A weakness of much college student writing is that many students do not develop their ideas fully or support their major arguments with enough evidence. One way to view yourself as a writer is to think of yourself as a lawyer in a court. If you were defending an individual whom you believed to be innocent, you would never stand up to the jury and simply state, "I am certain the defendant is innocent of all crimes against him. I rest my case." Instead, you would take time to review the situation, argue your side, and provide evidence that your defendant is innocent.
In a similar way, writing an essay is taking a stand and providing as much evidence and supporting arguments as you can to make clear to the reader what you are trying to convey. The evidence is the text itself, and the arguments are your own opinions fully explained. Think in these terms as you plan and then write an essay on one of the following topics.
Length: 5-6 paragraphs. Feel free to use quotations from the Odyssey to support your general views, but because the online text we are using is inconsistent in its line identifications, you do not need to cite the lines or include a Works Cited page. Only use short quotations when necessary, not lengthy ones. References to specific incidents in the text are often just as good as using quotations. Use only the Odyssey and your own thoughts to support your views; do not use other sources.
Write on one of the following:
1. Odysseus was clearly a hero by the Greek definition; would he be a hero by American standards-or by your own? Make sure you defend your view with judicious examples from the text.
2. How is The Odyssey a vehicle for conveying Greek values and culture? What do modern readers truly learn about ancient Greece through Homer's famed tale?
3. How is Polyphemus a true Greek ‘monster'? What about him makes him the ‘anti-Greek'? What does this say about Greek society-their fears, dislikes, etc.?
4. Discuss how The Odyssey follows Campbell's pattern of the monomyth. What does this monomyth teach us about life?