-Paper should be at least 4 pages long, not including heading or works cited
-Double-space, 12 point font, 1 inch margins
***Choose frome 1 of the topic below(One that can be most detailed)
1. The Book of Job, Epictetus, the Gospel according to Matthaios [Matthew] and Dante all address the problem of human suffering and specifically psychological suffering: the emotional pain we feel when confronted with difficult circumstances. Compare two of these texts. What is similar or different about how they encourage individuals to respond to suffering?
2.Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, Epictetus, the Gospel according to Matthaios, and Dante all present accounts of conversion: a change of purpose that changes the person. Compare two of these texts. What is similar or different about their understandings of what conversion requires, and of its consequences?
3. What is Epictetus’ view about the possibilities of self-improvement? What does he mean by “training” or “exercising” the soul and what is its goal? In what does training the soul consist—what sorts of exercises, targeting what parts of the soul or self? Can this training be completed—can it arrive it at its goal—or does the training go on indefinitely? What are the limits of self-improvement?
4. In The Gospel According to Matthaios [Matthew], Jesus proposes to invert a number of hierarchies: the rich and the poor, the last and the first, enemy and friend, and so on. What does this suggest about how he would redefine mastery?
5. The Book of Job suggests a distinction between mastery and mystery. What images are associated with each? What role does mystery play in the resolution of the book?
-Your essay should have a single, central thesis. The thesis should be easy to easy to identify. (You could even bold the thesis in the document if you want, although it’s not necessary.) The thesis should be an original and contestable claim. That means it shouldn’t be obvious, and it should be open to debate. The thesis should be clearly stated in the introduction.
-Your introduction should do three things: 1) it should inform the reader about the topic you are addressing, 2) state your thesis, and 3) summarize how you will prove the thesis (what evidence, what part of the text you will look at, etc.)
-Your thesis should be an interpretive claim. That means it should be about one of the texts, authors, or concepts in the selections we have read, rather than about a general topic. For example, you should make a claim about Odysseus’s view of Athena, not ancient Greek ideas about Athena in general.
-You don’t have to answer every question in a single prompt; these are just meant to help you get started. In fact, answering every question may lead to a less-focused essay and should be avoided.
-You should prove your thesis in the body of your essay. Proof means 1) finding citations from the text that support your claim and 2) interpretations of those quotations that advance your argument.
-Therefore your essay should include quotations. A quotation should have a reference to the edition you are using, in either a footnote or an endnote: page number, publisher, date of publication.
-Focus on finding at least one great quote that is relevant to your argument. Try to say as much as you can about that quotation that helps to prove your argument.
-A quotation isn’t self-explanatory, so every time you quote you should explain what the quotation means, and why it’s relevant to your argument.
-Your conclusion paragraph shouldn’t repeat the introduction, but should seek to answer this question: Why does your thesis matter? How does it change the way we think about the text? This is a chance to reflect on your thesis and why your reader should take it seriously.