Essay Assignment: Grief & Grieving: Gilgamesh & Achilles

1) In order to write a successful essay, you need to go over the following materials:

• Your class notes
• All segments from Homer's Iliad that pertain to grief and grieving, especially to Achilles's grief for Patroclus's death (on Blackboard).
• The Powerpoint on the Epic of Gilgamesh on Blackboard.
• All materials on Kübler-Ross's theories on grief on Blackboard.

2) In order for your essay to be successful, you need to follow these steps:

• Gather your material
• Think about the topic
• Take random notes as you think (mind-mapping)
• MAKE AN OUTLINE OF YOUR ESSAY
• Write, making sure you address all the points you would like to make
• EDIT EDIT EDIT EDIT EDIT EDIT EDIT EDIT
• Make sure your text flows and has a logical sequence. In other words: make sure it makes sense.
• Date!
• Do NOT use fillers.

3) The essay should be 2-3 pages long, double-spaced. It is due IN CLASS FOR THE PEER-REVIEW SESSION on Wednesday, February 19th.

4) To write the essay I would like you to address the following points:

• Give a BRIEF overview of the two epics, the cultures that created them, and their date

• Give an account of the grief process the two heroes, Gilgamesh and Achilles go through, especially linking them to Kübler-Ross's theories on grief and its phases.

• How are the two epics similar? How do they differ?

• How can we interpret the reactions of the two heroes? Which social class do they represent and which social class is associated with the creation of the two epics? What ideology do they represent?