Week 1 Forum: Introductions and Choosing
Topics
Introductions
and Choosing Topics

Begin
by introducing yourself. Tell us who you are, where you’re from, and what
you do, and then give us some details about yourself that will help us to
get a feel for who you really are. For instance: do you have any favorite
foods? What kinds of books or movies do you like? What’s your biggest pet
peeve?
Next,
give us a little bit of background on your experience with world
literature. What do you think is meant by “world literature,” and have you
ever read any works that fit this category, or seen movies based on a
piece of world literature? If so, what did you find the most challenging?
If not, what do you think will be the biggest challenge for you in this
class?
Last,
please look over the required forum assignments for Weeks 3 through 14
(see below for titles, and the forum itself for a complete prompt), and
list your top three choices for which forums you would like to lead
(everyone will act as a discussion leader for a week). Feel free to
include a sentence or two about why you want to lead those weeks, as that
will help me arrange everyone into a week that is interesting to him or
her.
Your initial forum post needs to be 300-600 words

Week 2
Forum
The
Trojan War and Human Will
Discussion Leader: Instructor

Discussion leaders, after reading I,VI, VIII, IX, XVI, XVII, XXVI in the Iliad,
respond to one of the following questions, using specific examples and direct
quotation from the reading to support your answer.
Human Will in the Story: Consider the conflict between fate/destiny on one hand
and free will on the other. How do the characters if the Iliad seem
to see themselves in regards to these ideas?Does one seem to dominate
their understanding of their lives? Choose one character specifically and
explain how he or she seems to understand this aspect of his/her
existence. Be sure to use quotations and specific examples to support your
arguments.Human Will and Our Lives: How do you feel that fate/destiny and free will play a
role in YOUR life? How would you describe your own views of this these
ideas, and how do your views compare to the way these ideas are depicted
in the Iliad? Be sure to reference specific passages from the Iliad
to help us see the connections.
If you are NOT a discussion leader: please post at least one response to EACH discussion
leader’s main post. Posting the minimum number of responses will earn a C-range
grade; responding more and helping to turn the forum into a true back-and-forth
discussion will result in a higher forum grade.

Please divide your post into paragraphs for easier reading, and make sure to
reference, paraphrase, or quote specific passages from the text to support and
illustrate what you say (and cite the passages using MLA citation format). Also
remember that required forums are multi-part assignments; discussion
leaders’ 300-500 word posts responding to the questions above is due on
Wednesday of Week

Week
3
Considering Odysseus
Discussion Leaders: Joel Alexander,
Matt Kostielney, Ashlee Pollock

Discussion Leaders, after reading the assigned sections of the Odyssey,
respond to ONE of the following
questions (choose a question that has not already been addressed by one of your
fellow discussion leaders). Please divide your response into logical paragraphs
to help the rest of us read it more easily.
Describe
Odysseus’ character in terms of the good choices and the poor choices he
makes. Overall, do you think he makes more good choices or poor ones? How
does that affect your view of Odysseus as a hero? Be sure to use lines
from the reading to explain your stance.

Compare
Odysseus to one of the heroes in the Iliad. Is he a hero in the
same way that the other hero is? Make sure to illustrate your response
with direct references to the two epics.

Compare
the Odyssey to the Iliad sections we read in terms of focus. Does
it change the “feel” of the epic in any way to have the Odyssey focus on
a single person, rather than the “ensemble cast” of the Iliad?
If you are NOT a discussion leader: please post at
least one response to EACH discussion leader’s main post. Posting the minimum
number of responses will earn a C-range grade; responding more and helping to
turn the forum into a true back-and-forth discussion will result in a higher
forum grade.

Please divide your post into paragraphs for easier reading, and make sure to
reference, paraphrase, or quote specific passages from the text to support and
illustrate what you say (and cite the passages using MLA citation format). Also
remember that required forums are multi-part
assignments; discussion leaders’ 300-500
word posts responding to the questions above ar

Week
5
The Ramayana as Education
Discussion Leaders: Bill Long, Isaac
Renfro, Catric Whaley

Discussion Leaders, after reading the assigned sections of the Ramayana,
respond to ONE (1) of the following questions(choose a question that has not already been addressed by
one of your fellow discussion leaders).
Please divide your response into logical paragraphs to help the rest of us read
it more easily.
Choose two characters from the Ramayana and
discuss at them in terms of what sorts of lessons readers can learn from
them. Try to boil your discussion of each down into a single sentence
“moral,” and then explain, using examples from the work, how you came to
that conclusion. Do these seem to you to be useful morals in our own time?
Explain why or why not using specific examples from your life and/or our
own culture.
The lessons of the Ramayana are deeply rooted
within the Hindu concept of dharma, or right behavior, and karma, the idea
that an individual’s actions shape his or her destiny by visiting evil on
evil and good on good. Choose two characters from the Ramayana to
discuss, one of whom “gets what he/she deserves” and one character that
you thought did not get what he or she deserved. Explain your
responses, citing specific passages and quotations from the epic as
support. Follow this with a discussion of dharma and karma in your own
life; what role do you believe dharma and karma play, if any?
Think about the Ramayana in comparison to the
two Greek epics from which we read excerpts, and put forth an argument
about what seemed similar and what seemed different. Explain your
responses, citing specific passages and quotations from the epics as
support.
If
you are NOT a discussion leader: please post at least one (1) response to EACH discussion
leader’s main post. Posting the minimum number of responses will earn a C-range
grade; responding more and helping to turn the forum into a true back-and-forth
discussion will result in a higher forum grade.

Please divide your post into paragraphs for easier reading, and make sure to
reference, paraphrase, or quote specific passages from the text to support and
illustrate what you say (and cite the passages using MLA citation format). Also
remember that required forums are multi-part assignments; discussion
leaders’ 300-500 word posts responding to the questions above are due on
Wednes

Week
6
The Sakuntala: An Eastern Fairy Tale
Discussion Leaders: Jeremy Bailey,
Heidi Nagel, Luana Stefanovic

Discussion Leaders, after reading The Sakuntala,
respond to ONE (1) of the following questions(choose a question that has
not already been addressed by one of your fellow discussion leaders):
Think about the Sakuntala in terms of conflict.
What seems to be the main conflict driving the action in this play?
Explain your responses, citing specific passages and quotations from the
play as support.
Consider the concepts of dharma and karma that we
discussed in Week 5. Do these seem to be as important here in The
Sakuntala as they are in The Ramayana? Support your response
with specific evidence from both works.
Think about your own experience with Western fairy
tales like “Cinderella” and “Snow White,” and choose
one well-known western fairy tale to compare to the Sakuntala. What
are two things that seemed similar, and two that seemed different? Make
sure to tell us what Western fairy tale you have chosen, and if possible,
link to an online copy of the version you’re thinking of, or, if that’s
not possible, tell us what version you’re thinking about, such as, for
instance, “the Disney version” or “the Grimm brothers’
version.” Cite specific passages from each work to support your
discussion.
If
you are NOT a discussion leader:
please post at least one (1) response to EACH discussion leader’s main post.
Posting the minimum number of responses will earn a C-range grade; responding
more and helping to turn the forum into a true back-and-forth discussion will
result in a higher forum grade.

Please divide your post into paragraphs for easier reading, and make sure to
reference, paraphrase, or quote specific passages from the text to support and
illustrate what you say (and cite the passages using MLA citation format). Also
remember that required forums are multi-part assignments; discussion
leaders’ 300-500 word posts responding to the questions above are due on
Wednesday of Week 6

Week
8
Reading
Themes in African Stories and Considering Oral Culture
Discussion Leaders: Curtis
Barholomew, Maurice Edmonds, Justin Symons

Discussion Leaders, after reading the African tales
assigned this week, respond to ONE (1) of the following questions(choose a question that has not already been addressed by
one of your fellow discussion leaders):
Discuss one or two common themes you found in any two
of these tales. What was similar and dissimilar in the treatment of the
themes in each story? Support your answer with discussions of specific
examples from each story.
After reading these stories, do you see
“Africa” as a unified culture, or were the tales too different
to be grouped together in such a large category? Consider the tales in
comparison to other texts that we’ve read, and support your response with
direct references to the stories you discuss. Aspects of the story that
you could discuss include setting, themes, characters, symbolism, and so
forth. Follow this up by thinking about American culture; do we have any
shared cultural stories that establish us as a unified culture? Why or why
not? Support your answer with specific examples.
These tales were passed down through oral tradition.
Please read the lesson materials on the oral tradition, and if possible,
view some of the linked videos as well. What about these stories seem to
make them so suitable for being passed down orally? Follow this up by
discussing the role of oral tradition in your own life. Do you and your
family and/or friends have oral traditions of any kind (stories that you
tell about one another, stories that you learned from your older
relatives, etc.)? How does passing down these stories help to create a
shared culture among your relations and friends?

If you are NOT a discussion leader: please post at least one (1) response to EACH discussion
leader’s main post. Posting the minimum number of responses will earn a C-range
grade; responding more and helping to turn the forum into a true back-and-forth
discussion will result in a higher forum grade.

Please divide your post into paragraphs
for easier reading, and make sure to reference, paraphrase, or quote specific
passages from the text to support and illustrate what you say (and cite the
passages using MLA citation format). Also remember that required forums are multi-part assignments; discussion
leaders’ 300-500 word posts
responding to the questions above are due on Wednesday of Week 8.

Week
10
Evaluating
Crimes and Considering Punishments
Discussion Leaders: Veronica Ailes,
Chris Frey, Jeff Olsen

Discussion Leaders, after reading the assigned passages from Dante’s Inferno,
respond to ONE (1) of the following questions (choose a question that
has not already been addressed by one of your fellow discussion leaders):
1. What seems to you to be Dante’s main interest in
describing Hell as he does? Is he interested in morality? Politics?
Salvation? Something else? Give specific, well-discussed examples from the
text to support your response.
Focus on two or three related examples from the text,
and explain whether or not you believe that the penalties suit the crimes.
Do the penalties seem harsh? Lenient? Do they have any sort of
“poetic justice” that makes them especially appropriate to the
types of crimes they punish? Support your response with specific passages
from the text. Follow this up by considering crime and punishment in our
own culture. Have you ever heard of any legal punishment in our own
justice system that seem especially suited to the crimes that were
committed? Explain what it was and why it seems to work so well.
Consider Dante’s Hell and the people trapped therein.
What seems to be the underlying philosophy of Dante’s Hell, given his
choices of who to include and the ways in which they are punished? Follow
this up by comparing and contrasting Dante’s concept of Hell with your
own. Does your concept of Hell “mesh” with Dante’s in terms of the sort of
underlying philosophy? Make sure to clearly describe your concept of
Hell—don’t assume that everyone will know what it is—and to illustrate
your response with specific passages from Dante’s work.
If you are NOT a discussion leader: please post at least one (1) response to EACH discussion
leader’s main post. Posting the minimum number of responses will earn a C-range
grade; responding more and helping to turn the forum into a true back-and-forth
discussion will result in a higher forum grade.

Please divide your post into paragraphs for easier reading, and make sure to
reference, paraphrase, or quote specific passages from the text to support and
illustrate what you say (and cite the passages using MLA citation format). Also
remember that required forums are multi-part assignments; discussion
leaders’ 300-500 word posts responding to the questions above are due on
Wednesday of Week 10

Week
11
Chaucer as a Window into Medieval England
Discussion Leaders: Amy Isom,
Cynthia Johnson, Jennifer Simmons

Discussion Leaders, after reading the assigned
selections from Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (please also make
sure to read the Wife of Bath’s Tale, and not just her Prologue), respond to ONE
(1) of the following questions (choose a question that has not already been
addressed by one of your fellow discussion leaders):
Choose one tale and its teller, and discuss the
juxtaposition of the two. Does the tale seem to you to particularly suit
this teller? Why or why not? Support your response with specific,
well-explained examples from the tale and the description of the teller in
the Prologue.
This week, we’ve read the Prologue to the Canterbury
Tales and four different tales. Look closely at one character whose
tale we read, and explain how you think that character’s tale might be
different if it were told by one of the other characters in the Tales.
Do you think the theme would change? The perspective? Would the story end
the same way? Support your discussion with specific passages from the
text. Follow this up by considering an event in your own life, big or small.
Give us a brief summary of that event, and then explain what you think
might change about the telling if someone else involved were to tell us
about the story. Would they focus on different things?Explain one thing about medieval English culture and/or
literature, as shown through these selections and/or the supplementary
readings, that surprised you. Why did it surprise you so much? Did it
change you view of the time period at all?
If you are NOT a discussion leader: please post at least one (1) response to EACH discussion
leader’s main post. Posting the minimum number of responses will earn a C-range
grade; responding more and helping to turn the forum into a true back-and-forth
discussion will result in a higher forum grade.

Please divide your post into paragraphs
for easier reading, and make sure to reference, paraphrase, or quote specific
passages from the text to support and illustrate what you say (and cite the
passages using MLA citation format). Also remember that required forums are multi-part assignments; discussion
leaders’ 300-500 word posts
responding to the questions above are due on Wednesday of Week 11

Week
13
Arthurian Heroes and the Fall of Camelot
Discussion Leaders: Jamie Brigham,
Noah Clifton, Robert Roan

Discussion Leaders, after reading the assigned
sections of Thomas Malory’s Morte Darthur (called “King
Arthur” in our textbook) and the summaries of the other chapters at.arthurian-legend.com/summary-mort-darthur-00.php”>Arthurian-Legend.com, respond to ONE (1) of the following questions
(choose a question that has not already been addressed by one of your fellow
discussion leaders):
1. Camelot as a society seems to be rather strongly
separated into different classes with different roles, but the two main
roles that we see in the Morte are that of king and that of knight.
What are the similarities and differences between these two roles? Are
there any ways in which we might argue that knights are more powerful than
kings? Bring in quotations from the reading to support your answer; you
may also use information from the summaries of chapters that were not
assigned.
We’ve read a few sections of Thomas Malory’s Morte
Darthur now, and these sections tell us about the feats and
accomplishments of few of the main Arthurian heroes. Use the main figures
in our reading–Arthur, Lancelot, and Galahad–to come up with a basic
definition of the Arthurian hero. What seem to be the main defining traits
as we’ve seen them in these sections of the Morte? Bring in
quotations from the reading to support your answer. Follow this up with a
brief discussion of your own definition of a hero: how similar are the
Arthurian hero and your own concept of a hero?
In the last section of the reading, we see the final
fallout from the Arthur-Guinevere-Lancelot love triangle. How do we end up
reading the three main characters in this section? Is any one person
really to blame for the fall of Camelot? Make sure to consider events
given in the summarized sections, as well as issues such as Lancelot’s
conflicting loyalties as both Arthur’s vassal and Guinevere’s pledged
knight, and the difficulties that Arthur’s role as supreme earthly
authority cause here. Bring in quotations from the reading to support your
answer; you may also use information from the summaries of chapters that
were not assigned.
If you are NOT a discussion leader: please post at least one (1) response to EACH discussion
leader’s main post. Posting the minimum number of responses will earn a C-range
grade; responding more and helping to turn the forum into a true back-and-forth
discussion will result in a higher forum grade.

Please divide your post into paragraphs for easier reading, and make sure to
reference, paraphrase, or quote specific passages from the text to support and
illustrate what you say (and cite the passages using MLA citation format). Also
remember that required forums are multi-part assignments; discussion
leaders’ 300-500 word posts responding to the questions above are due on
Wednesday of Week 13

Week 14: Character Motivation in
Othello ( 77 messages – 73 unread ) Click the “Read full description”
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Week
14
Character Motivation in Othello
Discussion Leaders: James Barker,
Neiman Maske, Suzanne Sudder

Discussion Leaders, after reading Othello,
respond to ONE (1) of the following questions (choose a question that
has not already been addressed by one of your fellow discussion leaders):
How do we draw lines of “victim” and “criminal” in this
play? Is Othello the main one to blame for what happens, or is he, in fact,
a victim in the whole mess? Point out specific lines and events to support
your answer.Brabantio protests the marriage of his daughter,
Desdemona, to Othello, claiming Othello used “spells and
medicines” to dull her senses so that she would marry “against
all rules of nature.” Some critics, however, have claimed that
Brabantio’s real motive is racial prejudice. Do you think they are
correct? Does Brabantio object because Othello is a Moor, or does the play
give us a different picture of Brabantio’s motivations? Support your
answer with specific passages from the text.Iago is one of Shakespeare’s best-known antagonists in
large part because of the massive amounts of destruction he wreaks without
really getting his own hands dirty. Does Iago have reasonable and
understandable motivations, or is he motivated instead by his own
psychotically evil core? Discuss this issue in terms of Iago’s
interactions with two characters OTHER THAN Othello. What can these
interactions show us about the “inner Iago”? Be sure to bring in direct
evidence to support your response.
If you are NOT a discussion leader: please post at least one (1) response to EACH discussion
leader’s main post. Posting the minimum number of responses will earn a C-range
grade; responding more and helping to turn the forum into a true back-and-forth
discussion will result in a higher forum grade.

Please divide your post into paragraphs for easier reading, and make sure to
reference, paraphrase, or quote specific passages from the text to support and
illustrate what you say (and cite the passages using MLA citation format). Also
remember that required forums are multi-part assignments; discussion
leaders’ 300-500 word posts responding to the questions above are due on
Wednesday of Week 14.