Curricular Resources > 1979 Volume I > Unit 1 (79.01.01) > Section 7

The Stranger and Modern Fiction: A Portrait in Black and White

CONTENTS OF CURRICULUM UNIT 79.01.01

Unit Guide

The American Hero-Quester

Robert Lyman Biral

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Suggested Activities: Sections Three and Four

1. Introduce section by asking students to describe their ideal perfect world. How would they create it? What kind of journey would be required to reach their world? Make a list of images that appear in their descriptions and compare them to imagery in “Woodstock” and “Aquarius.” Compare to descriptions of Golden Age in Classical myths.

2. Make a collection of advertisements that place product in paradise-like setting (eg. cigarette ads that promise cool green woods and running water). Analyze ads for candor and plausibility.

3. Disneyland can be viewed as a commercial version of the Golden Age. Why do you think people go there? What are they trying to recover? Give other examples of commercial paradises.

4. Discuss the attraction for nostalgia in popular culture: TV, films, dress, etc. Why do people long for the “good old days”?

5. Compile complete list of Golden Age imagery found in today’s world: ads, political speeches, religious teachings. What places, objects, emotions, seasons of the year are associated with the Golden Age?

6. Have students write descriptions of what they think Hell is like. Who would they meet there? Hell is always more interesting than heaven to describe, but they could try heaven also. Students may write poems, use drawings, or plan skits to portray their visions.

7. Whichever quest myth is read have students identify the quest and explain why it was an important objective for society.

8. Discuss the role of women in the quest stories. Do they have any control over their destinies?

9. Discuss the role of the monster in the quest stories. Have students rewrite the monster scenes from the point of view of the monster. Make the monster sympathetic. Students might enjoy reading John Gardner’s Grendel , a retelling of the Beowulf legend from the monster’s point of view.

10. Who are our modern-day heroes? What are their quests?

11. Compare modern heroes in comic books, detective stories, films, or TV to the heroic tradition. What values do they possess? What aspirations do they reflect? Write radio play based upon modern hero.

12. Ask students what kind of hero they would become if they could; what goals would they try to accomplish; what problems would have to be overcome? What kind of personality would they have?

13. Discuss role of hero in modern ironic fiction: what forces trap the hero and reduce his hope of being saved? Define concept of anti-hero.

14. Compare John Steinbeck’s “The Flight” with Hemingway’s “The Killers.” Both stories contain violent initiations.

15. Collect contemporary poems which reveal any aspect of the quest myth and write an essay about that facet.

16. Have students read the Declaration of Independence, Kennedy’s Inaugural speech, and Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Each calls for the recovery of our lost heritage. Analyze quest-imagery in each and relate to Golden Age myths.

17. What makes for a better human community? Discussion can lead to examination of Utopian literature: Thoreau’s Walden , Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward , and Wm. Dean Howell A Traveler from Altruria ; compare to Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm .

18. Ask students to discuss or write about initiations that they have experienced or that young people in general experience.

19. Form an open forum in your class on the topic of initiation. Discuss all the facets that the rite of passage takes in our society. Relate present rites to mythical implications. Ask students if they have seen The Graduate or The Summer of ‘42 , two movies in which initiation is the major theme.

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1.	Introduce section by asking students to describe their ideal perfect world. How would they create it? What kind of journey would be required to reach their world? Make a list of images that appear in their descriptions and compare them to imagery in “Woodstock” and “Aquarius.” Compare to descriptions of Golden Age in Classical myths.
2.	Make a collection of advertisements that place product in paradise-like setting (eg. cigarette ads that promise cool green woods and running water). Analyze ads for candor and plausibility.
3.	Disneyland can be viewed as a commercial version of the Golden Age. Why do you think people go there? What are they trying to recover? Give other examples of commercial paradises.
4.	Discuss the attraction for nostalgia in popular culture: TV, films, dress, etc. Why do people long for the “good old days”?
5.	Compile complete list of Golden Age imagery found in today’s world: ads, political speeches, religious teachings. What places, objects, emotions, seasons of the year are associated with the Golden Age?
6.	Have students write descriptions of what they think Hell is like. Who would they meet there? Hell is always more interesting than heaven to describe, but they could try heaven also. Students may write poems, use drawings, or plan skits to portray their visions.
7.	Whichever quest myth is read have students identify the quest and explain why it was an important objective for society.
8.	Discuss the role of women in the quest stories. Do they have any control over their destinies?
9.	Discuss the role of the monster in the quest stories. Have students rewrite the monster scenes from the point of view of the monster. Make the monster sympathetic. Students might enjoy reading John Gardner’s Grendel , a retelling of the Beowulf legend from the monster’s point of view.
10.	Who are our modern-day heroes? What are their quests?
11.	Compare modern heroes in comic books, detective stories, films, or TV to the heroic tradition. What values do they possess? What aspirations do they reflect? Write radio play based upon modern hero.
12.	Ask students what kind of hero they would become if they could; what goals would they try to accomplish; what problems would have to be overcome? What kind of personality would they have?
13.	Discuss role of hero in modern ironic fiction: what forces trap the hero and reduce his hope of being saved? Define concept of anti-hero.
14.	Compare John Steinbeck’s “The Flight” with Hemingway’s “The Killers.” Both stories contain violent initiations.
15.	Collect contemporary poems which reveal any aspect of the quest myth and write an essay about that facet.
16.	Have students read the Declaration of Independence, Kennedy’s Inaugural speech, and Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Each calls for the recovery of our lost heritage. Analyze quest-imagery in each and relate to Golden Age myths.
17.	What makes for a better human community? Discussion can lead to examination of Utopian literature: Thoreau’s Walden , Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward , and Wm. Dean Howell A Traveler from Altruria ; compare to Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm .
18.	Ask students to discuss or write about initiations that they have experienced or that young people in general experience.
19.	Form an open forum in your class on the topic of initiation. Discuss all the facets that the rite of passage takes in our society. Relate present rites to mythical implications. Ask students if they have seen The Graduate or The Summer of ‘42 , two movies in which initiation is the major theme.