Assignment:
Paper one: The first paper should be about three to five pages in length, and will focus on your reading of Homer. Papers should be formatted in 11 or 12-point type. They should be double-spaced with one-inch margins. Do not put your paper in a binder; a simple staple is preferred. Use plain white paper and a simple font such as Geneva, New York Times or Times New Roman. Expensive paper and fancy fonts detract from your paper's appearance. They do not improve a paper's grade. I prefer to grade all material without knowing the identity of the author, as I feel that this makes grading more fair. Therefore, I would like your name to appear only on a separate title sheet and nowhere else in the paper.
For the first paper you are required to cite the text of Homer a minimum of ten times. The citations in this first paper must nia include quotations. If you do quote the text, I will lower your grade. If you choose to cite secondary sources as well that is fine, but I discourage it for this paper. (Frequent citation of primary sources will not go amiss on any of your papers.)
1. In the Odyssey there are several significant female characters. Choose one mortal female character and write an essay discussing how Homer's depiction of this particular character helps us to understand the position of women in this society. In formulating your hypothesis you must consider the social status of the woman on whom you have chosen to focus. A queen and a slave are almost certainly going have somewhat different roles. Note that the discussion of one character may require you to make comparisons with other characters. (Do not choose one of the goddesses. Immortality and divine power greatly change their status in this world. Athena is the most problematic of them all.)
2. What is the function of a king (basileus) in Homer? We meet many of them in the Odyssey, but what exactly are they and what do they do?
As you can see, this first paper will focus on Homer's Odyssey. You should base this paper on the actual text of Homer, not on secondary sources. Look for what is actually there, not for what scholars tell you is there. Since you will need to make your arguments from the text of Homer you will need to cite specific passages in the text so that your readers will be able check your references. If you are using the text which was ordered for this class you may make your citations using simple page numbers, for example (Od. p 123).
If you are using another text (or you want to cite the text in a more scholarly manner), you should refer to book and line numbers. For example, to indicate Homer's Odyssey, book 6, lines 144 through 146, write (Od. 6.144-146). Your citations can be either in parentheses within the text or as footnotes, but you must have references. If you are not certain of how to use these references, please come to me for help.
Some general observations on making arguments from a literary source are in order. Avoid long plot summaries. Assume that your reader is well informed and already knows the story. A simple, brief reference to an action or a sequence of actions is usually all that is needed. Remember, you are trying to analyze the text, and it is your observations which should make up the bulk of your paper. When referring to any piece of literature never assume that a particular passage represents the viewpoint of the author, or a true statement of fact. Authors often give their characters "mistaken" ideas and are fond of irony.
You must consider the context of any passage to which you refer. Finally, when using a translation, never base an argument on the meaning of a specific word or phrase in the translation. If your translator chooses to render a word as "servant", for example, it is likely that the character is a slave. Arguing some point based on the freedom of the servant because the translator has not chosen the word "slave" for this particular context would be a big mistake.