Using any of the literary readings from weeks 1-2 (or a future week in the course- see Course Schedule in Syllabus for complete reading list), write a response paper that a) briefly analyzes the central meaning(s) of your chosen text, and more importantly, b) thoughtfully explores how characters, events, or themes in your chosen text may relate to your life personally, as well as to current events or global issues in the world today. Your submission should be a minimum of 500 words and thoroughly address the assignment instructions. 

• Read Books I, VI, XVIII, XXII, and XXIV of the Lliad (1, 6, 18, 22, 24) 

1. Introduce the story and author. Provide a brief overview of the story's central messages so as to provide a background for your response and a clear thesis statement.
2. Connect one or more specific aspects of the story with personal experience, a current event, and/or a global issue. (A useful brainstorming exercise here may be to think in terms of dichotomies, like war and peace, love and hate, wisdom and ignorance, etc- where do you see these conflicts in a text, and how might they connect to a current event?)
3. Support your points using textual evidence in MLA Style. Outside research is not required at this point, but if used, the student is responsible for using MLA style appropriately and sparingly.  

Requirements:

Structure

• The introduction should include a clear thesis statement. It should also clearly identify the title of the article you've chosen and the author's name.
• Each body paragraph should have a clear topic sentence that relates back to the thesis. The information in each paragraph should relate to the topic sentence.