Develop   a well-detailed essay of 4-5 paragraphs on ONE of the topics listed   below.  Don’t forget to review the guidelines for How   to Succeed in the Written Assignments and the Sample   paper in MLA format,   and take advantage of the Smarthinking tutorial services before submitting   your essay to the Assignment submission folder.  All writing assignments   have Turnitin enabled for plagiarism detection.

1.   In Book 9 of Paradise Lost, Milton makes the claim that his story   of the fall from Eden and Adam and Eve’s recovery is   “Not less but more heroic” (14) than any of his epic   predecessors.  Make the case for two of the following to represent a new   kind of hero:  Sundiata, Hunahpu and Xbalanque, Adam and Eve.    Although not required, referring to some of the heroes that we have studied   would be useful.

2.    Deception figures largely in Popul Vuh and Paradise   Lost.  Compare and contrast Milton’s Satan and the Mayan twins use   of deception.  How do they differ?  What makes their trickery so   successful?  Although not required, referring to some of the other   deceivers that we have studied would be useful (to give just one example,   some of the deceivers and traitors found in Dante’s Inferno).

3.   Discuss the role of women in Sundiata.  Compare and contrast   its treatment of women with the depiction of women in Popul Vuh,   Paradise Lost, and/or any of the previous epics that we have   studied.  Is woman mainly subordinated to her male counterparts or does   she exert some degree of power or agency?

4.    Mortality, the inescapable truth of death, looms large in all three   epics.  The Mayan twins die as part of their plan to rid the underworld   of dark forces; Sundiata loses his mother Sogolon and must struggle to gain   her proper burial; and, of course, Adam and Eve introduce death, not only of   themselves but generations of human beings to come.  Despite this   powerful presence of mortality in the epics, something positive emerges from   these confrontations with death.  Define that positive development and   how it arises from (or triumphs over?) its encounter with death.  Choose   at least two of the epics for your essay.

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