First Class Assignment

Students,

I'm pleased to announce you all successfully accomplished your first class assignment! Good work. Plato says the beginning is the most important part. Hopefully we can keep up the good and timely work.

Now, for the first day of class, you have an assignment that will take you some time but will get us on the right foot in terms of literary analysis. (For the record, the following commentary and questions vital for literary analysis will apply to everything we read this semester. As it turns out, Antigone is our first work.)

Conflict and a search for resolution drive storytelling whether it be in literature, comics, movies, plays, or song lyrics. Sometimes the conflict in a story is obvious and tangible but other times it's more opaque. Likewise, sometimes you have satisfactory, concrete resolutions and other times it's more ambiguous, leaving us with more questions and difficulties than easy answers. Between these two extremes (certainty and relativism) there is a grey zone that many of our books will stumble through, but not for nought. As the Apostle Paul says, "We see as through a glass darkly." This means that while many of these books refuse to take a clear stand at the end, that does not suggest they don't assert some things as more true than not. But this is difficult when you have two conflicting views of the good in conflict (Hint, to cite one example, in Antigone we see a conflict between loyalty to family and loyalty to the fatherland). In this way, literature is an attempt to understand human life, its struggles, toils, conquests, and triumphs. A good book at its best helps us understand ourselves and our fellow man a bit better in this complicated place we live. A good book also transcends the particulars of time and place (wow, you can relate to some ancient Greeks!), and gets at essential human desires, aspirations, and conflicts.

Before you start asking yourself whether you agree or disagree with any particular character or their position in a story (or history for that matter), it's absolutely vital to first be sure you understand the characters and their respective conflicts. You should not first ask, "Do I agree?" but rather, "Do I understand what they're saying, what they believe, why they're doing what they're doing?" At the end, if you disagree, that's fine, but if you start asking whether you agree or disagree, you'll have a tendency to misunderstand what the character is saying. Of course none of this is to say you won't find certain characters more likable or unlikable (I'll show my hand: I find Antigone rather annoying, but the analysis must go beyond that emotional response!)

To this end, here are a series of questions I would like you to consider.


What does the character want? (Think in very basic terms: e.g. what action do they want or not want to take. This may be complex, though, with multiple conflicting motives.)

Why does the character want said thing?

How does that desire conflict with others?

How does the conflict of desires transform the character?

Now the time consuming, but vital part. In your reading journals I'd like you to use these four questions to analysis the four most important characters in the play. (Of course, this is open to interpretation, so you're free to choose who you will as long as you're able to defend your choice at a later date!) In answering these questions, you must cite particular sections of text and analyze said passages to the end that it answers the above questions. While I don't want to set word quotas, some parameters: for the first question, the answer should be fairly basic and straightforward. The second question requires some more thought for it ought to explain the character's reason for wanting what they want. The third question ought to briefly address the opposition to said character's position in order to show the clash. The last question deals with the end of the story and where the character ends up for good or ill.

One last word, as you read, you should take notes. Certain passages are more important than others based on my questions above. Underlines, scribble, circle, and write your thoughts in the margin. Make connections between different sections of the play (you will often see in my books on page 23, lets say, a reference to page 86 where a similar theme is picked back up again).

Alright, there you are. Make a good first impression! With that said, literary analysis is challenging and this process will take time to develop. If your brain is strained, that means you're at least working at it. It'll get easier with time.

If you have any questions, drop me a line here on the forum so that everyone can benefit.

I have a couple of questions. First, can the 'crowd' in Antigone count as one of our characters? I think all of the questions can be applied to it, and it does play a major role in the story.

Also, just for clarification, this is due by the first day of class, September 15th, right?

Thanks and God bless,
Abigail

Abigail,

Yes, it's due the first day of class and will give you a basis for beginning to discuss the text.

As for the Chorus (you refer to it as the "crowd"), go for it. Just be sure to distinguish what makes it unique from the other characters since it doesn't have agency like they do (but I begin to give it away).

Good questions.