I just read Antigone last year in my AP Lit class. It's interesting because I know a lot of people have been talking about how amazing the difference is between college and high school and how college is so much more in depth and though-provoking. Maybe it was my teacher, but I feel like my high school experience of Antigone was just as intelligent as the discussions we have now. It was just a different approach to the book.
Obviously my AP Lit class was not centered around the idea of identity, it was centered around analyzing literature. We read Antigone after reading Oedipus, and we broke down the formula for a Greek tragedy (position of power, tragic flaw, revelation, reversal). We then read Hamlet, and discussed the differences in approach to the genre between the two. We read a modern interpretation of Antigone, and examined how that approach differed as well. We discussed what makes a tragic hero, and other forms of literature that were influenced by these styles.
And all these things have nothing to do with that we are learning. I think that's even better, because now I've been able to see the work in two different lights. I broke it down for what it was, and examined how it was put together, and then now I've broken it down for what it represents and what it implies in a greater picture.
Both of these approaches are necessary, and I also think they were appropriate for the age at which I was taught it.
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Well I think part of the difference is just that a lot of us did Antigone in freshman year (I know I did) and you read it in AP Lit which is, at least theoretically, college level. It actually kind of makes sense the the difference between senior year of high school and freshman year of college isn't always that dramatic- I think if it was we'd all be having nervous breakdowns due to all the stress.
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