ENGL 230 Spring 2007
D’Amore
Paper #1
Due: March 20 at beginning of class
(i.e. not accepted after 4:35PM)
The first European explorers to Yellowstone National Park believed that they had discovered “Hell on earth,” due to the boiling, sulfur springs, geysers, and crappy tourist drivers. For our first writing assignment you are going to create your own journey through “Hell.” These are the rules:
* Your paper must be at least eight pages in length, one-inch margins, Times New Roman size twelve-font. The eight pages do not include the bibliography, title page, or your historical perspective (see below).
* You must use at least three outside sources from scholarly journals that reflect on literature or literary figures’ views on Hell (literary criticism of Lowry, Dante, Virgil, Sartre, etc.). Additionally, you should cite from Campbell’s The Hero with A Thousand Faces. You need to integrate the sources effectively and guide your reader into the quote or paraphrase (do not simply toss quotes into your paragraphs. They should only be quotes that are pertinent to your paper; the sources you choose should be investigated for authorial ethos, credibility, and reliability). You should use MLA format, with attached bibliography and parenthetical in-text citations. If you need help with citations, you should visit Purdue’s Writing Lab in HEAV 226.
* Your Hell must include at least nine levels, as Dante’s does, and those levels should have sub-levels. You will also need a guide (only rule: Britney Spears and/or Paris Hilton cannot be your guide). Do not just list the created levels and those you place there; you should write creatively, and your language and narrative should flow. You should also reflect on the mythology we read, and Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces. You must create symbols which reflect the levels and their punishments.
* While writing your paper, you should consider Hell from various historical and religious viewpoints: the Chinese Di Yu, Hindu Naraka, Catholic Hell (venial, temporal, mortal sin), Augustine of Hippo’s ideas on hellish punishments, the Hebrew Gehenna and Sheol, the Islamic Jahannam, the Japanese Yomi, Egyptian Duat, Welsh Annwn, Buddhist Naraka, Plato’s myth of Er, Dante’s contrapasso, and Virgil’s Mourning Fields and Tartarus. You can google each of these to find out more. Your paper should include a two-page summary including summaries of these ideas of Hell (IN YOUR OWN WORDS) and how they helped to form your paper.
* You should include a sketch of your version of Hell. Consider shape and size (of both whole and individual levels and sub-levels). The sketch can either be a physical drawing or computer-generated. This should be attached to the back of your paper.
* Rules are subject to change/enhancement due to whim(s) of the instructor.