Comprehension Questions
1. In her introduction, Willis states that HBO’s Sopranos series is “a meditation of the nature of morality, the possibility of redemption and the legacy of Freud.” In the context of the overall essay, what does she mean by this statement?

It is obvious to a large extent that Tony sees morality as it is shown to him in Carmela. Willis explained at one point that Carmela “feels the full weight of her sins and Tony’s”; she continues that “Carmela is a moral touchstone because of her clear eye” (Willis 572). Having to jump between a husband and father and the life of gangsters generates personal conflicts that Tony has and that he does make an attempt to confront.
The leaps of faith Tony does make include his time with Jennifer Melfi and his relationship with Livia Soprano. Stories in the show such as one that Tony deciding not to have a man killed, seeing it as “pointless” (573) are great improvements. It truly was these types of decisions he did make that drove him to places of redemption. Although sad, Tony at one point in show realizes that his mother wished his death. Willis calls this a “turning point in the story”; this was a great thing because the truth has made Tony free (573).
Willis was very specific in examples and of times in the show when Tony was changing as a character. Mob mentality was cause for moral dilemmas and searches for forgiveness. All of which, tony Soprano happily arrived at in the end.

2. What observations does Willis make about “self-consciousness” or “self-knowledge” as crucial aspect of our understanding of The Sopranos?

It’s noted at one point that Jennifer Melfi occasionally in the show criticizes whether or not movies like Goodfellas make for bad pictures of Italians. There is an understandable view of self-consciousness in Willis’ article stated like so: “self-consciousness, then, is a conspicuous feature of Tony Soprano’s world even aside from therapy” (570). Said in no better way “it’s clear that self-consciousness has provoked the anxiety attack” that sends Tony Soprano to Jennifer” (570).
Self-knowledge, however, is referred more to Willis as a characteristic involved in moral relativism. After having explained moral relativism through an example of Tony’s children and his own actions, author Ellen Willis begins to explore the more in depth, psychoanalytic side of this anti-worldview. As she states, one value of this view is self-knowledge; something that Tony Soprano progressively gets better at in the television show The Sopranos.

3. According to Willis, what does The Sopranos tell us about contemporary American culture? Why is the program, in the words of a critic whom the writer quotes, “a cultural Rorschach test”?
At the heart of the words of Elaine Showalter is the idea that Tony represents a small part in anybody. She goes off to say that “the murderous mobster is the predatory lust and aggression in all of us” (575). This cultural test spoken of is really is a way of pointing out Tony Soprano as a type of experiment; the type that tells us about ourselves.
In effect, this critic’s quote is the meaning behind the article’s title. If it is anything Willis is using The Sopranos to say about American culture today is that it is a reflection in a number of areas. Some of the phrases used to describe the television show by Showalter are “parable of corruption and hypocrisy” and “critique of sexuality” (574). Although the majority of Willis’ quotation of Showalter is important, but nothing is near as important as the last sentences mentioned. “The problem is that we can't live with the lies, either. So facing down the terror, a little at a time, becomes the only route to sanity, if not salvation.” (575). From this sentence the audience can take away that the show is reflective of themselves and society; regardless of what else it might seem to portray.