Michelle Morneau
Professor Warner
English 112B
4 December 2012
Unit of Study: Greek Mythology and Hero
Myths
Introduction
Greek
mythology and hero myths are present in classic literature from antiquity
through the present. Their timelessness and universality are evident with the
popularity of novels such as James Joyce's Ulysses
and Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain
in addition to a number of films, television, and fiction for young adults. The
study of Greek mythology in the classroom prepares students for academic
reading and writing in the higher grades because it provides the foundation of
Western literature. Reading and knowing these myths helps students to discover
literary allusions and find the underlying connections between texts. While
Greek mythology might appear unfamiliar and possibly daunting to students at
first, it is important to remind them that they may have already been exposed
to these stories through modern retellings.
This
unit of study provides students with an overview of classical literature with a
focus on Greek hero myths. Of the hero myths, I chose Homer's epic poem The Odyssey as the central text because
of its prevalence in high school English curriculums and because of its many
literary and film adaptations. With this unit of study, students will gain a
greater understanding of Greek mythology and recognize its significance in
contemporary works of literature. To expand the unit, I have included texts
that are frequently taught in the higher grade levels
in addition to listing resources from film, television, and young adult
literature. The unit should ultimately prepare students for future academic
reading in addition to helping them develop an appreciation for Greek mythology
and hero myths. Ideally, the young adult literature that I have included within
the unit will spark their interest in the subject and encourage their own
literacy.
Launching the Unit
� Begin this unit with a classroom activity: ask students what
they know about Greek mythology or Greek heroes and list their responses on the
board. Discuss why they are important to know and how they are relevant to
their own lives. It may be useful to ask them thought-provoking questions that
relate to the hero myths and to The
Odyssey in particular such as "how far would you be willing to go to
return home to your friends and family?" and, conversely, "for how
long would you wait for a loved one to return home? What if you were the only
one who believed that he or she was still alive and that he was still coming
home?"
� Introduce widely read books of Robert Fagles'
translation of The Odyssey such as
"Book One: Athena Inspires the Prince"(77),"Book Nine: In the
One-Eyed Giant's Cave"(211), "Book Ten: The Bewitching Queen of Aeaea"(230), "Book Twelve: The Cattle of the Sun"(271),
"Book Twenty-One: Odysseus Strings His Bow"(424), and "Book
Twenty-Two: Slaughter in the Hall" (439). Plan to read one or two of these
weekly either in class or as homework. It might be a good idea to choose
significant selections from these books or find them in an academic textbook
such as The Language of Literature by
Arthur Applebee et al. If time allows, introduce them to the stories of
Theseus, Perseus, Hercules, Eurydice, Psyche, and Persephone. These tales can
be found in Ovid's Metamorphoses or
in an illustrated anthology such as Thomas Bulfinch's Myths of Greece and Rome.
� As the class reads these selections, they can respond to the
following related prompts from The
Language of Literature. These could be for sustained silent writing or
classroom activities with partners or small groups.
� For The Odyssey:
� Book 9: "Write one or two diary entries in which one of
Odysseus' crew describes the events of this episode" (915).
� "How might the Cyclops have viewed the events?
Experiment with writing a draft of the episode as Polyphemus
might tell it" (915).
� "If Polyphemus had not
brought the rams into the cave, how might Odysseus and his men have escaped?"
(915)
� Book 10: "Describe Circe's capturing of Odysseus's men in a
news story that might appear in a tabloid newspaper at the supermarket"
(927).
� Book 22: "Think of a modern-day equivalent of the suitors--a
serious one, such as a group of terrorists or a street gang, or a humorous one,
such as a carload of unwelcome relatives. Then...create a plot outline for a
story of epic proportions, relating how you, as an epic hero or heroine, get
rid of the intruders." (966).
For additional myths
(see selection above):
� Many hero myths present monsters and monstrous creatures as
challenges to test the hero's courage and abilities. As we read these myths, we
can determine that these monsters represent real-life challenges and obstacles.
What is the monster in your life? What will you do or how will you plan to do
to overcome it?
� Heroes such as Odysseus and Perseus receive divine aid from
a god or goddess who favors them; for example, Athena guides Odysseus homeward
and Hermes lends Perseus his sandals and helmet to face Medusa. Who is a
similar helping figure in your life? How has this figure helped you, and what
role or roles did he or she play?
� Consider the adaptations of hero myths that you've seen or
read of in the past. What makes an effective adaptation of a classical work?
Which elements are essential to keep, and which elements can be easily changed
or omitted?
Book Talk: Students read a contemporary work that retells or connects
to one of the hero myths and presents it to the class along with the original
myth. Selections from young adult literature are acceptable and encouraged (see
Suggestions for Further Reading and
Viewing.) The presenter describes how his or her selection applies to the
class reading.
Literary Allusions: In this in-class activity, students find references to hero
myths in more recent works of literature. Shakespearean plays, eighteenth-century
novels, and Romantic poetry frequently include allusions to Greek heroes and
myths, and students could look for these in excerpts or in an anthology.
Students create a list of the references they find and discuss how the
references contribute to the literary work.
Expanding the Unit
� Great Expectations by
Charles Dickens. Great Expectations tells the story of Pip, who comes of
age after travelling to London with the aid of a mysterious benefactor. In Adolescent
Literature as a Complement to the Classics, Leila Christenbury explains that Pip
undergoes a hero's journey similar to that of Odysseus. She writes that "Pip...does,
as all mythic heroes do, leave the familiar, the home place, the tribe, to
venture out toward a test" (121). In this way, Great Expectations serves as a Victorian parallel to The Odyssey with Pip's own voyage of
self-discovery and subsequent return home.
� Cold Mountain by
Charles Frazier. In this
contemporary novel, Frazier sets The
Odyssey in the Civil War with an outlying Confederate soldier named Inman
travelling alone across the Blue Ridge mountains to
rejoin his beloved Ada. This might be better suited to eleventh and twelfth
grades due to its dark content and sometimes difficult
language.
� Ulysses by
James Joyce. Joyce
retells The Odyssey through the eyes
of a group of Dubliners as they go about their day. Like Cold Mountain, Ulysses
would be more appropriate for the higher grade levels,
and it would be advisable to assign only certain excerpts for study.
� Selections from The Broadview Anthology of Poetry: "The Lotos-Eaters"
and "Ulysses" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Tennyson presents scenes from The Odyssey with lyric,
characteristically Romantic language. Because "The Lotos-Eaters"
is fairly long, it would be wise to introduce only sections of this poem.
Suggestions for Further Reading and
Viewing (All Product Reviews
from Amazon.com)
Fiction:
� Wintergirls by Laurie Halse
Anderson. "Lia and Cassie are best friends, wintergirls
frozen in fragile bodies, competitors in a deadly contest to see who can be the
thinnest. But then Cassie suffers the ultimate loss-her life-and Lia is left behind, haunted by her friend's memory and
racked with guilt for not being able to help save her. In her most powerfully
moving novel since Speak, award-winning author Laurie Halse Anderson explores Lia's
struggle, her painful path to recovery, and her desperate attempts to hold on
to the most important thing of all: hope" (Amazon). This novel provides an
intriguing parallel to the story of Persephone in the underworld.
� Psyche in a Dress by
Francesca Lia Block.
"Psyche has known
Love—scented with jasmine and tasting of fresh oranges. Yet he is
fleeting and fragile, lost to her too quickly. Punished by self-doubt, Psyche
yearns to be transformed, like the beautiful and
brutal figures in the myths her lover once spoke of. Attempting to uncover
beauty in the darkness, she is challenged, tested, and changed by the gods and
demons who tempt her. Her faith must be found again,
for if she is to love, she must never look back"
(Amazon). This collection of stories set in Los Angeles provides a modern
retelling of some of the most popular Greek myths.
� The Hunger Games by
Suzanne Collins. "In the ruins of a place
once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying
districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by
forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and
eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on
live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen,
who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death
sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead and survival, for her, is
second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she
is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against
humanity and life against love" (Amazon). Students could discover the
parallels between The Hunger Games
and the myth of Theseus and the Labyrinth.
� Anpao: An American Indian Odyssey by Jamake Highwater. "Anpao is young and Handsome and Brave -- a man any maiden would be proud to
call her husband. Any maiden but Ko-Ko-Mik-e-is, that is, who calims she belongs to the Sun alone. And so Anpao sets off for the house of the Sun to ask permission
to marry the woman he loves. But Anpao's journey is
not an easy one. Before he can reach the Sun, Anapao
must travel back in time to the dawn of the world. He must relive his own
creation, venture through The World Beneath the World, and battle the many
magical mystical creatures of Native American legends. For only by doing so can
Anpao discover who he really is, and rove to the Sun
why he alone is worthy of the fair Ko-komik-e-is" (Amazon).
� In Adolescents
in the Search for Meaning: Tapping the Powerful Resource of Story, Mary
Warner explains that "This book would be a good companion with a study of
Greek and Roman mythology...If you have students write a myth, adding a culture
from the United States may help students find more relevance" (253).
� Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold by
C.S. Lewis. "Haunted
by the myth of Cupid and Psyche throughout his life, C.S. Lewis wrote this, his
last, extraordinary novel, to retell their story through the gaze of Psyche�s
sister, Orual. Disfigured and embittered, Orual loves her younger sister to a fault and suffers
deeply when she is sent away to Cupid, the God of the Mountain. Psyche is
forbidden to look upon the god�s face, but is persuaded by her sister to do so;
she is banished for her betrayal. Orual is left alone
to grow in power but never in love, to wonder at the silence of the gods. Only
at the end of her life, in visions of her lost beloved sister, will she hear an
answer" (Amazon).
� Percy
Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by
Rick Riordan. "After getting expelled from yet another school for yet another
clash with mythological monsters only he can see, twelve-year-old Percy Jackson
is taken to Camp Half-Blood, where he finally learns the truth about his unique
abilities: He is a demigod, half human, half immortal. Even more stunning: His
father is the Greek god Poseidon, ruler of the sea, making Percy one of the
most powerful demigods alive. There's little time to process this news. All too
soon, a cryptic prophecy from the Oracle sends Percy on his first quest, a
mission to the Underworld to prevent a war among the gods of
Olympus" (Amazon).
Films:
� Clash of the Titans
(1981). "Harry Hamlin portrays the Greek hero Perseus who battles the
deadly Medusa in order to save a beautiful princess from the monstrous Calibos" (Amazon). This is a fairly accurate film
adaptation of the Perseus myth.
� O Brother, Where Art Thou?
(2000). The Coen brothers' adaptation of The Odyssey sets Odysseus and his men in the rural Depression-era
South. Because of its "R" rating, it would be best to show select
scenes from this film.
� Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The
Lightning Thief (2010). This is a film adaptation of the first
of Rick Riordan's popular young adult book series.
Television:
� The Odyssey
(1997). This is a more
classic presentation of Homer's original epic with many relevant scenes.
� The Storyteller: Greek Myths
(1990). In this brief series,
Jim Henson adapted popular Greek myths with puppetry and other special effects.
This would be ideal to show to students in the lower grades.
Works
Cited
Amazon.com. Amazon, 1 December 2012. Web. 1
December 2012.
Anderson, Laurie Halse. Wintergirls. New York: Viking, 2009. Print.
Applebee, Arthur et
al. The Language of
Literature. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell
Inc, 2006.
Block,
Francesca Lia. Psyche in a Dress.
New York: HarperCollins, 2006. Print.
Bulfinch, Thomas. Myths of Greece and Rome.
New York: Penguin, 1979. Print.
Christenbury, Leila. "Leaving Home to Come
Home: The Hero's Quest in Great
Expectations and
Three Young Adult Novels."Adolescent Literature as a Complement to the Classics. Vol.1. Ed.
Joan F. Kaywell. Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon
Publishers Inc, 1993. Print.
Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. New York: Bantam,
2003. Print.
Frazier, Charles. Cold Mountain. New York: Atlantic
Monthly Press, 1997. Print.
Goldrick-Jones, Amanda, and Rosengarten
Herbert, ed. The
Broadview Anthology of Poetry. Orchard
Park, NY: Broadview Press, 1993. Print.
Homer. The Odyssey. Trans. Robert Fagles. New York: Penguin, 1996. Print.
Joyce, James. Ulysses. New York: Vintage Books, 1986.
Print.
Lewis, C.S. Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold. Orlando:
Harcourt, 1984. Print.
Riordan, Rick. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The
Lightning Thief. New York: Hyperion, 2006.
Print.
Warner, Mary L. Adolescents in the Search for Meaning: Tapping the Powerful Resource of Story. Lanham, MA: The Scarecrow Press
Inc, 2006. Print.