The Adventures of Ulysses

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. During his journey home to Ithaca, Ulysses encounters many monsters.

• What idea about life is conveyed by the monsters Ulysses encounters? (topic sentence)
• Provide evidence from at least three separate stories in The Adventures of Ulysses that supports your interpretation.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, explain the relationship between the text’s monsters and the text’s concerns with The Wisdom of Determination.

2. Honor was a critical attribute for ancient Greek people.

• How does “The Land of the Dead” convey the importance of honor? (topic sentence)
• Provide at least three examples from this story that support your interpretation.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, show how the story supports the novel’s overall concern with The Hero’s Purpose in Greek Mythology and Today.

3. Hubris was a serious character flaw to the ancient Greeks.

• Which story in The Adventures of Ulysses most clearly shows that Ulysses struggles with hubris? (topic sentence)
• Provide at least three pieces of evidence from the story you choose that demonstrate Ulysses’s hubris.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, show how this story supports the novel’s concern with The Hero’s Purpose in Greek Mythology and Today and/or Flawed Gods and Foolish People.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. What messages about the roles of women in ancient Greece are transmitted through the figures of Calypso and Penelope? What might their situations and their behavior demonstrate about the ways women were expected to behave in ancient Greece? Do these expectations seem to vary for goddesses versus mortal women? How do these women illustrate the novel’s concerns with Flawed Gods and Foolish People and/or The Wisdom of Determination? Write an essay in which you analyze what Calypso and Penelope convey about the roles of ancient Greek women. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from the chapters in which these women appear. Be sure to cite any quoted evidence in the format your teacher suggests.

2. What messages about piety are conveyed through Ulysses’s adventures? How are people expected to behave in relation to the gods? What happens when they do not fulfill the gods’ expectations? How does this relate to the idea of hubris? Are the gods held to any expectations? How would you characterize their behavior throughout the novel? What do the messages this novel conveys about piety tell the reader about Flawed Gods and Foolish People? Write an essay in which you analyze what this novel says about piety. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the novel. Be sure to cite any quoted evidence in the format your teacher suggests.

3. How are the stages of the hero’s journey reflected in The Adventures of Ulysses? Do you see every stage in this story? Does a story need to have every stage to qualify as a hero’s journey? What makes Ulysses a hero to the ancient Greeks, and how does undergoing this journey refine him into an even more admirable hero? Write an essay in which you explicate The Adventures of Ulysses as a hero’s journey and then analyze how this journey refines Ulysses as a hero. Explain which stages of the journey are present, offering evidence from the novel to back up your claims. Then, discuss the qualities that make Ulysses a hero even before his journey begins and show how the process of undergoing this journey strengthens him as a hero. Finally, connect your analysis to the novel’s concern with The Hero’s Purpose in Greek Mythology and Today.