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Nov 22, 2024
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E109 Heroes and Heroines4 credit(s)
This course serves as an anchor course for the First Year Experience by welcoming you into the Saint Mary’s University community and providing an opportunity for the development of academic skills in the discipline of English. Inquiry into the ways that various literary texts (fairy tales, epic poems, short prose, drama, and/or films) present the heroic quest will allow you to develop the academic habits and ways of thinking to take forward into any Interdisciplinary Minor of your choice.
From Ancient Greece to the present day, from epic poetry to Hollywood films, stories of big adventures and legendary heroes abound, helping us to understand where we come from, what we value, what we are called to do, and how we can overcome the challenges that might lie in our paths. We will examine a few of these well-known stories, especially in terms of gender roles. What makes a hero? How is a heroine different from a hero? What skills, qualities, or lessons do heroes and heroines need to learn in order to overcome challenges and assume their social roles? This course incorporates the common themes of Place, Purpose, and Well Being through examining the enduring relevance of such questions, the cultural situations that give rise to specific hero narratives, the different perspectives we each bring to our interpretation of such stories, and the ways in which these stories continue to resonate in contemporary life.
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