Asked by cooldude
Write an expository essay of 4-5 paragraphs using evidence from multiple texts we studied in class. Your job is to inform and explain,
Sources to Choose From (ALL are in the Modules here in Canvas and linked below.)
Do NOT use ANY other sources. Your evidence must ALL come from these texts that we read in class. You do NOT have to use ALL of these sources. Choose ONE prompt (scroll down) and read the instructions for that prompt. It will include how many sources and what types to use. You can always use more sources than is required, but not less.
Old Greek Stories (Includes ALl the myths we read)Links to an external site.
The Purpose of Mythology VideoLinks to an external site.
Athena and Poseidon's Contest for Athens ArticleDownload Athena and Poseidon's Contest for Athens Article
Why Are We Obsessed With Superheroes? ArticleDownload Why Are We Obsessed With Superheroes? Article
The Hero's Journey ArticleDownload The Hero's Journey Article
Pride PoemDownload Pride Poem
The Odyssey: Cyclops StoryDownload The Odyssey: Cyclops Story
This essay will be scored using the Florida B.E.S.T. Expository Writing Rubric. (I will double the rubric points. So, a 24 would be like receiving a 12 on the B.E.S.T. test - the highest score possible.)
Review the rubric closely here: RubricDownload Rubric
To see what an essay should look like, view these real student examples from past years and their BEST scores. These essays are NOT on the topic you will write about. Please only look at these to see the format and writing style, etc. The table of contents (page 3 of the document) shows the scores. Not all of these essays scored high. Look at low, medium, and high scores and try to write in a similar way as the high ones. I know this topic looks like it is persuasive, but it is technically expository. There is some opinion in these essays, but your mythology one should be informative only. You will NOT be trying to persuade me of anything.
Example EssaysDownload Example Essays
Choose ONE of the following prompts:
OPTION 1 — Myths & Human Nature
Explain what at least two of the myths (or one myth and The Odyssey/one myth and the poem "Pride"/one myth and "Athena and Poseidon's Contest for Athens" article) we studied reveal about human nature AND why you think we still create/recreate myths today.
Use examples from Old Greek Stories (required), The Odyssey (Cyclops story) and/or “Pride" AND some of our nonfiction texts/video (2 required).
OPTION 2 — Heroes
Explain how the concept of a hero has changed over time, comparing ancient heroes from Old Greek Stories/The Odyssey (Theseus, Odysseus, Cadmus, Europa, etc.) with modern heroes (from the superhero article, current movies/comics/TV shows or our superhero discussions).
Show how heroes reflect the values of their society.
OPTION 3 — The Hero's Journey
Using the story of Theseus from Old Greek Stories, analyze how his journey follows the steps of the Hero’s Journey (see your notes in the Classkick) and explain what his journey reveals about human values such as courage, pride, responsibility, perseverance, or sacrifice.
Identify and explain at least THREE specific stages of the Hero’s Journey as they appear in Theseus’s story
(for example: Call to Adventure, Trials, etc.)
All Answers 1
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Ancient myths often map the trials of a single person onto shared human experiences. The story of Theseus in Old Greek Stories fits the modern outline known as the Hero’s Journey almost exactly, and reading his adventures alongside the stages described in The Hero’s Journey article helps explain what Greeks — and people in general — admired and worried about in heroes. Theseus’s tale shows clear moments that match the Call to Adventure, the Tests/Trials, the Ordeal and Reward, and the Return; taken together these stages reveal values such as courage, perseverance, cleverness, and also the dangers of pride and failed responsibility.
The journey begins with a recognizable Call to Adventure. In the Theseus story, the young man learns his identity as the son of Aegeus and takes up his father’s tokens (the sword and sandals hidden under a rock) as his proof and mission to make his way to Athens. The Hero’s Journey article describes the Call as the moment the ordinary world is left behind and the hero accepts a task beyond everyday life; Theseus answers that call by deliberately choosing the dangerous land route to Athens rather than a safer sea passage. That choice — to face dangers rather than avoid them — establishes the first value the myth promotes: courage in stepping into the unknown.
As the Hero’s Journey article explains, the middle of the story is dominated by Tests, Allies, and Enemies. Theseus’s road to Athens is a catalogue of such tests. Old Greek Stories lists the bandits and monsters he overcomes — Periphetes the club-bearer, Sinis who bent pines to fling travelers, the Crommyonian Sow, Sciron who kicked wayfarers into the sea, Cercyon the wrestler, and the highwayman Procrustes who forced victims to fit his bed. Each encounter is a trial that proves Theseus’s strength and resourcefulness. In the Campbellian language, these episodes are not arbitrary violence but staged challenges that train and prove the hero; taken together they emphasize perseverance, physical bravery, and a sense of justice (Theseus removes dangerous criminals from the road so others may travel safely).
The central Ordeal for Theseus is his voyage to Crete and the descent into the Labyrinth to face the Minotaur. Here the Hero’s Journey article’s stages “Approach,” “Ordeal,” and “Reward” are clearly present: Theseus volunteers (or is chosen) to go as one of the youths to be offered to the monster, he gains Ariadne’s help — the famed thread that allows him to find his way back — and then confronts and kills the Minotaur, winning freedom for himself and the other Athenians. The Reward is literal escape and the promise of a better future for Athens. Yet the Return stage of the myth is complicated: Theseus forgets to change his ship’s black sail to white, and King Aegeus, seeing what he thinks is his son’s death, throws himself into the sea. In some versions Theseus also abandons Ariadne on Naxos. These consequences show that the hero can be fallible; the myth thus teaches that courage and cleverness may come with pride, lapses in responsibility, or painful personal loss.
Reading Theseus through the Hero’s Journey framework shows why his story remained powerful: it celebrates values such as bravery, perseverance, and cleverness (the virtues that let the community survive and triumph), while also showing the human costs of arrogance and carelessness. The structure described in The Hero’s Journey article helps us see not only the events of Theseus’s life (as told in Old Greek Stories) but the lesson behind them — that a hero must pass trials and return changed, and that even success does not erase the need for responsibility. The tale’s mix of triumph and tragic consequence is what makes Theseus a lasting model of both human strength and human fallibility.
The journey begins with a recognizable Call to Adventure. In the Theseus story, the young man learns his identity as the son of Aegeus and takes up his father’s tokens (the sword and sandals hidden under a rock) as his proof and mission to make his way to Athens. The Hero’s Journey article describes the Call as the moment the ordinary world is left behind and the hero accepts a task beyond everyday life; Theseus answers that call by deliberately choosing the dangerous land route to Athens rather than a safer sea passage. That choice — to face dangers rather than avoid them — establishes the first value the myth promotes: courage in stepping into the unknown.
As the Hero’s Journey article explains, the middle of the story is dominated by Tests, Allies, and Enemies. Theseus’s road to Athens is a catalogue of such tests. Old Greek Stories lists the bandits and monsters he overcomes — Periphetes the club-bearer, Sinis who bent pines to fling travelers, the Crommyonian Sow, Sciron who kicked wayfarers into the sea, Cercyon the wrestler, and the highwayman Procrustes who forced victims to fit his bed. Each encounter is a trial that proves Theseus’s strength and resourcefulness. In the Campbellian language, these episodes are not arbitrary violence but staged challenges that train and prove the hero; taken together they emphasize perseverance, physical bravery, and a sense of justice (Theseus removes dangerous criminals from the road so others may travel safely).
The central Ordeal for Theseus is his voyage to Crete and the descent into the Labyrinth to face the Minotaur. Here the Hero’s Journey article’s stages “Approach,” “Ordeal,” and “Reward” are clearly present: Theseus volunteers (or is chosen) to go as one of the youths to be offered to the monster, he gains Ariadne’s help — the famed thread that allows him to find his way back — and then confronts and kills the Minotaur, winning freedom for himself and the other Athenians. The Reward is literal escape and the promise of a better future for Athens. Yet the Return stage of the myth is complicated: Theseus forgets to change his ship’s black sail to white, and King Aegeus, seeing what he thinks is his son’s death, throws himself into the sea. In some versions Theseus also abandons Ariadne on Naxos. These consequences show that the hero can be fallible; the myth thus teaches that courage and cleverness may come with pride, lapses in responsibility, or painful personal loss.
Reading Theseus through the Hero’s Journey framework shows why his story remained powerful: it celebrates values such as bravery, perseverance, and cleverness (the virtues that let the community survive and triumph), while also showing the human costs of arrogance and carelessness. The structure described in The Hero’s Journey article helps us see not only the events of Theseus’s life (as told in Old Greek Stories) but the lesson behind them — that a hero must pass trials and return changed, and that even success does not erase the need for responsibility. The tale’s mix of triumph and tragic consequence is what makes Theseus a lasting model of both human strength and human fallibility.
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