Blog Post 5

My research topic is Female Roles in literature. My family is Dominican, and it wasn't until long ago that Dominican Republic had a democracy. When the country was facing a dictatorship, women were limited to their rights. Women were taken advantage of a lot and society was very traditional. What i find interesting is how the country has developed after democracy was allowed, and how many people are still stuck in those traditional ideas. Some women still feel that they have no say and are limited to rights and this can easily be related to female roles in literature. I want to take a look at strong female leads or characters in stories and how they have changed throughout literature. One challenge i am facing is that the topic i broad. I need to figure out a way to narrow it down to a more in depth topic to research.

Blog Post 4

The topic that have chosen for my paper is Female Roles in literature. I chose this as a topic because it is one that interests me at a lot. I know that back then circumstances were different. Society was patriarchal and women had little to no rights. I wanted to examine the different gender roles from throughout different literature and compare them. I wanted to compare the higher authority that men had in comparison to the little authority women had. Women were expected to behave in a certain way and for that reason I admire the Wife of Bath's tale. Although it was told by Chaucer, it think what he did was very clever. He told the story in the way of a woman who is telling her story through experience rather than the traditional story telling that came from women. This is a big deal because it was probably controversial at the time. My research question will be how has female roles changed throughout literature.

Blog Post 3

Farid Ud-Din Attar's The Conference of the Birds, consists of a couple of poems. Overall it these poems are an allegory for the Islamic sect, Sufism. The poem consists of many metaphors. Attar actually used the birds as metaphors for different types of sins and he gives the birds human qualities. In the story, the birds are metaphorically in search of purple and learning about spirituality. Although, the story is told in the perspective of birds, it's underlying message is one that all audiences can relate to and apply to their own lives.

Blog Post 2

Of all of themes in the Iliad and the Odyssey , I believe the main theme found in both is bravery. In the Iliad , Achilles shows bravery in his determination to return to the battlefield despite not having protection in armor. "How can i go to war, the Trojans have my gear. "(The Iliad, Book 18, Line 218) In the story from the Odyssey, Telemachus is unsure about whether or not his father is alive, but mainly believes his father will not return. He is persuaded into taking a journey to Pyros by an old friend of Odysseus, but really it was just Athena in disguise. She convinces him that the journey would be beneficial. Before the this adventure, he only speaks to his nurse about it, who convinces him that he shouldn't take risks like that. " His loving Nurse Eurykleia gave a cry, and tears sprang to her eyes as she wailed softly : ' Dear Child, whatever put this in your head? Why do you want to go so far in this world ? "(The Odyssey, Book 2, Lines 383-386) However, the theme of bravery shows, when Telemachus puts those fears aside, trusts in god and decides to pursue the journey anyways.

Sources I used:
Homer. “The Iliad [Book 18]”. The Bedford Anthology of World Literature, edited by Paul Davis and Gary Harrison and David M. Johnson and John F. Crawford, translated by Robert Fagles, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009, pp. 537-544.

Homer. ”The Odyssey [Book 2]”. The Bedford Anthology of World Literature, edited by Paul Davis and Gary Harrison and David M. Johnson and John F. Crawford, translated by Robert Fitzgerald, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009, pp. 185-209.

Blog Post 1

Throughout history, the origin and creation of man has been questioned and our purpose on earth has been questioned as well. Different cultures have different beliefs towards this idea, and these stories were originally passed along orally. Eventually a popular oral story, the Epic of Gilgamesh, was written on 22,000 clay tablets. With time, more and more written creation stories were created. Many people believe that this epic poem heavily influenced the hebrew creation stories. This isn't hard to believe , because of the similarities within the two. However, there are still numerous differences within the two.
The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Epic of Creation were etched in cuneiform style and both revolved around a polytheistic mindset. The idea of gods and goddesses were a theme within these stories.
For example, Gilgamesh was believed to be two-thirds God and one third human.
Whereas in the Epic of Creation, man was formed from a goddess. In Genesis, Man(Adam) was created from dust and eve was later created from the rib of Adam.
The story of Gilgamesh and the story in Genesis compares through the similarities found in Enkidu and Eve. In both stories, Eve and Enkidu were created to be a partner,  and ultimately be a better half to the other main characters.
In all three stories the number 7 plays an importance , which is interesting because of how that theme was carried on throughout years and put into these different stories. Another similarity is that all three stories were created to answer the fundamental question that lingers the minds of many, and that question is How we were made and to what purpose were we made.