Humanities 300 Essay The Odyssey
Humanities 300 Essay Prompt Professor Bill Zangeneh-Lester
Select a work of literature, philosophical text, sacred text, or anything in a literary form from the Sayre materials we have been exploring together. You must select your work from one of the chapters listed in the reading schedule on your syllabus. Your essay must be a minimum of 1750 words, in MLA format, with a total of nine in-text citations, a comprehensive thesis, and a works cited. Please complete each of the following five steps in a single cohesive work with a clear thesis:
Humanities 300 Essay The Odyssey
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must include three citations to support your summary of the contemporary work (9/9).
5) Compare and contrast the classical work you selected with the contemporary work you selected: In what ways are these two works similar? Carefully explain the connections between the two works you selected. How did you get from the classical work to the contemporary work? How is this work expressing a similar motivation to the classical work? Don’t force comparisons. If you find out that the works are only superficially connected, select a different contemporary work.
Next, contrast the classical work you selected with the contemporary work: How are these works different? Explain the differences in tone, purpose, meaning, and historical context. Make sure it is clear that there are also important differences between these works and that ultimately each work is also unique. Carefully and responsibly argue for this comparison & contrast and explain your reasoning clearly.
Humanities 300 Essay The Odyssey
Thesis: Finally, your thesis is a reflection gleaned from having completed all five steps of the prompt that essentially asks: So what? What did you learn from completing this five step journey? This might look like: By examining The Epic of Gilgamesh and J.A. Bayona’s A Monster Calls in these five steps it can be observed that: X. Where X = your thesis. To be clear: your thesis is not an answer to a particular step in the prompt. Rather, your thesis will be an insight which can be gained only from the aggregate of all 5 steps.
Humanities 300 Essay The Odyssey
For example, suppose you chose to write on The Epic of Gilgamesh. After convincing me you read the text with your careful summary and analysis of major of themes via step one, researching the context of Mesopotamia and contextualizing the text in step two, you argue in step three that this text is motivated by, among many things, an attempt to grapple with mortality and loss in a way that helped to shape Mesopotamian values and communities. Having thus made your argument in step three, in step four you would ask yourself, “What works have I seen/heard/read/experienced from our contemporary context which seek to grapple with the themes of mortality and loss?”
Humanities 300 Essay The Odyssey
Upon reflection you realize that the 2016 film A Monster Calls directed by J.A. Bayona is an example of a contemporary work which, like The Epic of Gilgamesh, wrestles with mortality and loss. If you chose this work you would give me a clear and concise overview of A Monster Calls in step four, just the way you did in steps one and two for The Epic of Gilgamesh. In step five you discuss the similarities in the two pieces. Then, realizing that there are important differences, you discuss those as well. Finally, you refer back to your thesis and conclude your essay.
Humanities 300 Essay The Odyssey
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