WS101 Essay Topics
SJSU Winter 2009
Instructor: Susana L. Gallardo
Due Friday 1/8 by 9pm
Write a 4 page essay on one of the topics below. These are brief essays so your writing should be concise and
to the point (i.e. long introductions are not necessary). You should probably include your thesis within the first
paragraph of your essay, and go on to construct a coherent, well-grounded argument in the rest of the essay.
You must support your assertions with specific textual references; doing so will show that you have read and
understood the text, and are making your argument substantively from an informed and well-thought-out
perspective. Short quotes should illustrate and support your points; long quotes are not advisable.
Papers should be typed, double-spaced, preferably in Times 12 pt font. You may cite course readings
informally (Tedlock, PV, 232) or (Genesis 2:15) since no bibliography is necessary. Please put a coverpage on
your essay, with your name, the date, and the number of your essay option. Please number your pages, but do
not put your name on any interior pages.
Your essay is due by 9pm Friday by email to prof@chicanas.com.
Do not consider your essay “done” UNTIL you receive a return email acknowledgement from me. If I do not
acknowledge, send it again or send to susana.gallardo@sjsu.edu
Some tips: Obviously, you are not expected to be an expert on Mayan texts, and you are not expected to do any
outside reading. You are expected to look closely at the texts involved and think a bit about the ideas we’ve
discussed in class. This essay is an exercise in thinking critically about culture, gender, religion, and our own
assumptions. Feel free to include a brief note about your own background, and how it may or may not influence
your reading of these texts. This is not the main point of the essay, however, so keep it brief.
Topic 1. The easy one.
Compare or contrast the Hebrew God of Genesis with the Mayan God/s of the Popol Vuh. What qualities does
God/s have, and how do they affect God’s relationship with humanity? What consequences does this have for
gender roles and/or ideas of gender?
Topic 2. Genesis 2:19 - Consider the following passage:
Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for
him. So out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and
brought them to the man to see what he would call them…. The man gave names to all cattle, and to the
birds of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper fit for him
(Genesis 2:19)
How does this selection illustrate some of the difficulties of the Genesis text? (Hint: You might discuss the
order of creation, man/woman relationships, or the nature/behavior of God. You might also compare it to the
Popol Vuh.)
Topic 3. Do a close reading of the following passage:
…the midwife, matchmaker
named Xpiyacoc, Xmucane,
defender, protector,
twice a midwife, twice a matchmaker.
What kinds of qualities are mentioned here? How are they relevant to the gods, to humans? What do they say
about the relationship of gods to humans? Where do you see these phrases reoccurring? What does the
doubling suggest? How is gender implicated?
Topic 4. Choose a topic or passage of your own and do a close reading or compare and contrast.