Order Description

Using what you have learned about Mythological Criticism from both the textbook (pg. 693) and the video lecture, choose one of the short stories in Chapter 12 from Weeks 8-9 readings and craft a paper using this style of literary criticism to discuss one aspect of the story.

Chinua Achebe “Dead Men’s Path”

In your choice of focus for this short paper, you might review what you wrote about in the Discussions forum to see if it could be expanded into a larger paper. The assigned questions are meant to bring you closer to ideas you might use for this paper. Mythological Criticism focuses on “universal patterns” within the human condition, using “the archetype, a symbol, character, situation, or image that evokes a deep universal response” (Kennedy & Gioia 693). Considering culture, the theory asks us to look for patterns which reflect shared beliefs or ideas, which sometimes involve the spiritual realm. Jung called this the “collective unconscious” which he believed is part of our “primal memories” (693). In other words, human beings are acculturated to the ideology of their culture which has been passed down through time. Symbolism is one aspect, where an object, image, idea, or situation has a shared meaning among the majority of group members in a particular culture, or across the spectrum of humanity.

Note: Assume your readers have read the story (do not summarize it). Additionally, do not overview the critical theory.

Paper requirements:

Length 750-1000 words (text of paper)
Typewritten
1” margins
Double-spaced
Times New Roman 12 point font
MLA (formatting of paper and citations; story should be cited w/proper in-text citations to note references to the text).
The only source used for these papers should be the assigned reading. This will give you further practice working with primary research.