers?
• Thematic: What does the story suggest about authority and individual choice?
• Setting: How does the supermarket function as a symbol of conformity?

Evaluative and Argument Prompts

Evaluative prompts ask students to take a position and defend it. These are well suited for building argumentative writing skills because the story leaves room for disagreement about whether Sammy's act is meaningful. Grading should focus on the clarity of the position, the use of textual evidence, and the willingness to address a counterargument. A student who ignores the other side of the debate has usually written a weaker essay even if the writing is clean.

Teachers can make expectations explicit by including a short checklist with the prompt. Students might be asked to include at least three specific pieces of evidence and one paragraph that considers an opposing view. This transparency removes guesswork and makes grading more objective. It also reduces the number of papers that miss the assignment because the question was misunderstood.

Craft and Language Prompts

Craft prompts push students to examine how the story is told. Asking how Updike uses figurative language to describe the girls, or how Sammy's casual diction creates humor, requires close reading. Grade these essays for the specificity of the language students identify and the clarity of their explanation of its effect. Many students need practice here, so feedback should model what a strong sentence of analysis looks like.

Because craft essays rely on small details, they are particularly sensitive to weak commentary. A student may list vivid phrases without explaining what each one accomplishes. Comments that ask what the phrase makes the reader feel or assume can open up the analysis. These short prompts in the margins often do more than a lengthy paragraph of general advice.

Thematic and Comparative Prompts

Thematic prompts connect "A&P" to larger ideas such as conformity, class, or the transition from adolescence to adulthood. They work best when students are required to ground their discussion in specific moments instead of speaking in generalities. Evaluate how well the paper moves between the broad idea and the textual evidence. A strong essay returns to the text repeatedly rather than treating the theme as a stand-alone statement.

Comparative prompts, which pair the story with another text, are more demanding and should be graded accordingly. Look for a clear basis of comparison, balanced treatment of both works, and an insight that could not be reached by reading either text alone. Because these essays are longer, a rubric with defined levels for synthesis saves considerable time. Using the same criteria across classes also makes results easier to compare.