Strange Interlude Study Questions & Topics for Discussion

Strange Interlude Topics for Further Study

Are certain types of mental illness hereditary, as the play suggests, or was that an invention by O'Neill for dramatic purposes? Is heredity a factor in common mental illnesses such as depression? If heredity can contribute to mental illness, can this be predicted and prevented in individual cases?

Write a short scene in which two people meet, perhaps on a first date. Use the technique of the aside, as O'Neill does in the play, to show the discrepancy between what each person is saying, and what he or she is thinking.

Why is Sam Evans the character in the play who comes closest to attaining happiness? What is the cause of the anxiety, unhappiness, and neuroses suffered by Nina and Darrell? Is Nina right to blame conventional morality for her plight?

Investigate Sigmund Freud's theory of the Oedipal complex, and show how the theory is relevant for...
(read more)