The lit midterm portion made me realize how much material we have covered throughout the semester so far. Although I keep up with the reading questions, keep good notes, and attend every class, it can become overwhelming at times. History is not one of my strengths and I have always had trouble with memorizing facts and connecting them to the bigger picture. I feel like memorizing concepts is not enough, and one must be able to connect each of the concepts to the culture, and ultimately, to the main themes of the course. It is essentially three courses integrated into one so I am still in the process of becoming adjusted to that.
For my first essay, I am planning on focusing on the role of suffering on human life. I picked Hinduism as my main culture because I feel like we spent more time on this culture and the concepts are more engrained in my mind. Many of the components of Hinduism’s literature, art, and music can be connected to the concept of suffering. I think that I will be able to make a connection between suffering, and moksha, samsara, and karma. Lastly, I will be comparing and contrasting it to Judaism. Both cultures have some commonalities such as having the ultimate goal of uniting with God. However, one of the main differences that I will be addressing is about Judaism’s linear pattern of life and Hinduism’s cyclic pattern. The Jewish believe that throughout life, one is constantly developing and strengthening his relationship with God. On the other hand, one of Hinduism’s principles is that the divine essence is unchanging.
The next culture that I feel most comfortable about is Classical Greece, so I will be focusing on that for my second essay. For this essay, I am discussing the impact of obligations and how it shapes one’s life. The idea of upholding duties is very prevalent in Greek literature, art, and music so I will connect them to the period concepts of idealism, shaping the soul, and excellence. I thought that Rome would be a perfect choice for the compare/contrast portion because both cultures have their unique features. While Rome was set on maintaining their empire and conquest, Classical Greece was somewhat of the opposite.
Word Count: 377
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