Literary Analysis: Antigone

Prompt: Who is right–Antigone or Creon? Response:  In his 1902 critical look at Antigone, Richard C. Jebb states that “the simplicity of the plot is due to the clearness of which the two principles are opposed to each other.” This is both accurate and inaccurate.  It is true the conflict is a simple one on […]

Read More Literary Analysis: Antigone

Literary Analysis: Daddy

The work of Sylvia Plath is defined by its morbid mood, cheerless tone, and the author’s dark reflections of her own childhood. Plath makes no exception in her poem “Daddy”.  She has with “Daddy”, as in much of her work, struck a chord of great contention leading to much discussion about this work’s meaning over […]

Read More Literary Analysis: Daddy

Literary Analysis: A & P

Prompt: Why do you think Sammy quit? How do you interpret his actions? Response: John Updike’s A&P is a fantastic story that really hones in on the idea of the choices between conformity and rebellion that those coming of age in the world are faced with. This story is an early version of the popular […]

Read More Literary Analysis: A & P

Film Analysis: Doubt

Prompt: Did Father Flynn abuse Donald? How do race, class, and gender complicate the interpretation of the play? Response: The hook of Doubt is the question of Father Flynn’s guilt or innocence and whether Sister Aloysius was correct in her crusade against him. Yet, that question is not one that is easy or simple to […]

Read More Film Analysis: Doubt

Literary Analysis: Cathedral

Prompt: What does the narrator “see” at the end of “Cathedral”? What is “really something”? Response: The idea of personal growth is one explored in nearly all of fiction as a character changes from one state of mind to another when they are faced with a difficult circumstance or a strange situation.  For the narrator […]

Read More Literary Analysis: Cathedral