Humanities 110

Paper Topics | Fall 2021 | Paper 2

Due Saturday, October 9, 5:00 p.m., in your conference leader’s Eliot Hall mailbox.

Target length: 1,500 words

The topics for paper two ask you to think comparatively about some of the materials we have encountered so far this semester while still continuing to use the skills of close reading as described in this online guide to close reading. In writing this essay, it is important to be specific about the points of comparison. You do not need to fully describe each text/object about which you write. Instead, carefully and critically select only those details that are integral to your comparative analysis. Construct an argument that demonstrates something interesting or surprising about the texts/objects by virtue of their differences or similarities. The conclusion should go beyond a list of differences or similarities.

1. Through close reading, compare and contrast the stories of Horus and Seth and Genesis’s Cain and Abel. What do these stories suggest about some shared theme, for example, the dynamics of leadership, power, justice, and/or the nature of the divine?

2. Compare how political authority is articulated, displayed and performed in any two Persian artifacts, monuments or buildings (such as the Cyrus Cylinder, the Apadana reliefs, Bisitun inscription, etc.)  You might focus on the role of ethnic identity, the divine justification of imperial rule, and/or the relationship between the ruler and the ruled.  

3. Esther and Sinuhe tell stories of how a protagonist interacts with and forms relationships with a culture framed as foreign or different. Compare how Sinuhe and Esther interact with foreign leaders, cultures and communities, and the nature and limits of their integration and its impact on their identities. What do these texts suggest about the relation between self and other?

4. Compare how the Egyptian king’s authority is treated in Exodus and one of the Egyptian texts, artifacts or monuments that we have read (such as the Narmer Palette, Sinuhe, Hatshepsut’s birth or coronation narratives at Deir el-Bahri, or Hatshepsut’s obelisk at Karnak). How is the king’s legitimacy asserted or undermined in these treatments and to what purpose? 

5. From Sinuhe’s love for the pharaoh and Hatshepsut’s love for the gods to the love for justice of the Eloquent Peasant and the “romantic” love conveyed in various love lyrics, ancient Egyptians seemed to have experienced love in various and dissimilar ways. Compare the conceptualization of love in one love lyric and an additional Egyptian source. Do the loves portrayed in these two texts share something in common or are they incommensurable with each other? 

In addition to consulting with your conference leader, you can get help with all stages of the writing process from peer tutors at the Writing Center. You can find links to the Writing Center hours on the Drop-in Tutoring Schedule website. Extra tutoring help will be available in the week leading up to paper due dates.