Category: Literature

For this assignment, you will evaluate characters from The Shahnameh, Sundiata, and The Popul Vuh and then write an essay with a minimum of 1000 words (see specific topic below) arguing for and supporting your conclusions. This assignment will build your writing, analytical, and evaluative skills.

You may be able to further develop ideas you have already submitted in our discussions. However, be careful not to plagiarize your classmates’ submissions. You are encouraged to use the material in the course to further develop your own original interpretations and arguments; researching other secondary sources is not required for this assignment, and plagiarism of other sources and AI use will not be tolerated. If you use sources beyond the primary texts (the epics), be sure to include citations for those secondary sources along with your citations for the epics. Both MLA in-text citations and a Works Cited page are required for this assignment.

All semester, we have discussed the ways in which epics enable a community to share and reinforce strongly held cultural values. Heroes, in particular, are models of ethics and behavior, yet heroes are not static characters; they grow and develop during their journeys, shaped by the people they encounter and their experiences.

For this assignment, pretend that the heroes of our last three epics–Rustem, Sundiata, and the Hero Twins have the ability and desire to read about each other in The Shahnameh, Sundiata, and The Popul Vuh. Explain the most significant lesson each character would learn from each of the other two epics (that is, two lessons total for each character) and how that might shape their growth as heroes and leaders. For the sake of this assignment, consider the Hero Twins together, not as two separate characters.

Strong assignments will demonstrate awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of each hero, as well as the potential lessons to be drawn from the other two texts each hero will be reading. As always, support your arguments with detailed and specific evidence, particularly quotations. Use MLA format for in-text citations and the Works Cited.

Write an essay of about eight paragraphs presenting your argument. Be sure to include quotations from the texts as well as additional details that illustrate and enhance the points you are making. Use the following outline:

1. Your first paragraph should be an engaging introduction with a clear thesis that brings all three epics and epic heroes together. Structure your essay as you choose, but the writing should be organized. Perhaps focus on one character at a time, or focus on one text at a time. Be sure your thesis provides a strong argument and forecasts the structure you will be using in the essay.
2. Give specific examples and quotes from the texts to support your analyses. Use in-text citations in MLA format for the quotations, and be sure to include page numbers from the texts included in this course.
3. The last paragraph should be your conclusion. What do these three heroes (and, more broadly, these cultures) have to learn from each other? What have you learned from this creative exercise? Answer the question, “So what?” What should you and your reader do with the information and claims you’ve provided?
4. Your final page should be your Works Cited page, in MLA format. It should include the three literary texts (our epics), as well as any content pages from the course material to which you may have referred.

Take a position on Dracula

Text : Bram Stoker , Dracula

A position paper presents a short (approximately one page single-spaced or two pages double-spaced) argument about the assigned text. The main purposes are to stimulate class discussion and to provide practice in analysis, but you may also feel free to use the position paper as a very rough draft of Essay 1. Rule #1 is (not surprisingly) take a position. That is, this brief essay should constitute an argumentthe clear presentation and direct defense of a particular interpretation or critical assessment of some aspect of or passage

• Keep your argument related to the assigned reading and to the concept of the monster, as defined by Cohen.
• Write about how the novel critiques society (e.g., societal constraints or prejudices regarding gender, sexuality, class, race, ethnicity, religion, age).
• Write about something that interests you, and that you think might interest your classmates.
• Write in a relaxed manner, as this is an informal essay, but avoid contractions and colloquialisms such as “she feels less than.”
• Research is not expected, but cite any outside sources you quote or draw on.

write this paper about Woman in the Victorian era and differences between Mina and Lucy

here is the link the play it must be two pages long

Watch the documentary on

Van

Gogh

from

The Power of Art

series. The link is

provided

in the

Week

6

folder.

2.

Write a response to this question:

At the conclusion of

the film about

Van

Gogh

,

Simon Schama says the following:

Vincent’s passionate belief was that people wouldn’t just see his pictures but feel the rush of life

in them

, that by

the force of his brush and the dazzlement of his colour

theyd

experience those

fields

,

those faces

,

those flowers in ways nothing more polite or literal could ever possibly

convey

. H

is art would reclaim what had once belonged to religion

:

consolation for our mortality

through the relish of the gift of life

.

What does he mean?

How do

the

paintings Schama discusses in this

documentary

accomplish thi

s?

(*You need only refer to 2

–

3 of these paintings

and not all that are mentioned in the film).

500

–

750 words, double spaced, regular margins, no title page

Do

not

use outside sources

or the assistance of AI.

I want to know what you

think

.

Citations are required.

When citing

a specific scene

, include the

start

and

end

time of that scene in brackets.

Submit it in the online

Film Assignment

page in the

Week

6

folder

by

the end of

day on

Friday,

February

13

, 2026

.

Please

submit it

as a Word

or

a PDF file.

Option A Analysis. Choose any story (short story, novel, streaming show, film, video game, comic, or graphic novel) and analyze it using any combination of the reader response theories we’ve studied: Transactional, Social, or Psychological (as explained in Lois Tysons chapter). The Essay needs to be 4-6 pages, plus a Works Cited page, typed in MLA format. The analysis needs a clear thesis, and the essay must use at least three academic sources in discussions with quotes/citations. Also, make sure to cite the storywhich means you will have a total of at least four sources listed on your Works Cited page. NOTE: Your essay must be an original, individual essay. No group essays or AI-generated essays. Option B Argument. Make an argument on any aspect of reader response theory. Consider the issues present in Transactional, Social, and/or Psychological Reader Response Theories (as explained in Lois Tysons chapter). The Essay needs to be 4-6 pages, plus a Works Cited page, typed in MLA format. The analysis needs a clear thesis, and the essay must use at least three academic sources in discussions with quotes/citations. Also, make sure to cite any stories you use to illustrate your argument. NOTE: Your essay must be an original, individual essay. No group essays or AI-generated essays. Suggested Writing Process: 1. Choose an option and formulate a thesis. 2. Gather sources that support your thesis and help explain the theoretical framework youre using in the essay. This also includes finding relevant examples to illustrate your points, as well as finding material from previous assignments that can be used to build body paragraphs. 3. Use the theories to help you organize the essay and use previous assignments to help you develop academic discussions. 4. Before you submit, make sure you followed the instructions.

Pick something from the text that you would like to learn more about.

Without spoiling things too much, an example from Love That Dog might be grief and

writing. Find an article related to that topic. In 2-3 pages, discuss how the text does

or does not reflect what you found in your research. This option should include

discussion of at least one specific moment in the text and include textual evidence

and a Works Cited page. The reading is Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I will try to upload the pdf or send a link for the text

The Case for (or against) Literature: Take a position on the first unit question: Does literature matter? You will build an argument using at least two course readings (or other related), and you will define what matter means (emotionally, culturally, historically, ethically, politically, etc.). Requirements: 9001100 words, MLA citations.

My argument is that Literature does matter because it preserves cultural and historical memory. Literature documents lived experiences often excluded from history. Stories, poems, and essays preserve emotions, language, and community memory that might otherwise be erased. To help argue this claim I will use a piece of writing called Writing with Scissors by Ellen Gruber Garvey and The Holocaust in American Life by Peter Novick.