First college essay, god help me

[kitaloon]

Prompt [underlining mine to emphasize important parts]: Both Odysseus and the four patriarchs in Genesis all engage in deception and trickery. Choose one of the patriarchs and compare him with Odysseus on how they work their deceptions and trickery and what the significance is in each case.

Secondary Prompt [inspiration only, I'm not actually

Comments

[my_daroga]

It sounds like a cogent argument to me, but it's been so long since I read much Greek mythology that I can't be certain that in every similar situation, the gods behave similarly. Don't they operate on whim, as well, at times?

I do like the idea, but it seems rather "neat." Still, an argument could be made that even if this does not address every action of the gods as regards justice, it could explain a major difference between the cultures. The Old Testament certainly seems to bear this out, considering Jacob's preference of Joseph, for instance.

So it sounds good, I just don't have the expertise (or memory) to say for certain something's not missing. Don't stress TOO much over it--it's college, yes, but it's your first paper and mostly I'm guessing they want to know you understand the material an can make a coherent argument about it.

[kitaloon]

Ooh, that's an interesting idea. I have the "compare to Odysseus" down; it's the "what is the significance?" part that's trickier, more involved, and makes it contestable, but I could argue that the significance of the deceptions is to illustrate the ideals of justice of the societies themselves... Possibly using the gods as representatives or metaphors of, I don't even know, stuff. Justice stuff (here my college-student prowess breaks down). but that might work!

I'm just stressing because I haven't written a paper in a while, and this is my first college paper, and it's for my Honors class and everyone SAYS they grade hard and I want to have at least a 3.5 GPA so I don't get kicked out of Honors. DDD:

Yeah, I'm a little frazzled.

[my_daroga]

It just seems that knowing the entire significance is beyond the scope of what you or I can know at this point--but it's a place to start.

One thing that springs to mind is how often the Greek gods operate on whims, but the results of their actions are almost, I don't know, unintentional. I don't think Aphrodite meant to specifically start the Trojan War; she acted on impulse, and this huge thing happened. Whereas the OT God is way more "this is how it shall be."

I don't know if that's relevant or not.

You won't get kicked out of Honors for one paper. Part of what they teach you in college is how to write college papers, as silly as that sounds.

[kitaloon]

I went through a several-hour process in which I realized that I couldn't tie the "deceit" and "justice" ideas together strongly enough, panicked, cried, calmed down, talked to my parents, and rewrote my thesis. I posted it under my most recent entry, and since you had some really intelligent things to say about this one, I'd appreciate it immensely if you'd take a look at the new version.