Introduction
Welcome to ENG 385.1 “Studies in the
Hero”
You are about to embark on a
fascinating excursion through selected human cultures as we focus on the theme
of the “hero” as developed in some of the world’s most important and engaging
literature. From the ancient Greek
world’s classic tragedy, Oedipus, The King, to such recent American
authors as William Faulkner and playwright Arthur Miller, our readings will
examine the changing character of the hero, one of the most profound
definitions of human nature in the collective psyche of humanity.
Our Course Materials and Resources
A key resource in our course
is the concepts of Joseph Campbell’s Hero With a Thousand Faces. Considered by many academicians as one of the
top ten scholarly works in the whole twentieth century, Hero With A Thousand
Faces examines the hero patterns in hundreds of its manifestations around
the world. Through it all, Dr. Campbell
reconstructs the common elements of the “archetypal” (universal) hero patterns,
four distinct patterns that are discernible in the whole canon of world
literature that engages the character of the hero: 1) the Adventure Hero, 2)
the Hero of the Quest, 3) the Scapegoat Hero, and 4) the Hero of
Initiation. The focus of his analysis is
the fourth pattern, the Hero of Initiation.
The primary sources you will
be reading or viewing include Sophocles’ Oedipus, The King, short
stories from selections by Nathaniel Hawthorne, William Faulkner, Herman
Melville, and John Cheever, and commentaries on the nature of heroes and hero
sagas by many scholars, their works available on the Internet in the Online
Resources pages for each week.
Your Learning Work
The learning work in the
course will include the composition of short, in-class exercises, one
out-of-class literary analysis and three exams over the notes, readings, and
the materials on this resource CD-ROM.
Week 1 – The
Ancient Heroes
The Sample Literary Analysis
(Due Week 1)
The first unit of the course
includes an introduction to literary analysis, addressing a short story,
Marshall Bennett Connelly’s “Three Dirges,” that is found online in the Week 1
online course materials. You will
compose a short in-class composition analyzing a key element critical in
understanding the concept of the hero—supported by references to such literary
elements as characterization, theme, imagery, symbol patterns, use of time,
etc.—as discernible in the story. All
the supporting instruction is found on this CD-ROM, including supplemental
historical background information related to Connelly’s story.
This week explores examples
of the ancient heroes with a special emphasis on the Greek tragic hero,
“Oedipus, The King,” and the Western mythological Hero Twins, addressed in the
Mayan “Popol Vuh.”
The Week 1 Test – You will
complete a short objective exam at the end of the period over basic concepts
discussed during our first session.
Week 2 – The
Evolution of the Moral and Archetypal Heroes
The second unit of the
course focuses on the nineteenth century evolution of the moral and archetypal
heroes, discernible for our studies in the writings of Nathaniel Hawthorne. You will complete readings of three short
stories found in your textbook, Young
Goodman Brown and Other Stories.
The Week 2 Test – You will
complete a short objective exam at the end of the period over basic concepts
discussed during our second session and the readings by
Week 3 –The Modern and Anti-Heroes
The third and final unit of
our course explores the modern hero as defined in two concept papers, Arthur
Miller’s “Tragedy
and the Common Man,” and William Faulkner’s “Nobel Prize
Acceptance Speech,” both found on this CD-ROM.
The literary essay (Due Week
3)
The essay topics reflect
readings that are paced evenly throughout the course to allow you sufficient
time to read the primary works with careful discerning. You will find two sample essays on this
CD-ROM (link to Sample One/link to Sample Two).
Read the exercises first to get a sense of what is expected for the
assignments related to the readings.
Select the exercise you wish to complete for the literary essay. Then
mark the text of the readings carefully, noting passages that support claims
that you plan to develop in your essay.
Incorporate short quotations liberally throughout the body of the essay
in support of your claims. You will
submit your essay electronically as an email attachment to my Northwood email
account: grimesg@northwood.edu . I
will open, read, and edit your papers electronically, then save them to a
permanent folder before returning them to you, so I will always have a backup
copy of your graded assignment.
The Class
Report—review one of the websites celebrating “Other
Heroes.”
The Week 3 Test—You will
complete a short objective exam at the end of the period over basic concepts
discussed during our second session and the readings by Faulkner, Melville, and
Cheever.
Dr. Grimes
This page was last modified on February 10, 2006,
and is maintained by Dr. Geoffrey Grimes.
