Week 3: Narayan's Ramayana (pp. 89-171) Assignments - Reading Guide A - Reading Guide B - Ramayana Resources

Character Essay

Your assignment is to write a Character Essay about one of the characters listed at the bottom of this page. If you want to write on a different character, contact me first (make sure you do that at least one day before the deadline so that you can receive an answer back in time). Each week you can take one of two approaches to writing your Character Essay:

• OPTION ONE: Traditional analysis. You can write the Character Essay in traditional academic style, answering the questions in the prompt.
• OPTION TWO: Creative writing PLUS analysis. You can take a creative approach to the Essay, using different kinds of creative writing techniques suggested in the prompts. You aso need to include some analysis, explaining what aspects of the character you wanted to convey with your story.

Quotations. If you are doing the traditional analytical essay, you may quote a key phrase or a few words from the text, but do NOT quote anything longer than a few words. The words of the essay should contain your thoughts and ideas, not quotes from the book.

Title. You need to include the words "Character Essay for Week ___" in the title you give to the post, along with a title for your actual story (for example, "Character Essay for Week 2: Rama, My Hero")

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.

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.

When you are done, complete the Gradebook Declaration.

LIST OF CHARACTERS FOR THIS WEEK:

Sita:
Traditional Essay Option: What kind of woman is Sita? What are the moments in Sita's depiction that have made the strongest impression on you so far?
or
Creative Writing + Analysis Option: Focus on the moment when Sita drops her jewels as she is being abducted by Ravana: what are the thoughts in her mind at that time? After you tell your story, don't forget to include some analysis too.

Ravana:
Traditional Essay Option: How does Ravana exemplify the character of a "demon"? How does he also draw on the features of other character types, such as the king, warrior, sage, etc.?
or
Creative Writing + Analysis Option: Focus on the moment when Ravana is on his way to Sita, disguised as a hermit. How does he feel about this kind of disguise? What are his immediate hopes? What are his long-term hopes? After you tell your story, don't forget to include some analysis too.

Vali and Sugriva:
Traditional Essay Option: Compare and contrast this pair of brothers and especially the role that Rama plays in their lives
or
Creative Writing + Analysis Option: Imagine the dialogue between Vali and Sugriva when Vali has just come back, having emerged from the cave after his long absence (the text gives you a few phrases, but imagine a more complete dialogue between them, in addition to the violent attack that Vali makes on his brother). After you tell your story, don't forget to include some analysis too.

Hanuman:
Traditional Essay Option: What is the role that Hanuman has played in the story so far? What expectations do you have for his further involvement in the story?
or
Creative Writing + Analysis Option: Imagine the dialogue between Hanuman and the mysterious female character that they find in the cave. How does the woman explain her situation to Hanuman? What does Hanuman tell her about himself and about his mission? How are their fates entwined? After you tell your story, don't forget to include some analysis too.

Modern Languages MLLL-4993. Indian Epics. Laura Gibbs, Ph.D. The textual material made available at this website is licensed under a Creative Commons License. You must give the original author credit. You may not use this work for commercial purposes. If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under a license identical to this one. No claims are made regarding the status of images used at this website; if you own the copyright privileges to any of these images and believe your copyright privileges have been violated, please contact the webmaster. Page last updated: January 15, 2005 1:35 AM