Ten Steps to Nanette: 12 Analytical Essay Prompts for Critical Analysis

These twelve prompts are designed for close critical analysis of Hannah Gadsby's Ten Steps to Nanette. Each prompt targets a specific formal or thematic feature of the memoir—its step-based structure, its two Bourgeois epigraphs, its embedded fairy-tale prologue, and its direct addresses to the reader—so that essays remain grounded in the book's actual evidence rather than generic memoir conventions. Prompts are ordered to move from character and causality toward structure, symbol, and the ending, with internal links to the main book page and related themes and characters pages for further study. If you are looking for shorter comprehension checks, see the questions and answers page instead. Each prompt includes a defensible thesis direction and 3–5 evidence leads drawn from the available text and chapter outline; treat the thesis directions as starting points to be refined through your own reading, not as finished arguments. For a broader orientation to the memoir's concerns, consult the theme pages on trauma and non-linear memory, critique of redemption narratives, women's work and repair, and interconnectedness and wholeness.