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World Literature I – Midterm Essay

Choose ONE of the paper topics listed below, demonstrating your understanding of the work as a whole and analyzing important themes and literary devices. You are expected to use specific quotations from the literary text you discuss and to analyze those quotes in your discussion.  Your paper should be at least three MLA-format pages, plus a Works Cited page. 

In addition to the literary text you discuss, you may use any reading guides I have provided in the course’s supplemental material. Do not search the internet for more information or use sources other than those posted or linked here in our class D2L site.

Your Works Cited should include the literary text you discuss and any reading guides provided in D2L that you decide to use.  However, you are not required to use supplementary material, so your only source may be the literary work you decide to analyze.
 
Each body paragraph of your paper needs to have at least two examples/quotes from the text (if you use any additional analysis from the reading guides here in D2L, that would be in addition to what you quote from the text). It is necessary to support your interpretative claims with evidence from your source.

I also have attached an MLA format guide, a handout with some sample outlines and tips for the essay topics, and an example essay to help you as well. Please review them! Also don't forget you need to review your graded Short Response essay comments to avoid repeating any errors and to implement relevant suggestions I made for this paper. 

This paper is worth 22% of your grade in the course.

TOPIC CHOICES
Topic #1: Choose one of the epics we’ve read thus far in the course and demonstrate in your essay that one of the main characters is either a tragic hero or an epic hero, based on the information in the attached handout on heroism. (Please note that I do not expect you to use every hero-related bullet point in the discussion of your paper; pick the ones that best prove your point.) There is not necessarily one right or wrong answer to this question, but be sure you make your point of view clear and that you support your argument with examples from the literary source.

Topic #2: In the attached excerpt from his “Mothers, Maidens, and Mistresses: The Story of Women in World Literature,” David Sprawl argues that much ancient literature relegates women to the proscribed roles listed in his title rather than depicting them as agents in their own stories. Choose one of the works we’ve read thus far in the course and discuss in your essay the role(s) of women in that work. Even if women are not allowed to fully be heroes in their own right, can they been seen as heroic in their own spheres? You might want to refer to the some of the characteristics of heroes from the handout on that topic.

Topic #3:  There are three main themes in traditional literature: the picaresque theme, in which the character travels or makes a journey; the reversal of fortune theme, in which the character has his or her situation in life changed; and the survival of the least worthy theme, in which a character who is not really equipped for survival is able to endure. Which of these themes do you see applying to Dante’s Inferno? Be sure to support your argument with illustrations from the text.

Topic #4:  Many conflicts are evident in The Inferno. Conflicts can be person-against-person, person-against-self, person-against-society, and person-against-nature. Which of these conflicts do you think find most notable in The Inferno? Explain your answer. Be sure to include examples.

GENERAL TIPS:
1.	See the syllabus for paper formatting information. 
2.	Your introduction should identify the literary work you are discussing, provide context, and supply a thesis statement that encapsulates your paper’s argument in a single sentence.
3.	Your discussion needs to be organized into topic body paragraphs, each containing a topic sentence that includes the point you will prove in your paragraph and at least two quotes or examples that back up the point you wish to prove from your topic sentence.
4.	Quotes, summaries, or paraphrases of source material need to be integrated properly in MLA format.
5.	Your conclusion should reiterate your main point without simply repeating what you wrote in the introduction. The most effective conclusions will maintain the reader’s interest by considering the deeper relevance of your paper’s observances (can you answer the question “so what?” about what’s come before?).
6.	Include a Works Cited page that includes your source as noted by its author—NOT the editor of the Norton Anthology. If you use additional material provided here in D2L you will need to cite those authors and texts as well. Refer to the Purdue OWL website if you need help with this!