Compare and contrast Keegan’s short story collection to the collections of other notable feminist writers. For example, how do Keegan’s explorations of womanhood, domesticity, and the patriarchy align with or diverge from those explored in titles like Margaret Atwood’s Dancing Girls, Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber, or Carmen Maria Machado’s Her Body and Other Parties?

Choose three stories from the collection and explore the thematic and narrative overlaps between them. For example, how does Keegan explore notions of female entrapment in the stories “Antarctica,” “Ride If You Dare,” and “Sisters”? Does she use the same literary devices to explore the same themes? Cite specific examples from your chosen stories.

Analyze Keegan’s use of imagery and symbolism across the collection. Identify images from each story that deepen their thematic meaning and analyze their role in the context of the collection’s larger social commentaries.

Explore the recurrence of pregnancy and maternity throughout the collection, and what these allusions are saying. How do the female characters emotionally process their own or others’ pregnancies? How is childbirth and childrearing represented in the context of the female experience, and why?

Analyze the short stories allusions to the Catholic church and the Bible. Where and how do these references arise amidst the narratives, and what is their function? How would the stories differ without these religious images or allusions?

Compare and contrast the female protagonists to the male protagonists across the collection. How does Keegan represent stereotypes of femininity versus those of masculinity? What happens when the characters either choose to rebel against these stereotypes or accidentally fail to abide by them?

Analyze the presence of sex throughout the collection. How do Keegan’s characters regard their sexual relationships? If sex is a tool, what do the characters use it to accomplish? Consider how these sexual references resonate in the context of the characters’ religious backgrounds or marital relationships.

Explore the collection’s handling of memory, history, and the past. Choose three stories and analyze how the characters’ regard their pasts, and why. How does the past act as a force the characters must combat or a terrain they must brave, and why?