Category: Ancient literature

Your post should answer one question or your take on that question based on interesting primary sources.
• do NOT answer each question in order
This week…
The case study for this module is on the nature of relations between Black and white people in colonial America.

You will be required to write one shorter research paper with one of the literary works from the semester as your central focus.  The paper must be 1,500-2,000 words (six to eight pages) in length and include at least two outside sources (the text itself does not count as one of these sources). 
Your paper should analyze the literary work using a clear and specific critical lens.  For example, you could analyze the text using a cultural or historical lens, focusing on how the literary work reflects the cultural/historical society that it represents.  Another option would be to analyze the text through a gender focused or feminist reading, discussing how gender roles are represented in the text.  Yet another option would be a literary analysis, looking at how a specific theme or style in the work of literature is developed through the storytelling choices of the author(s).  Your outside sources should clearly and specifically support your topic and your thesis.
You must make references, with appropriate quotations, to the text.  You must use at least twooutside sources and use the MLA format for citations.   A “works cited” page is required.
The final paper will be graded on the following criteria:
–The paper is written in clear, engaging grammatically correct standard formal English, with few to no typos or grammatical, syntax or formatting errors.
–The paper has a clear, specific and direct topic and an original thesis, which is supported throughout the paper.
–The paper is well organized and focused, presenting evidence and analysis that supports your thesis in a logically developed and easily understood argument.
–The paper successfully incorporates at least two high quality outside sources to support the argument presented.
–The paper meets all the requirements of the assignment, including the minimum length assigned.
Your final draft must be uploaded to Blackboard using SafeAssign in proper MLA format, using Times New Roman 12 pt. font, double spaced with one-inch margins.  Do not use a title page.  Late papers are not accepted.

Women in Ancient Literature: Portraits and Perceptions
Literary Characters vs. Reality:
Analysis of Literary Characters: Focus on key female figures such as Helen of Troy, Medea, and Hecuba, and their influence on the portrayal of women in ancient literature.
Comparison with Real-Life Conditions: How do these characters reflect or differ from the actual status of women in ancient Greek and Roman societies?
Archetypes and Their Significance:
Heroine vs. Antagonist: Examining how these roles influence the perception of women and which archetypes (e.g., the loyal wife, the deceitful seductress) dominate the literature.
Impact of Myths: How do mythical female figures like Aphrodite or Athena influence literary creations and expectations towards women?
Themes and Motifs:
Motifs of Vengeance and Justice: Analysis of how motifs related to vengeance and justice are represented by female characters, such as Electra or Medea.
Love and Sacrifice: Considering how these themes are explored in the context of female characters, for instance in the works of Sophocles or Euripides.
Narrative and Stylistic Aspects:
Narrative Perspective: Investigating whether and how the female perspective is represented in ancient literature through direct narration or monologues.
Style and Form of Expression: Analyzing how the speech and actions of women are portrayed in literature and what this says about their societal role.
Cultural and Historical Context:
Evolution of Female Characters: Tracking how portraits of women have evolved from the early works of Homer to later Roman literature.
Socio-Political Impact: Understanding how changes in society influenced the literary representations of women, such as during the transition from the republic to the empire in Rome.
Reception and Modern Interpretations:
Feminist and Modern Interpretations: Reviewing how contemporary approaches to gender and equality affect the reinterpretation and evaluation of female characters in ancient literature.
Adaptations and Cultural Impact: Examining how female characters from antiquity are adapted and reinterpreted in modern media and literature.

Essay based on “Their Eyes Were Watching God” – Zora Neale Hurston
People of color have always theorized—but in forms quite
different from the Western form of abstract logic. And I am inclined
to say that our theorizing (and I intentionally use the verb rather
then the noun) is often in narrative forms, in the stories we create,
in riddles and proverbs, in the play with language, since dynamic
rather than fixed ideas that seem more to our liking. How else have we
managed to survive with such spiritedness the assault on our
bodies, social institutions, countries, our very humanity? And
women, at least the women I grew up around, continuously
speculated about the nature of life through pithy language that
unmasked the power relations of their world. It is this language, and
the grace and pleasure with which they played with it, that I find
celebrated, refined, and critiqued in the works of writers like [Toni]
Morrison and [Alice] Walker. My folk, in other words, have always
been a race for theory… 1
The impetus for writing The Bluest Eye in the first place was to
write a book about a kind of person that was never in literature
anywhere, never taken seriously by anybody—all those peripheral
little girls. So I wanted to write a book that—if that child ever picked
it up—would look representational…
Yes. Stories. There were two kinds of education going on: one was
the education in the schools which was print-oriented; and right-side
by side with it was this other way of looking at the world that was
not only different than what we learned about in school, it was
coming through another sense. People told stories… 2
“One writes out of one thing only – one’s own experience…
Everything depends on how relentlessly one forces from this
experience the last drop, sweet or bitter, it can give…”
“A writer is by definition a disturber of the peace. He has to be…He
has to make you ask yourself, make you realize that you are always
asking yourself, questions that you don’t know how to face.”3
1 (Christian, Barbara. The race for theory p.41, 198
The above quotes reflect different authors’ perspectives about writing and
producing work that expand the idea of intellectual production beyond the
academic walls. They reflect the tradition of sharing knowledge in forms that
are not always considered intellectual enough.
Those affirmations illustrate the discussions we have held in this class this
semester. Throughout these months, we discuss the importance of Africana
Intellectuality and how Black people’s activism, daily resistance and creativity
walk side-by-side with our intellectual production.
After considering the statements above, this assignment requires you to write a
6-8 pages paper (+ bibliographical references) on your selected novel. Although
this assignment is individual, you will use it to justify your group’s presentation
topic.
The idea is to contextualize how this book is part of the Africana Intellectual
Thought. Your work explains how the work and the author you selected match
the main concepts and discussions we held this semester. Please refer to the
feedback I provided for your presentation and review the issues for this paper.
You will find your object of analysis, introduce it, and justify how and why it can
be considered part of the African intellectual canon.
Your text must include:
A justification for your choice A literature review of the t Historical contextualization (year, time, decade / local, global, author/artist
– A justification for the choice
– A literature review of the topic
– Historical contextualization (year, time, decade / local, global, author/artist
Conclusi

compare and contrast of the Book The Illiad, and the Book Virgil, comparing and contrasting Achillies, and Aeneas