Week 2: Jataka Tales (Birth Stories of the Buddha) |
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Choose one of the essay topics for this week. You will find the topics listed down at the bottom of this page; scroll down to find them. If you want to write on a different topic, contact the instructor first (make sure you do that at least one day before the deadline so that you can receive an answer back in time).
Links to stories. You need to provide a link back to each of the specific stories that you discuss in your essay.
Image. You are required to include at least one image with the story, along with a link to the webpage where you found the image, plus information about the image. You are free to re-use the images you find at the course website, or you can choose some other image to use that you find on the internet. Remember: even if you are re-using an image from the course website, you need to provide image information about it.
Title. You need to include the words "Essay for Week ___" in the title you give to the post, along with a title for your actual story (for example, "Essay for Week 2: Honesty Rewarded in the Jataka Tales")
Length. Your Storytelling post needs to be a minimum of 300 words long (maximum 1000 words). Make sure you do a spellcheck and a word count, and that you proofread your post by reading it out loud.
When you are done, complete the Gradebook Declaration.
PLEASE READ CAREFULLY: I have published a blog post with the words "Essay for Week ___" in the title, along with a specific title for my essay. My post is between 300 words minimum and 1000 words maximum. I have spellchecked and proofread the post. I have included links to the specific stories that I discussed. I have included an image, along with Image Information. |
Possible Topics:
Inspiration? Guidance? Model? Were there any character(s) in the stories who provided you with a kind of model to follow - either a positive model to imitate, or a negative model to avoid? Is there some incident in one of the stories that gives you insight into something that has happened in your own life or in the life of someone close to you? Are there values or qualities that you see in the character(s) that are values or qualities you would like to have more of in your own life? What valuable message or meaning did you find in this week's stories? (Make sure you provide specific examples from at least three different stories.)
The "Bad Guys." Stories often contain a "bad guy," an enemy who has to be defeated or a dangerous person who needs to be stopped. Who were the "bad guys" in this week's stories? What made them act the way that they did? Were you ever sympathetic to the "bad guys"? What happened to the "bad guys" at the end of each story? How were the heroes/heroines able to escape from or defeat their opponents? Do any of the "bad guys" learn their lesson or turn out not to be so bad in the end? (Make sure you provide specific examples from at least three different stories.)
Setting and Landscape. What impression did you have of the setting and the natural landscape for these stories? How did the setting contribute to the meaning of the stories? Where did the stories take place? What details do you remember about the settings of the stories? Did the setting(s) play an important role in the stories? Were the seasons or time of year important in any of the stories? The weather? Was the natural setting realistic, or was it a kind of fantasy setting? (Make sure you provide specific examples from at least three different stories.)
Women's Roles. Many storytelling traditions are male-oriented, with the female characters appearing in clearly subordinate roles. Sometimes the stories are explicitly misogynistic, treating women with contempt, suspicion or fear. In other storytelling traditions, women (or girls) emerge as the central characters, and they are represented in a more positive light. What did you think about the way women and girls were represented in the stories that you read this week? (Make sure you provide specific examples from at least three different stories.)
Assess. Think back to your Starting Assumptions this week and your Starting Assumptions for the course in general. Did anything you read or studied this week make a big change in your starting assumptions? What surprised you the most? What stories made the most vivid impression on you? Why? Was there a story that didn't grab you at all or that you didn't understand? Did this unit fit into your expectations for a course in World Literature? If you were going to continue with this topic, what kind of research and reading would you want to do? What questions would you want to find answers to? (Make sure you provide specific examples from at least three different stories.)
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Modern Languages
MLLL-2003. World Literature: Frametales. Laura Gibbs, Ph.D.
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