First Formal EssayDropboxTask Submit to complete this assignm.docx

First Formal Essay
Dropbox
Task: Submit to complete this assignment
Choose ONE of the following paper topics testing your
understanding of the work as a whole and allowing you to
analyze important themes and literary devices.
If you choose one of the Dante topics, following each question
is a sample outline (because the material can be difficult) to get
you started. You are expected to use specific quotations and
analysis of quotations in your response. You are allowed to use
the reading guides I provided in the Dante folder, so your only
sources in your Works Cited would be quotes from the text
itself (must be back up points with textual material) and
analyses (quotes) from reading quides provided in the folder
from the scholary authors. Do not search the internet for more
information or use sources other than mentioned above.
Remember this paper is a three-page MLA format paper, plus a
Works Cited page.
You do not have to use the outlines provided....but at least
review them to get an idea of what you will write over. My
suggestion is do not try to write over every point in the
outline...each paragraph needs to have at least two
examples/quotes from the text, additional analysis from the
reading guides is in addition to what you quote from the text.
I also have attached an MLA format guide, an example essay,
and a sample outline in file forms as attachments to help you as
well. Please review. The "bubbles" in the essay example state
information important to writing formal essays----my suggestion
is a quick review before you begin this paper. Oh, and don't
forget you need to review your Short Response for any errors or

suggestions I made for this paper.
TOPIC CHOICES
Topic #1: There are three main themes in traditional literature;
these themes include the picaresque theme, in which the
character travels or makes a journey; the reversal of fortune
theme, in which the character has his or her situation in life
changed; and the survival of the least worthy theme, in which a
character who is not really equipped for survival is able to
endure. Which of these themes apply/applies to Dante’s
Inferno?
Possible Outline for Topic #1
I. Thesis Statement: All three of the main themes in traditional
literature apply to Dante’s The Inferno; these themes include
the picaresque theme, the reversal of fortune theme, and the
survival of the least worthy theme. (You may want to use only
ONE of these three points in your paper--Example: The
picaresque theme in traditional literature applies to Dante'sThe
Divine Comedy when Dante is lost in the beginning, approached
by a form, and reacts to his journey. Or you may choose one of
the other themes and just use the outline information for that
theme.)
II. The picaresque theme
A. Dante lost in Canto I

1. In woods
2. Midway on way of life
3. Right road lost
B. Approached by form
1. Says Dante must go another way to leave a wasteful life
behind
2. Says Dante should take him as guide
3. Says must pass through an eternal place and terrible peril
C. Reaction of Dante
1. Asks Virgil to lead him
2. Follows behind
III. Reversal of fortune theme

A. At beginning of The Inferno
1. Alone
2. Lost
3. Dark
4. Woods
B. Appearance of form
1. No longer alone
2. Will serve as guide
3. Morning rays of sun
4. Now at base of mountain
5. Will allow Beatrice to take over later in the journey

IV. Survival of least worthy
A. Dante threatened from beginning
1. Lost
2. Three animals
a. Leopard
b. Lion
c. Wolf
B. Dangerous journey
1. Specters along way
a. Demons
b. Giants

c. Dis
d. Others
2. Environmental hazards
a. Fire
b. Ice
3. Weight of live person
a. Dangerous on rocky paths
b. Dangerous in boats
C. At last emerges and sees stars
Topic #2: Many conflicts are evident in the Inferno. Conflicts
can be person-against-person, person-against-self, person-
against-society, and person-against-nature. Which of these

conflicts do you think exist in The Inferno? Explain your
answer. Be sure to include examples.
Possible Outline for Topic #2
I. Thesis Statement: In Dante’s Inferno there exist all four types
of conflict: person-against-person, person-against-self, person-
against-society, and person-against-nature. These conflicts are
evident as Dante observes those within the Circles of Hell;
Dante himself experiences these conflicts.(Again, you could just
present ONE conflict rather than all four, which would possibly
make your paper too long.)
II. Conflicts experienced by shades in Hell
A. Person-against-person
1. Count Ugolino
a. Remembers Archbishop Roger
b. Remembers being imprisoned by Roger
c. Remembers children and self starving to death
2. Archbishop Roger

a. Condemned Ugolino in life
b. Eaten by Ugolino in Hell
B. Person-against-society
1. Simon of Troy
a. Lying Greek
b. Convinced Trojans to bring wooden horse inside gates
c. Conquered their people
2. Master Adam
a. Falsified coins
b. Made money off society
C. Person-against-nature

1. Cold affecting those in lower realms
a. Ugolino in cold area
b. Frozen eyes of Ugolino
2. Punishment by demons, centaurs who are twists of nature
a. Kept in boiling river
b. Pricked their skins with arrows
D. Person-against-self
1. Noise from those in Vestibule
2. Unable to make a decision
3. Rush aimlessly about and never make a commitment

III. Conflicts experienced by Dante
A. Person-against-nature
1. Lost in dark woods
2. Sees leopard, lion, and wolf
B. Person-against-society
1. Experienced political parties in life
2. Exiled because of beliefs
C. Person-against-self
1. Had to struggle to control emotions
2. Had to struggle to stay on right road

D. Person-against-person
1. Conflicts with Virgil
a. Dante’s showing sorrow for sinners
b. Dante’s watching conflict among sinners
2. Conflicts with sinners
a. Becomes angry when sinner tells him fate of Guelphs
b. Demands to know names of sinner
TOPIC #3
In what ways does Yingying behave in a "Confucian" way
(following strict decorum, etc.), and in what ways does she
behave in a "Daoist" way (acting spontaneously or in defiance
of decorum, etc.). (You may also construct your paper around
the Zhen character as well using only those traits that he
portrays.)

The information below will be of help in constructing a logical
answer. Below is how to cite in MLA format. But you must also
use textual citations from original text in the textbook. For
citing purposes, note the following citation:
Bloom, Irene. "Introduction to Daoism." Asia for Educators.
Columbia University. N.p., 2009. Web. 2 Nov. 2014.
Remember when constructing your thesis statement to create it
around this topic question. For example, depending upon the
length of your paper, you may want to use three or four of the
principles balanced from below in your paper.
However, your actual thesis might be stated this way: In Yuan
Zhen’s “The Story of Yingying,” the character Yingying
becomes embroiled in a struggle of love and desire that
conflicts with societal life and rules; her behavior reflects those
ways that correspond with the Daoist views when she ______,
_______, and _______, and those that correspond more with the
Confucian way as she _____ and ______. Obviously, each
“way” would be given at least one full paragraph of writing on
that characteristic, in what way she acts it out, and the
implications, etc.
Here is the article that might help in understanding the story
better:

Introduction to Daoism
The Chinese word dao means a way or a path. Confucians used
the term dao to speak of the way human beings ought to behave
in society. In other words, dao, for them, was an ethical or
moral way. From the point of view of Daoism, however, the
Confucian concept of dao was too limited. Daoists preferred to
understand the dao as the Way of Nature as a whole. They
believed that Confucians, by insisting on a purely human Way,
exaggerated the importance of man and failed to pay attention
to the lessons which Nature has to offer about time and change,
gain and loss, the useful and the useless.
The basic idea of the Daoists was to enable people to realize
that, since human life is really only a small part of a larger
process of nature, the only human actions which ultimately
make sense are those which are in accord with the flow of
Nature — the Dao or the Way. Their sensitivity to the way of
Nature prompted them to reject human ideas or standards which
might lead to an overly assertive mode of behavior or too strong
a commitment to the achievement of worldly goals. For Daoists,
such unnatural assertiveness was the root cause of violence and
aggression. While Confucians found moral reasons to counsel
against violence and to urge rulers to govern by virtue rather
than by force, many Daoists went even further and denounced
violence as reflecting the ultimate ignorance of the Way of
Nature.
Their solution to the problem of how human beings should
behave is expressed in the typically Daoist doctrine of wu-wei
or non-action. This did not mean doing absolutely nothing but
doing nothing unnatural, nothing that was out of keeping with
the Dao. Related to the doctrine of non-action was the idea of
no desires, which meant that no one should have excessive
desires because such desires are bound to cause injury both to
oneself and to others.

As believers in the way of the natural, the Daoists
characteristically favored the spontaneous and the simple. One
of their favorite images was that of the uncarved block.
Suggesting a block of wood which is uncut and uncrafted, the
uncarved block is associated with an original simplicity and
wholeness which is purely natural. From a Daoist point of view,
Confucian concern with civilization, culture and moral
cultivation reflected a bias toward artificiality and toward
unnecessary and arbitrary distinctions. Since morality came into
being only after distinctions began to be made by human beings,
and among them, it is far inferior to spontaneous conformity to
the Dao.
What Confucians regarded as essential to being human — the
practice of ritual — the Daoists saw as just so much contrivance
and arrogant insistence on the man-made as opposed to the
natural. They advocated that, rather than dwelling on the
practice of ritual, each individual should cultivate his own te,
the virtue or power that is received from the Dao.
In addition to being unsympathetic to the Confucian idea of
ritual, the Daoists tended also to be mistrustful of that other
great human invention, language. This was perhaps because they
realized that all those who speak are locked in time and
confined to a particular human identity. What was needed, from
their point of view, was not logical argument or the arts of
persuasion, but quiet attunement to the rhythms and cycles of
nature and to the process of change.
One of the most important figures in the shaping of classical
Daoism is that of Laozi, which simply means "the elder" or "the
old man." Nothing certain is known of him. Some accounts of
Laozi suggest that he lived in the sixth century B.C. and that
Confucius actually visited him in search of philosophical
advice. However, there is no real evidence to support this view,
and recent historians have tended to believe that most of the

stories surrounding him are purely legendary. One legend about
Laozi has it that toward the end of his life he left China for the
West. As he was passing through the gates at the border, the
gatekeeper begged him to write something to leave behind.
Complying with this request, Laozi is supposed to have written
the eighty-one chapters of a book called the Daodejing, one
translation of which is The Way and Its Power.
Whether this book was actually written by Laozi or, as many
have argued, by several different authors, is not known. More
important is the fact that it has fascinated, mystified, and
inspired people in China and more recently in the West, over
the course of many centuries.
The same sort of mystery surrounds the work of Zhuangzi, the
other great contributor to early Daoism. Zhuangzi was in all
likelihood an historical figure who lived in the third century
B.C. While he cannot have written the entire book which bears
his name, he is credited with at least seven of its thirty-three
chapters. It is by almost anyone's standards one of the greatest
works of world literature. In the Zhuangzi, wit, humor and
playfulness combine with a spirituality which is at once earthy
and sublime.
Acknowledgment: The consultant for this unit was Dr. Irene
Bloom, a specialist in Chinese intellectual history.
© 2009 Asia for Educators, Columbia University |
http://afe.easia.columbia.edu
Topic #4
In what ways does the Japanese medieval warrior tale, The

Tales of the Heike, align with “The Bushido Code”---the eight
virtues of the Samurai?
As noted in the first topic question above, you may use only two
sources in your paper, the text itself and the code below. For
citing purposes, the MLA citation is listed for you. Remember
when constructing your thesis statement to create it around this
topic question. For example, depending upon the length of your
paper, you may want to use three or four of the virtues listed
below in your paper. However, your actual thesis might be
stated this way:
In the medieval Japanese Samurai story, The Tales of the Heike,
soldiers adhere to "The Bushido Code: The Eight Virtues of the
Samurai." Four of those virtues practiced in the text are
__________, ___________, _________, and __________ .
Obviously, each virtue would be given at least one full
paragraph of writing on that virtue, which character possesses it
or acts it out, and the implications, etc. and include a citation to
back up your statement.
McKay, Brett & Kate. "The Bushido Code: The Eight Virtues of
the Samurai." The Art of Manliness RSS. N.p., 14 Sep. 2008.
Web. 2 Nov 2014.
The Bushido Code: The Eight Virtues of the Samurai
by Brett & Kate McKay on September 14, 2008 · 50 comments

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Tim Clark. He blogs at
Soul Shelter with novelist Mark Cunningham. Make sure to
check out Tim Clark’s second book, The Swordless Samurai.
“So, boy. You wish to serve me?” Silhouetted against the blue-
black sky, the horse-mounted samurai with the horned helmet
towered over me like a demon as I knelt in the dirt before him. I
could not see his face but there was no mistaking the authority
in his growling tone, nor the hint of mockery in his question. I
tried to speak and managed only a faint croak. My mouth had
gone dry, as parched as a man dying of thirst. But I had to
respond. My fate-and though I didn’t know it then, the fate of
all of Japan-rested on my answer. Raising my head just enough
to brave a glance at the demonic figure, I saw him staring at me,
like a hawk poised to seize a mouse in its talons. When I
managed to speak, my voice was clear and steady, and I drew
courage with each syllable. “That’s correct, Lord Nobunaga,” I
said. “I do.” It was a time of carnage and darkness: the Age of
Wars, when the land was torn by bloodshed and the only law
was the law of the sword. A peasant wandered the countryside
alone, seeking his fortune, without a coin in his pocket. He
longed to become the epitome of refined manhood-a samurai-but
nothing in the demeanor of this five-foot tall, one-hundred-ten-
pound boy could possibly have foretold the astounding destiny
awaiting him. His name was Hideyoshi, and on that fateful
spring evening in the year 1553, the brash young warlord
Nobunaga hired him as a sandal-bearer. Driven by a relentless
desire to transcend his peasant roots, Hideyoshi went on to
become Nobunaga’s loyal protégé and right-hand man.
Ultimately he became the supreme ruler of all Japan-the first
peasant ever to rise to the absolute height of power-and unified
a nation torn apart by more than a hundred years of civil strife.

Hideyoshi’s true story has inspired countless novels, plays,
movies-even video games-for more than four centuries. Born the
weakling son of a poor farmer at a time when martial prowess or
entry to the priesthood were the only ways for an ambitious
commoner to escape a life of backbreaking farm toil, he rose
from poverty to rule a mighty nation and command hundreds of
thousands of samurai warriors. For generations of men,
Hideyoshi became the ultimate underdog hero: a symbol of the
possibility of reinventing oneself as a man and rising, Horatio
Alger fashion, from rags to riches. Hideyoshi was driven by a
burning desire to succeed as a samurai. But he differed from his
contemporaries in seeking to overcome his adversaries
peaceably, through negotiation and alliance building rather than
through brute force. Lacking physical strength and fighting
skills, he naturally chose to rely on wits rather than weapons,
on strategy over swords. An unlikely samurai, indeed. Or was
he?
A Brief History of the Samurai
The word samurai originally meant “one who serves,” and
referred to men of noble birth assigned to guard members of the
Imperial Court. This service ethic spawned the roots of samurai
nobility, both social and spiritual. Over time, the nobility had
trouble maintaining centralized control of the nation, and began
“outsourcing” military, administrative, and tax collecting duties
to former rivals who acted like regional governors. As the
Imperial Court grew weaker, local governors grew more
powerful. Eventually some evolved into daimyo, or feudal lords
who ruled specific territories independently of the central
government. In 1185 Minamoto no Yoritomo, a warlord of the
eastern provinces who traced his lineage back to the imperial
family, established the nation’s first military government and
Japan entered its feudal period (1185-1867). The country was

essentially under military rule for nearly 700 years. But the
initial stability Minamoto achieved failed to bring lasting peace.
Other regimes came and went, and in 1467 the national military
government collapsed, plunging Japan into turmoil. Thus began
the infamous Age of Wars, a bloody century of strife when local
warlords fought to protect their domains and schemed to
conquer rivals. By the time Japan plunged into the turbulent
Age of Wars, the term samurai had come to signify armed
government officials, peacekeeping officers, and professional
soldiers: in short, almost anyone who carried a sword and was
ready and able to exercise deadly force. The worst of these
medieval Japanese warriors were little better than street thugs;
the best were fiercely loyal to their masters and true to the
unwritten code of chivalrous behavior known today as Bushido
(usually translated as “Precepts of Knighthood” or “Way of the
Warrior”). Virtuous or villainous, the samurai emerged as the
colorful central figures of Japanese history: a romantic
archetype akin to Europe’s medieval knights or the American
cowboy of the Wild West. But the samurai changed dramatically
after Hideyoshi pacified Japan. With civil society at peace, their
role as professional fighters disappeared, and they became less
preoccupied with martial training and more concerned with
spiritual development, teaching, and the arts. By 1867, when the
public wearing of swords was outlawed and the warrior class
was abolished, they had evolved into what Hideyoshi had
envisioned nearly three centuries earlier: swordless samurai.
The Bushido Code
Just a few decades after Japan’s warrior class was abolished,
U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt raved about a newly released
book entitled Bushido: The Soul of Japan. He bought five dozen
copies for family and friends. In the slim volume, which went

on to become an international bestseller, author Nitobe Inazo
interprets the samurai code of behavior: how chivalrous men
should act in their personal and professional lives.
Nitobe Inazo
Though some scholars have criticized Nitobe’s work as
romanticized yearning for a non-existent age of chivalry, there’s
no question that his work builds on extraordinary thousand-
year-old precepts of manhood that originated in chivalrous
behavior on the part of some, though certainly not all, samurai.
What today’s readers may find most enlightening about Bushido
is the emphasis on compassion, benevolence, and the other non-
martial qualities of true manliness. Here are Bushido’s Eight
Virtues as explicated by Nitobe:
I. Rectitude or Justice
Bushido refers not only to martial rectitude, but to personal
rectitude: Rectitude or Justice, is the strongest virtue of
Bushido.A well-known samurai defines it this way: ‘Rectitude
is one’s power to decide upon a course of conduct in accordance
with reason, without wavering; to die when to die is right, to
strike when to strike is right.’ Another speaks of it in the
following terms: ‘Rectitude is the bone that gives firmness and
stature. Without bones the head cannot rest on top of the spine,
nor hands move nor feet stand. So without Rectitude neither
talent nor learning can make the human frame into a samurai.’

II. Courage
Bushido distinguishes between bravery and courage: Courage is
worthy of being counted among virtues only if it’s exercised in
the cause of Righteousness and Rectitude. In his Analects,
Confucius says: ‘Perceiving what is right and doing it not
reveals a lack of Courage.’ In short, ‘Courage is doing what is
right.’
III. Benevolence or Mercy
A man invested with the power to command and the power to
kill was expected to demonstrate equally extraordinary powers
of benevolence and mercy: Love, magnanimity, affection for
others, sympathy and pity, are traits of Benevolence, the highest
attribute of the human soul. Both Confucius and Mencius often
said the highest requirement of a ruler of men is Benevolence.
IV. Politeness
Discerning the difference between obsequiousness and
politeness can be difficult for casual visitors to Japan, but for a
true man, courtesy is rooted in benevolence: Courtesy and good
manners have been noticed by every foreign tourist as
distinctive Japanese traits. But Politeness should be the
expression of a benevolent regard for the feelings of others; it’s
a poor virtue if it’s motivated only by a fear of offending good
taste. In its highest form Politeness approaches love.

V. Honesty and Sincerity
True samurai, according to author Nitobe, disdained money,
believing that “men must grudge money, for riches hinder
wisdom.” Thus children of high-ranking samurai were raised to
believe that talking about money showed poor taste, and that
ignorance of the value of different coins showed good breeding:
Bushido encouraged thrift, not for economical reasons so much
as for the exercise of abstinence. Luxury was thought the
greatest menace to manhood, and severe simplicity was required
of the warrior class … the counting machine and abacus were
abhorred.
VI. Honor
Though Bushido deals with the profession of soldiering, it is
equally concerned with non-martial behavior: The sense of
Honor, a vivid consciousness of personal dignity and worth,
characterized the samurai. He was born and bred to value the
duties and privileges of his profession. Fear of disgrace hung
like a sword over the head of every samurai … To take offense
at slight provocation was ridiculed as ‘short-tempered.’ As the
popular adage put it: ‘True patience means bearing the
unbearable.’
VII. Loyalty

Economic reality has dealt a blow to organizational loyalty
around the world. Nonetheless, true men remain loyal to those
to whom they are indebted: Loyalty to a superior was the most
distinctive virtue of the feudal era. Personal fidelity exists
among all sorts of men: a gang of pickpockets swears allegiance
to its leader. But only in the code of chivalrous Honor does
Loyalty assume paramount importance.
VIII. Character and Self-Control
Bushido teaches that men should behave according to an
absolute moral standard, one that transcends logic. What’s right
is right, and what’s wrong is wrong. The difference between
good and bad and between right and wrong are givens, not
arguments subject to discussion or justification, and a man
should know the difference. Finally, it is a man’s obligation to
teach his children moral standards through the model of his own
behavior: The first objective of samurai education was to build
up Character. The subtler faculties of prudence, intelligence,
and dialectics were less important. Intellectual superiority was
esteemed, but a samurai was essentially a man of action. No
historian would argue that Hideyoshi personified the Eight
Virtues of Bushido throughout his life. Like many great men,
deep faults paralleled his towering gifts. Yet by choosing
compassion over confrontation, and benevolence over
belligerence, he demonstrated ageless qualities of manliness.
Today his lessons could not be more timely.

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