Analysis Assignment | Essay Help Services

Write two-three well-developed paragraphs (per question) in which you have a thesis/claim, evidence (quotes), and analysis (why are your observations interesting, important, and/or relevant in support of your thesis/argument). Support your claims with textual evidence (quotes). Give “so-what” answers.

(I will insert quotes if the book isn’t available)

1. Human suffering is a major theme in the Hebrew Bible, Gilgamesh, Oedipus Rex, and Medea. Through suffering, human beings can learn about the nature of reality and their place in it. Compare two characters, from the list above, as suffering heroes, as they search for understanding, and come to accept the limits of their human condition. You need two heroes from at least two different pieces of literature. Use specific examples from both stories to support your ideas.

2. Oedipus blames the gods for bringing his sorrow to completion but claims that the act of putting his eyes out was his own. Enkidu, from Gilgamesh, also blames others for his death. Certainly, there is a sense that they both do not deserve their fate, but what, then are they responsible for, and what does the audience learn from their experiences in the literature?

3. Review the status of women in Medea and the Odyssey– what do the female characters in both pieces of literature do? How do they do it? How do they offer alternative perspectives on the heroic world (so seemingly centered around male action) in the literature?

Bonus:

Why is world literature important to you? Support your answer with literature—provide a good range of examples, but you do not necessarily have to discuss all of the literature we have read—we’ve studied this semester and your own experience. Specifically, I am interested in your ideas about the Chinese literature we have covered this semester.