So Late in the Day: Stories of Women and Men

Compare and contrast the three main male characters in the So Late in the Day stories. What do these men have in common; how are they different? How do their behaviors impact the women in their lives?

Images of cooking and eating recur throughout the short story collection. Craft an essay that analyzes the narrative, symbolic, and thematic significance of this imagery. How does it relate to notions of domesticity and caretaking?

Examine how the stories in So Late in the Day explore the concept of emotional labor, particularly relating to the female characters. How are the stories’ women expected to maintain the emotional well-being of men around them, and how does this affect their sense of self or limit their autonomy?

Analyze the role of micro and macro settings in each of the stories’ narrative moods. How do the characters respond to urban versus rural settings? Consider how particular houses or locales create tension or foreshadowing.

Examine the role of structure and form in each of the three stories. Compare and contrast Keegan’s formal techniques between the stories. How would the stories differ if they were written from alternate points of view or followed alternate plot progressions?

Memory is central to the collected stories in So Late in the Day. How do the characters’ recollections of past events shape their present choices? Consider the influence memory has on the tension between moving forward and being anchored by the past, particularly the differences between the female and male characters.

Explore the role of flashback to the progression and themes of “So Late in the Day.” What is the significance of this literary device, and how would Cathal’s story differ without it?

Examine the role of foreshadowing in “Antarctica.” How does Keegan use imagery to plant clues to the woman’s fate, and why? How would the story differ if Keegan hadn’t employed this narrative device?