Societal Myth Project

1. Societal Myth Project • Due: Monday (September 2) • Assignment: write a myth to explain something in modern society you don’t understand • Examples: • Why there is racism • Why we use a capitalist economy • Why we worship TV • Why there are time zones • Why there are 24 hours in the day • Why people cheat on each other

2. Example: • Topic: why we worship TV • Theme/thesis of myth: we worship TV because our sleeping patterns were messed up by the god, Night, who was jealous of the time people spent in Day • Events: people used to get up when the sun rose and go to bed when it set; people spent all their time with Day and loved the sun; Night became lonely and wanted people to spend time with him so he invented stars but that didn’t excite people; he invented books and conversation but that didn’t excite people; so he finally he invented TV and it worked! • Literary Elements: Night as a character and his response to the way people spend time; the people as characters and how they spend their time; the imagery of stars and books and conversation and their affect on people; the symbolism of the TV

3. Connections between Writing and Reading • Writing a “paper” is not different from how authors write a “book.” • You can still prove something through fiction with similar strategies as if you were proving it in a “paper” • As you write your myth, remember you are proving something (the explanation for the thing in society you don’t understand) • See the chart on the next slide for more details: