• Read and highlight the first three chapters from “The Gods, the Creation, and the Earliest Heroes,”: “The Gods,” “The Two Great Gods of Earth,” and “How the World and Mankind Were Created.”

For each of the Twelve Great Olympians, you will need to know the GREEK/ROMAN NAMES, REALM (what he/she is in charge of), SYMBOL(S), and FAMILIAL RELATION TO OTHER GODS (who he/she is related to). In addition, you will need to know the role of each of the following: EROS, MUSES, TARTARUS, EREBUS, ELYSIAN FIELDS, CHARON, CERBERUS, RIVER STYX, FURIES, PAN, GORGONS, SIRENS, FATES, DEMETER, PERSEPHONE, DIONYSUS, CRONUS, RHEA, CYCLOPS, TITANS, PROMETHEUS, EPIMETHEUS, ATLAS, PANDORA, DEUCALION, and PYRRHA.

 

 

• Choose one of the following definitions from Joseph Campbell’s The Power of Myth and explain in a one-page response how it applies to Santiago.

A hero embarks on a series of adventures to recover what is lost or to discover some life-giving information.

 

·        Define the term alchemy and relate the concept of alchemical transformation to the spiritual transformation Santiago undergoes.  Include one significant quotation in your one-page response. The quotation should be followed by an internal citation, including the author’s last name and page number. Note the following quote and citation example, with particular attention to the placement of punctuation.

•  Write a one-two page “Personal Legend.”  Do you have a dream you want to achieve in your life?

 

·        Choose two of the following questions and answer each in a well-developed one-page response using details and quotations from the novel. All quotations should be followed by an internal citation, including the author’s last name and page number. Note the following quote and citation example, with particular attention to the placement of punctuation.

 “To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation” (Martel 28).                     

 

How might the novel’s flavor have been changed if Pi’s sole surviving animal were the zebra or the orangutan? 

 

Pi claims that he cannot accept an exclusively Hindu, Christian, or Muslim faith; he can only be content with all three.  How does he synthesize three diverse faiths into a personal belief system?

 

Besides the loss of his family and possessions, what else did Pi lose when the Tsimtsum sank?  What did he gain?

 

In the novel, the names of the protagonist and tiger have double significance.  First explain the water and mathematical references and significance behind Pi’s name.  Secondly, research the true story of the sinking of the Mignonette and Edgar Allan Poe’s novel Adventures of Arthur Gordon Pym in relation to the inspiration for the tiger’s name. Based on your research, why are the names Pi and Richard Parker appropriate?  Following your response, cite the source(s) you consulted for your research.

 

Discuss the many uses of the word “survivor” in contemporary society.  How is Pi’s survivorship different from that of participants in reality television?  What survival tips would you add to those listed in chapter 58.

 

·        Use one of the following quotations as the focus for a one-page reflection on the novel.

“If the book we are reading does not wake us, as with a fist hammering on our skull, why then do we read it? A book must be an ice axe to break the sea frozen inside us.”  -- Franz Kafka

 

“Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.” -- Soren Kierkegaard

 

“A novel is [ . . . ] the sensual experience of another world.  If you don’t enter that world, hold your breath with the characters and become involved in their destiny, you won’t be able to empathize, and empathy is at the heart of the novel.  This is how you read a novel:  you inhale the experience.”  -- Azar Nafisi

 

• Select any 10 passages from the novel that you would consider significant, thought-provoking, or well-written.  Quote each passage and follow it with an internal citation.

• Identify 5-10 similes from the novel.  Quote each simile and follow it with an internal citation

 

Looking for more “great reads”?
The English Department recommends that students enrolled in Honors English 113 read the following:

Night by Elie Wiesel                                                                
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare           
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare                              
Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns

 

You may also select titles from the 2007-08 Illinois Read for a Lifetime Program.