Western Lit (4/24/06) FINAL

[theoenophile.livejournal.com]

"My apologies for the lack of class last week, guys. If any of you actually spent the time studying... I'd be very surprised. I wouldn't've. But then, I'm a depressed, semi-alcoholic novelist who can't publish a novel and is forced to make ends meet as a high school English teacher."

"You may be completely unsurprised to learn that I will not be renewing my contract for this summer or next fall. This will be our last class together."

"Anyway, your final projects are due. Please make your presentation based on your written final project." [from the Syllabus]

"I will post your grades as soon as they are completed."

Comments

Turn in your project

[theoenophile.livejournal.com]

100 word essay on some aspect of one of the following readings:
*Beowulf
*Odyssey
*Midsummer Night's Dream
*Look Homeward, Angel
*Masque of the Red Death
*The Three Musketeers

Re: Turn in your project

[kawalsky.livejournal.com]

Kawalsky turned in his project on The Three Musketeers.

The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas was both a romance and an action novel. The characters in the novel were based on real life historical figures. The musketeers were actual musketeers, although it is not known if they actually knew each other. The villains of the novel were based on real people as well. The Three Musketeers is a romance because of the underlying motivation of the musketeers' actions. They take actions for the love of people they care about and for the love of their country. The action part of the novel is evident in the way they go about achieving their goals. There are many duels, as that is how musketeers win their battles. The action combined with the romance make this a good novel for a wide audience, both male and female.

Re: Turn in your project

[kitty--fetish.livejournal.com]

Alphonse did his essay over Beowulf:

The story of Beowulf was written by an anonymous author, originally in Old English around the tenth century. It tells the tale of a nearly indestructible hero named Beowulf who, for the sake of riches and fame, protects the common people from a monster that had been terrorizing them for twelve years. The story was likely heavily influenced by the times, when the kings of England only recognized the wealthy and educated, and neglected the poor. So, with stories much like Robin Hood, they recited stories that narrated about a hero who protected the people with little difficulty. It was like their hope back then, and the story has managed to survive over thousands of years.

Re: Turn in your project

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

The story takes place at the castle of Prospero, prince of an undisclosed nation. Prospero and several hundred other nobles are taking refuge in the castle to escape the Red Death, a terrible and gruesome plague that has been sweeping the land. One night, Prospero holds a masquerade ball to entertain his guests, but late into the night, he notices one figure in a grey robe resembling a funeral shroud, with a mask depicting a victim of the Red Death. Gravely insulted, Prospero demands to know the identity of the mysterious guest. To the horror of all, the guest is revealed to be not only infected with the Red Death, but a personification of Death itself. Once this is revealed, all the guests suddenly contract and succumb to the disease. The theme of this story is how, eventually, nature punishes the proud that believe themselves invulnerable, and that no one, no matter how hard they try, can escape death.

Re: Turn in your project

[ihatedenmark.livejournal.com]

Hamlet did his essay on the Odyssey.

The Odyssey is a Greek epic ascribed to Homer between 800 and 600 B.C., about the return home of Odysseus after the Trojan War. It takes Odysseus ten years to return to his native land of Ithaca; in his absence, his son Telemachus and his wife Penelope must deal with a group of unruly suitors who compete for Penelope's hand in marriage, since it is assumed that Odysseus has died. The poem is considered one of the foundational texts of the Western canon and continues to be read in both Homeric Greek and translations around the world. While today's Odyssey is usually a printed text, the original poem was an oral composition sung by a trained bard, in an amalgamated Ancient Greek dialect, using a regular metrical pattern called dactylic hexameter. Each line of the original Greek was composed of six feet; each foot a dactyl or a spondee. Among the most impressive elements of the text are its strikingly modern non-linear plot, and its elevation of the status of women and the lower classes.