A&P is short for the Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, and it is a chain of grocery stores on the East Coast of America.
Diet Delight Peaches are canned peaches in a syrup made with saccharine instead of sugar. With today's juice-packed fruits, they are no longer available.
Schlitz is a low-cost brand of beer.
1. What is the setting of the story?
2. What kind of narrator does the story have?
3. Vocabulary: "can" (paragraph 1) this is slang, so you might not
find it; prim (paragraph 5), joints (paragraph 11), chute, (paragraph 30), asphalt
(paragraph 31)
A John Updike homepage: http://userpages.prexar.com/joyerkes/
The New York Times Updike page. Who would have thought? http://www.nytimes.com/books/00/11/19/specials/updike.html
The New York Review of Books Updike page: http://www.nybooks.com/authors/158
Audio interview with Updike: http://wiredforbooks.org/johnupdike/
Links to Literature Updike page: http://www.linkstoliterature.com/updike.htm
Salon interview with Updike: http://www.salon.com/08/features/updike.html
Joyce Carol Oates (lesson 10) on Updike: http://www.usfca.edu/fac-staff/southerr/onupdike.html
Harvard Lampoon homepage: http://www.harvardlampoon.com/
The Protestant Work Ethic. http://www.tartanplace.com/tartanhistory/protestantrules.html
http://www.coe.uga.edu/~rhill/workethic/hist.htm