Assignments: Lit 200

Essay #2: Topics

Choose ONE of the following topics upon which to write your second short essay of the semester.

1. "The physical violence (Son's murder of Mother) with which the play climaxes is only the physical manifestation of the larger theme of violation ... which Saunders explores through the paradigms of power that intersect inflammably in this haunting play." Discuss this perspective, with close reference to the text of You Can Lead A Horse To Water.
   
2. In the play You Can Lead A Horse To Water, the figure of the Mother has been described as "a vampiric 'mother' figure ... who deliberately manipulates the Oedipal Bond for her own narcissistic and materialistic purposes". Do you agree with this assessment? Support your argument with close reference to the text.
   
3. "Old Fool is now the man." The true villain of You Can Lead A Horse To Water is not Son, or even Mother, but Old Fool. Do you agree? Discuss this proposition with close reference to the text.