Another English Paper.

[dlb]

Berserkers that's an interesting topic. Men who believed, and those around them believed, that in the heat of battle they were possessed by bears or became bears. Who was the character in one of the Tolkien books? Beorn in The Hobbit maybe who became a bear at night?

There was also Cu Chulaínn of the Irish Ulster Cycle tales,the hero of the Taín Bó Cuailgne (The Cattle Drive of Cooley) who when possessed of his battle fury would turn himself inside out, becoming a sort of monster.

There are shape shifters who convert into something not quite human in many ancient cultures. Hmmmm. I wonder what the basis of that is.

[llblovesejw]

Here is the outline of the paper, just to give the gist of it. The rough draft is due next Wednesday. I already know I need to find an introduction and a conclusion. I also need to strenthen my oppostion rebuttal.


Introduction: ??

Thesis: Monsters represented society’s prejudices and helped put a face on issues and behaviors unknown.

Body:
Topic Sentence 1: Throughout history, man has been in a struggle to know and understand as much of his world as possible. If something remained unexplained, humans had the tendency to write such things off as mysticism or magic.
- Examples from mythology (cite: www.pantheon.org)
- More recent example than early mythology; just fear of the unknown (cite: Olaudah Equiano)
- The unknown causes questions and doubt: If you do not know it, how can you fight it? What does it do? Is it good or evil? These questions lead to fear.
Topic Sentence 2: Some stories and legends may have been caused by the common misunderstandings of conditions and behaviors by early societies.
- Vampirism and its symptoms
- Origins of the vampire folklore
- Rabies explanations (cite: BBC news)
- Posthumous medical explanations (cite: Encyclopedia for Occultism)
- Voodoo zombiism and its symptoms
- Zombie effects medically explained (cite: Answers: Zombies)
Topic Sentence 3: Other monsters were created through exaggeration and manipulation of the truth, which contributed the misunderstandings of early peoples.
- Reason the voodoo zombie was romanticized (ex: Haitian voodoo secrecy, exotic culture)
- Lycanthropy and its symptoms
- Origins of the werewolf (cite: Enc. Occult. *and* think quest)
Topic Sentence 4: Some monsters are created for no other reasons other than prejudice and the need for an enemy.
- Reasons for witch-hunts (cite: Answers: Witchcraft)
- Targets (cite: Red Hair Facts, Answers: Witchcraft, Enc. of Occ.)
Topic Sentence 5: Opposition Rebuttal: Though less of a widely held belief, there are people who still believe in the truth of these creatures.
- Vampire Culture (cite: Sanguinarius.org)
- New form of Vampirism (cite: Wiki: Energy Vampire, Vampire Lifestyle)
- Neopaganism and the Wiccan Religion (cite: glasstemple.com)

Conclusion Topic Sentence: ??