In their book Myth & Knowing: An Introduction to World Mythology, Scott Leonard and Michael McClure describe tricksters as "figures of play" (Leonard and McClure 247) whose "playfulness can carry with it serious, even tragic or transcendent, overtones. . . . embodying all the infinite ambiguities of what it is to be alive in the world" (Leonard and McClure 250). The trickster "'combines in his nature the sacredness and sinfulness, grand gestures and pettiness, strength and weakness, joy and misery, heroism and cowardice that together form the human character'" (Erdoes and Ortiz qtd. in Leonard and McClure 250).
Using specific incidents and details from Terry Kay’s To Dance with the White Dog, discuss Sam Peek as a trickster. How does his role as a trickster help us to understand him and the conflicts he faces in the novel?
Resources
Requirements
- Length: Your essay must be a minimum of 500 words.
- Documentation Format: You must include an MLA formatted Works Cited page that includes correctly formatted internal citations for the story and the additional resources.
- Sources: You are restricted to the novel To Dance with the White Dogas a source.Your essay is based on your own close reading and analysis of the novel.
- Format: The essay must be in MSWord format (.doc or .docx)
Students must use MLA style documentation. Internal citations should identify the page number and section for the novel. Students must also include an MLA Works Cited page.Students should proofread carefully their final drafts for spelling, grammar, and punctuation as well as clarity, conciseness, and completeness. The final draft should be typed, double spaced, with one inch margins, in Times New Roman 12 pt. The essay should be a minimum of 800 words.
The essay will be evaluated based on how well students develop their arguments with significant support from the poems (thesis, topic sentences, supporting details from the novel); clarity, cohesion, and conciseness; correct use of MLA format; and grammar and spelling.For this essay, students may use a dictionary to help with words with which they are not familiar but should not refer to the dictionary definitions in the essay. Students must use MLA style documentation. Internal citations should identify the author and line number for the poems and author or authors for any articles or other resources. Students must also include an MLA Works Cited page.
Students should proofread carefully their final drafts for spelling, grammar, and punctuation as well as clarity, conciseness, and completeness. The final draft should be typed, double spaced, with one inch margins, in Times New Roman 12 pt. The essay should be a minimum of 900 words.The essay will be evaluated based on how well students develop their arguments with significant support from the poems (thesis, topic sentences, supporting details from the poems); clarity, cohesion, and conciseness; correct use of MLA format; and grammar and spelling.
Leonard, Scott and Michael McClure. Myth & Knowing: An Introduction to World Mythology. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2004. Print.
