Education teaches you to love the world.

HUMANITIES

Synthesis of Information
UNIT PROFILE OUTCOMES
In this unit, you will consider the subject of humanities— • Synthesize information from several sources
specifically the perspectives of ancient cultures on life and death. • Understand multiple perspectives
You will learn about the poetry of Homer, Virgil, and Dante, and
• Evaluate the credibility and motives of
the underworld, including the journey to and from as depicted
sources
above.
• Understand and use direct and indirect
Preview the reading “The Hero’s Journey” on page 231.
quotations
Skim the reading. How many sources are there? How are their
perspectives different on a given topic? Does any source seem • Appreciate hedging
to be more credible than another?

GETTING STARTED
Go to to listen to Professor Harrison and to complete a self-assessment.
Discuss these questions with a partner or group.
1. English has the phrase “magical thinking.” It means believing that one thing results from another
thing even though there is no evidence or solid reasoning to support a link between the two.
Superstition is an example of magical thinking. So is the ancient Greek and Roman tradition of
believing that immortals—from Aphrodite to Zeus—were constantly interfering in human affairs.
Do you or anyone you know engage in magical thinking? What do you believe?
2. Countless stories, from ancient to modern times, feature the idea of communication between the
living and the dead—including Odysseus's visit to the underworld and Hamlet's encounters with the
ghost of his father. What examples can you think of? What is the basis for our fascination with these
exchanges?

For more about HUMANITIES, see 1 3 . See also and HUMANITIES 1 2 3 .

208 HUMANITIE S PART 2
 PART 2
CRITICAL THINKING SKILL
SYNTHESIZING INFORMATION FROM SEVERAL SOURCES

WHY IT’S USEFUL By learning to synthesize information from several sources, you will be able to build
well-rounded conceptions of a topic. You will also be able to place the information from any given source
into an overall schema of the facts and opinions about a topic.

Synthesizing—combining different ideas, experiences, or pieces of information to make something

new—is a necessary skill for becoming a successful reader. Synthesizing information involves paying
close attention to what you are reading with the goal of making connections between ideas. It is
important because in academic courses, you will often be asked to read multiple texts about a certain
topic—as well as texts in which an author has already synthesized information from several texts—and
you will be expected to determine where information from these sources overlaps, conflicts, concentrates
on certain lines of reasoning, updates earlier concepts, and so on. In the end, you can make inferences
about the work of a given source in relation to the broader field of commentators.
While reading information from several sources about a given topic, you should take into account what
you have learned about active reading. Specifically, try to recognize whether information from one
source agrees or conflicts with information from another source—for example, if certain aspects of a fact
are emphasized in one source but minimized in another—and question the validity of the information
being presented. Synthesizing also involves being mindful of differences across sources, including the
following:
• Sources may define concepts differently.
• Only one source may provide definitions of terminology that is used in all of the sources.
• One source might make a generalization about a topic, but another may describe it in detail.
• The classification of concepts may differ from source to source.
• One source may be more reliable than another in terms of its recency or the qualifications of
the author.
By learning to effectively synthesize information from several sources, you will further develop your
active reading and critical thinking skills. You will be able to identify gaps in information when
comparing one source with another, consider evidence presented through different lenses, and compare
and contrast main ideas. This will help with writing research papers, as you will be better able to identify
similarities and discrepancies between information in the research you have gathered.
This unit breaks synthesizing information from several sources down into two supporting skills:
• understanding multiple perspectives
• evaluating the credibility and motives of sources

Synthesis of Information 209

 NOTICING ACTIVITY
A. Read the passage, which synthesizes the views of three researchers: King, White, and Hall.

Depictions of the Underworld

1 The portrayal of the underworld in epic tales of ancient Greece, Rome, and medieval Europe
reveals each culture’s complex and divergent beliefs about the afterlife. The works of King, White,
and Hall correspond with one another in that they each conclude that the Greeks viewed the
underworld as a realm to which all humans descended after death, regardless of their actions
during life. (Romans and many medieval Europeans, on the other hand, largely considered the
afterlife a place divided according to a person’s behavior in life.) The one exception for the Greeks,
King notes, are heroes, who are awarded an intermediary position between mortals and gods, and
get a pass from spending eternity in the depths of the underworld. While King gives a succinct,
cursory description of this midpoint that the Greeks, and later the Romans, believed in, White
writes extensively of the concept in his examination of Dante’s The Divine Comedy. He notes that the
notion of a halfway point—later to be tagged as purgatory—underwent expansion in medieval times
because it was a central node in the Christian latticework of after-death possibilities.
2 Hall’s research, in contrast with King’s and White’s, is more contemporary, and contains
fewer biases in its analysis of pre-Christian concepts of faith and the afterlife. Hall explores the
similarities between the hierarchy of the underworld in the Aeneid and in The Divine Comedy,
stating, along with the other two sources, that Virgil’s and Dante’s images of hell were alike in that
there was logic in the way dead souls were assigned transgression-appropriate punishments—for
example, how greedy people were forced to push great weights (symbolizing the things they wished
to hoard). Unlike King and White, however, Hall offers a significant amount of evidence indicating
that Virgil and, later, Dante subjected these souls to torture and misery in various levels of the
underworld as much to make a political point as to fall in line with the religious views of their
respective societies.

The sources in this passage are fictional.

B. Read the statements about the passage. Then mark each statement as T (True) or F (False).
F 1. King, White, and Hall each state that Greeks, Romans, and medieval Europeans shared the
belief that all humans reached the underworld after death.
F 2. King, White, and Hall each point out that heroes are exceptions among Greeks in terms of
destiny and the underworld.
T 3. Of the three experts, White gives the most thorough description of the position of
purgatory.
F
4. Of the work done by the three authors, White’s research addresses the most modern notions
of the afterlife.
T 5. King, White, and Hall agree that in the Aeneid and The Divine Comedy, logical methods are
used to group people in the underworld.
T 6. White and King do not indicate, as Hall does, that Dante’s and Virgil’s motives for subjecting
souls to torture in various levels of the underworld were political and religious.
Go to to complete a vocabulary exercise and skill practice, and to join in collaborative activities.

210 HUMANITIE S PART 2

 PART 2
SUPPORTING SKILL 1
UNDERSTANDING MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES

WHY IT’S USEFUL By understanding information from various sources about a given topic, you can
build a comprehensive, wide-ranging command of the concept. Recognizing how various sources agree
with, disagree with, add to, and update one another gives you a well-rounded feel for the range of opinion
among experts.

In academic readings, you will come across texts that are about the same topic, idea, or fact but are
presented or understood by their authors in very different ways. You will also be exposed to texts
on a given topic that offer information other texts on the same topic do not. This is even common
in research—while one researcher may interpret evidence to mean one thing, another might draw a
different conclusion.
In order to understand multiple perspectives, it is first necessary that you ensure that the sources are
discussing the same general idea. For example, the information in a text by Author A about Aristotle’s
idea of the “golden mean” cannot be synthesized with information in a text by Author B about Aristotle’s
concept of “syllogism.” While they are both ideas propounded by the same philosopher, they do not share
the same main idea.
After determining that the texts you are reading are on the same topic, your next task is to recognize the
perspectives that are presented by each author. In order to do this, it is helpful to become familiar with
language that is used to express a perspective.

Phrase Expressing Perspective Example

It is generally accepted that … It is generally accepted that historical writings provide clues
about a given society.

According to [X person / According to Randall , the textiles were meant to honor the
people] … Greek god.

Many / Some / [other noun] Researchers believe that the artifacts are historically significant.
believe (that) …

It is considered … It is considered a travesty that some of the ancient texts were

[X person / people] consider … damaged.
Baldwin considers the symbol to be of little significance within
the entire context of the poem.

[X person / people] Mullins demonstrates the importance of carefully discerning

demonstrates … between fact and fiction in ancient poetry.

[X event / fact / evidence] Research on ancient Greek artifacts indicates that jewelry was
indicate that … worn by individuals of high social status.

[X event / fact / evidence] will The finding will likely shed light on recent archaeological
likely … discoveries in the same area.
[X event / fact / evidence] are The sculpture is unlikely to have been the work of an ancient
likely / unlikely to … artist.
It is likely that … It is likely that the artifacts mentioned in the passage were
figments of the author's imagination.

[X person / people] maintain Drake maintains that historical figures in the poems are entirely
that … fictional.

Continued

Synthesis of Information 211

 Phrase Expressing Perspective Example

[X event / fact / evidence] The works of art reveal that ancient sculptors used quite
reveal … advanced methods.

[X person / people] emphasize / Highland stresses that the Trojan War is an event that must not
stress (that) … be le out of the narrative.

X suggests (that) … The discovery suggests that ancient Greeks highly valued works
of art.

It is thought that … It is thought that Homer spoke, not wrote, his legendary stories.

X must / can be viewed … The art can be viewed as authentic if the research is reliable.

Read the following paragraph. Notice how the language from the chart is woven throughout the
paragraph to express the perspectives of the two (fictional) researchers.

Views on Discoveries of Ancient

Greek Sculptures
Two prominent researchers in the field of ancient Greek art history recently penned articles
about research conducted on artwork uncovered in Greek ruins. While they both believe it is
likely that the pieces of artwork discovered date back to the time of Homer, perspectives on
some technical features of the artifacts differ between the two experts. Schmidt, whose team is
credited with the discovery of a variety of sculptures, maintains that his findings indicate that
the sculptors responsible for creating the pieces used advanced methods far beyond what were
previously believed to have been used. However, a different view is held by Thompson, an art
historian and professor who specializes in ancient Greek sculptures. He emphasizes that while the
works of art discovered by Schmidt indeed reveal evidence that advanced sculpting techniques
were utilized, the existence of such innovative methods was previously known by researchers in his
own department. With that said, he does consider the discoveries made by Schmidt’s team to be
of extreme importance, as the sculptures found differ significantly in size, shape, and material from
previously known pieces.

Recognizing varying viewpoints is not always as easy as picking out phrases like those above, however.
These viewpoints often take the form of longer, complex explanations, so it is up to the reader to first
determine whether the information presented by the sources really confl icts—that is, whether the two
sets of information are mutually exclusive and cannot both be true—or if the authors present slightly
different viewpoints on the same topic, perspectives that are different but may both be true, at least
to some degree. If it is the former (conflicting information), you must ask yourself how these sources
disagree with one other. This could be disagreement about facts, the significance of facts, an idea, or
an interpretation of an idea. If it is the latter (different viewpoints), it is important to think about how
different the perspectives are from one another. Consider the angle from which that information is viewed
by each source to determine whether Source A may take one concept into consideration while Source B
focuses on another.

212 HUMANITIE S PART 2

 PART 2
EXERCISE 1
A. This reading contains three perspectives on the depiction of art in Homer’s epics. As you read each
passage, highlight language the author uses to express a certain perspective. Then circle points
made by the author that are similar to points made in the other passages. Underline points that
stand in contrast to those in the other passages.

How Realistic Were Homeric Descriptions?

Source 1: Painter
Authentic Descriptions of Art in Homer’s Epics
1 Homer’s epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey give vivid descriptions of textiles, decorative
battle gear, and architectural elements that should be considered in art history as an authentic
depiction of art objects of great importance. Though Homer’s work is filled with mystical beasts
and mythic lands, historical facts are the basis for his narrative. Modern art historians consider
the works Homer describes as cultural art, or “lesser” art, rather than fine art, but these so-called
lesser arts were prized in pre-Hellenic ancient Greece. To determine the importance of the art
described by Homer, it is essential that he first be compared with Thucydides, who authored a
detailed but somewhat lifeless and dry account of the Peloponnesian War in the 5th century bce.
Though Thucydides is widely regarded as a more historical source than Homer, the touch of an
artist is noticeably absent in his work. Homer’s story, on the other hand, rings with praise of
aesthetic works of his time and provides art criticism in the narrative through careful descriptions
of objects that were clearly valuable. Homer’s artistic eye is what gives the text merit as a resource
in the study of art history.
2 Historic records indicate that that Homer lived around 750 bce. The Iliad and the Odyssey
interweave Greek mythology with historical accounts of war and travel around Asia Minor.
Though much of Homer’s work is devoted to the influence of the gods on the life of Odysseus and
his contemporaries, the myths transmit facts about art. For example, Homer devotes many lines
of praise to the artifice of Hephaistos, the god of fire, crafts, and metalworking, but he is merely
alluding to the skilled smiths who lived during his time. The clothing that Homer describes his
hero or the gods wearing is an accurate description of the woven textiles and battle garb of his
time, and further, an indication that textiles were prized as a fi ne art. Finally, in the examination
of Homer’s account of Greek architecture, the texts linger poetically on the palaces of Menelaus
and Alcinous and their bronze-paneled walls, azure molding, golden doors, silver lintel, and silver
sculptures. Though Menelaus and Alcinous are part of Greek mythology and the location of the
actual palaces Homer based his narrative on remains uncertain, Homer’s accounts likely provide
an exceptional window of truth on what existed in the world of ancient architecture.
Source 2: Martínez
The Imaginative Art in Homer’s Epics
3 While it may tempting to regard the work of the legendary bard Homer as text that provides a
fascinating glimpse into an ancient epoch, the truth is that Homer’s accounts of art must be viewed
as imaginative poetry, not history. The epic’s main focus is on battle, not on documentation of
works of art that existed during his time. Homer records the lesser arts, or cultural artifacts like
weapons and clothing, and while these are of use for archaeological and historical purposes, they
are not fine art. Further, many fi ne art examples described in the text, such as the famous shield
of Achilles, likely did not exist. Art historians and archaeological should use caution when citing
artworks as described by Homer, especially fine arts like sculpture, as their historicity is uncertain,
and it is difficult to separate fact from fiction in the narrative.

Continued

Synthesis of Information 213

 4 The personhood of Homer himself is unclear as is the provenance of his work, a phenomenon
dubbed “The Homeric Question.” Many scholars generally believe the Homeric texts were passed
down verbally over a thousand-year period dating back to the Trojan Wars in the Bronze Age in
the second millennium bce. The Homeric texts are likely a result of multiple authorships. The
poems convey tales from Greek mythology that feature fictional places like the underworld,
separating them from the work of historians like Thucydides, whose careful annotations reference
clear historical events, places, and persons.
5 The main purpose of the Iliad was to dramatize the Trojan War; references to cultural
materials like textiles and battle implements are secondary to its main purpose. The process
of manufacturing battle gear described in the text testifies to the development of metallurgy in
ancient Greece, but the objects themselves are products of Homer's imagination. His descriptions
of works of art often include fanciful imagery—metal, for example, is depicted as glowing like
the moon. His architectural imagery is equally romantic, prizing beauty over accuracy. He also
attributes much of his documentation of art to palaces of figures who may or may not have existed.
Homer’s quality as a storyteller is superb, but the art described in the Homeric texts should remain
in the annals of literary fiction and only be referenced with caution in art history.
Source 3: Evans
Unknown Accuracy of Homer’s Account of Arts
6 Homer’s ancient texts, born out of oral tradition and transcribed before the classical period
of ancient Greece, reveal a glimpse of the art made during the Iron Age in Asia Minor. While
some objects are believed to be clearly mythic and fanciful, such as the shield of Achilles,
detailed descriptions in Homer's texts of minor artworks and cultural materials like shields,
sculptures, chariots, and textiles indicate that similar objects could have actually existed. The
detailed descriptions of the pieces of art and the methods used to create them convey important
information to historians of ancient art. The actual existence of the art objects—such as the
shield—is irrelevant because knowledge of the methods of production of such objects is more
important for a discussion of art in ancient cultures.
7 The authorship of the Iliad and the Odyssey is ascribed to a person who scholars believe lived
around 750 bce, though the stories, communicated through oral tradition, have roots that possibly
date back to the Trojan War around the 12th century bce. Homer’s quasi-historic figures had
palaces with polished stone and precious metals, they wore soft linens, and they carried golden-
studded staffs. These small, rich details give scholars of ancient art important clues as to how the
arts flourished in Homer’s time. They include jewelry, clothing, weapons, and other works that are
often placed in a category of cultural materials, or minor arts, in contrast to the fi ne, or higher, arts
of ceramics, paintings, and sculptures.
8 Homer’s story inspired countless black-figure ceramics as well as other types of art in ancient
Greece, and it also contains the first instance of ekphrastic poetry, a technique that describes the
manufacturing process and appearance of a work of art in great detail so that a reader may form a
clear picture of the work. This type of poetry is extremely valuable to art historians searching for
possible works of art from the Dark Ages and may be used as a reference by art historians. What's
more, Homer’s descriptions of the process of creating art objects reveal knowledge of metallurgy in
ancient times that may assist scholars in identifying pieces of art yet to be discovered.

The sources and quotations in this passage are fictional.

214 HUMANITIE S PART 2

 PART 2
B. Read the questions and choose the best answers.
1. Painter, Martínez, and Evans agree that .
a. Homer depicts art accurately in his epic poems.
b. Homer does not describe art correctly in his epic poems.
c. it is irrelevant whether Homer depicts art accurately in his epic poems.
d. Homer’s poetry does not always reflect true events or creatures.
2. What do Martínez and Evans agree about in terms of Homer’s poetry?
a. It likely that Homer’s tales were originally conveyed orally.
b. Much is known about Homer’s identity.
c. The characters in the poetry were real people.
d. It is safe to draw some historical conclusions from Homer’s works.
3. Which authors think Homer has merit as a storyteller?
a. Painter and Evans
b. Painter, Martínez, and Evans
c. Martínez and Evans
d. Painter and Martínez
4. Painter and Martínez agree that Homer describes .
a. art that is based on pure fantasy
b. artifacts that are considered lesser art
c. art, but is more focused on describing historic wars
d. fully accurate historical events
5. Unlike the other two sources, Painter believes Homer’s work is valuable because it .
a. tells stories of fictional lands from which scholars can gain knowledge
b. describes art that is often overlooked in historical studies today
c. contains artistically critical descriptions of historic art
d. is considered more of a historically accurate source than works of Thucydides
6. How does Martínez’s perspective of Homer’s work differ from the other two sources?
a. The author believes Homer’s stories are boring.
b. The author believes Homer’s stories are unreliable.
c. The author believes Homer’s stories are accurate.
d. The author believes Homer’s stories are delusional.
7. Painter and Evans each imply that Homer’s depictions of art .
a. are fully accurate representations of art that existed during his time
b. are indisputably works of pure literature
c. reflect the fact that art was valued during his time
d. should not be judged based on their authenticity
8. Which statement about Homer’s epic poetry would all three sources likely disagree with?
a. It has merit for the study of art history.
b. It was written for the purpose of depicting actual artwork of the time.
c. It was more artistic than that of other writers of Homer’s time.
d. It includes factual events that occurred during his time.
Go to to complete a vocabulary exercise and skill practice, and to join in collaborative activities.

Synthesis of Information 215

 SUPPORTING SKILL 2
EVALUATING THE CREDIBILITY AND MOTIVES OF SOURCES

WHY IT’S USEFUL In a reading that presents multiple perspectives, some sources are more believable
or persuasive than others. By recognizing and evaluating sources’ qualifications, present standing in
their fields, and possible motivations for their stances, you can better judge whose perspectives are more
convincing.

Most of the academic texts you read have been reviewed by experts and editors—at book publishing
companies or journals—before you see them. Even online material, if you fi nd it on a reputable site,
may have gone through strenuous checks for factuality and credibility. You are unlikely to read very
many academic pieces that present totally ridiculous ideas from sources who have no credibility at
all. However, that does not mean that every claim in every article or chapter is equally believable and
convincing. Editors may be screening material before you read it, but they do not necessarily remove
every doubtful claim, every self-serving remark, or every controversial point of view. In fact, some
authors and their editors think they have an obligation to present views that are not in the mainstream,
simply to get their readers to consider issues from a number of viewpoints.
Applying your critical thinking skills is vital when you read material that argues an issue several ways.
A source’s expertise is the first thing most readers consider. Which of the following sources do you find
most credible regarding the portrayal of gold objects in Homer’s Odyssey?
A. Joseph Novak, professor of mathematics at Harvard University, argues that Homer could
not have described golden treasure troves so well unless he had been an occasional guest
of Greece’s wealthiest families.
B. “Homer’s detailed eye for the intricacies of golden plate work,” says Dionis Katzanopoulos,
“reflects the sensibilities of a visual artist, not just a writer.”
C. According to Lara Worth, professor of Greek and Roman history at Baldwin State
University, most of the details regarding golden objects were added by “later transcribers
of Homer’s works,” not originated by the bard himself.
Most readers would say that the source cited in Example C probably has the greatest expertise.
Greek history is her field. Even though the university she represents is not as illustrious as Harvard
(Example A), the Harvard source is a mathematician. He is probably very smart, but from the little bit
we know, his profession may not grant him expertise on this subject. The source quoted in Example B
is hard to evaluate. He has a Greek-sounding name, but that does not mean he knows very much about
ancient Greek golden objects. We simply cannot tell whether he has expertise.
Expertise may derive from several factors:
• a source’s present job
• the quality of the organization (university, company, government office, etc.) that employs the
source
• a source’s past or present research
• the books, articles, movies, and other materials produced by the source
• a source’s relationship—via family, friendship, acquaintance—with the person or subject matter
under discussion
• a source’s firsthand observation of an incident or situation

216 HUMANITIE S PART 2

Besides expertise, motive influences a source’s

PART 2
CULTURE NOTE
credibility and effectiveness. Might the source make Sometimes, a person of great achievement who is
unreliable claims because of any of the following? considered a highly credible source in one arena
becomes a promoter of strange ideas in another. His
• a desire to make money or her credibility, therefore, becomes, or at least risks
becoming, diminished. For example, the American
• a desire for attention or fame chemist Linus Pauling (1901–1994) won two Nobel
• political or religious beliefs Prizes, one in chemistry and the other the Nobel
Peace Prize. His early work on molecular structures
• a personal relationship (good or bad) with was groundbreaking, but late in life he developed a
someone involved in the subject at hand belief in the healing power of certain vitamins that
was not backed up by generally accepted medical
• a deterioration in the source’s dependability research. This seemingly irrational attachment
(owing to recent mental or emotional to unsupported medical / dietary ideas tainted
Pauling’s reputation. For another example, Henry
difficulty, etc.) Ford, the founder of the Ford Motor Company and
a revolutionary genius in manufacturing, would
It may not be easy to know whether one of these factors, certainly have been considered a highly credible
such as the desire to promote a religious or political source regarding production efficiencies. However,
he used his wealth and prominence to promote a
belief, is operating in the source’s case, but you may be range of weird, idiosyncratic ideas about everything
able to guess by doing an informal online search of the from personal diet, to religion, to the supposed
danger of putting up tall buildings. (He thought they
source. If the source writes for general audiences (not would make the Earth’s surface collapse.) Ultimately,
just technical specialists), you might also be able to find an author must be very discerning when choosing
sources and quotes as evidence for an idea, weighing
relevant reviews in newspapers, magazines, blog posts, the benefits of expertise against the potential costs
and so on. of damaged integrity.

EXERCISE 2
A. Read the passage.

Greek and Roman Funeral Beliefs

1 Ancient Greek and Roman cultures shared provided an updated account of archaeological
similar burial customs and beliefs about how an findings in the funerary realm, advancing what
improper burial could create problems for the Moore had written. As a linguist, rather than as
soul of the deceased and for surviving family a field archaeologist, Garcia enjoyed a unique
members. The 1950s excavations at Hermelaktia perspective afforded by his ability to interpret
led by Barnard professor Elaine Moore elucidated ancient Greek. Moore’s earlier interpretations of
much about the extreme importance that the several papyri were called into question by Garcia,
Greeks placed on funeral customs. The site some quite controversially so. But while it's true
yielded not only terracotta panels showing that Garcia found references to human sacrifice
ekphora (funeral processions) but also dozens of in the texts, there is no evidence in any of the
papyrus manuscripts describing proper funerary artistic funeral representations, at Hermelaktia
procedures. The French philosopher Hector or any other site, that the Greeks themselves
LeBaise, inspired by Moore’s work, based a poetic practiced it. They simply noted that it occurred
cycle called L’Hermieuse on the excavations, elsewhere. As of the early 21st century, there is a
speculating that the Greek spirit world interacted general consensus that Moore’s evidence trumps
with the living world via dreams and mystical Garcia’s.
experiences—an idea that some of the more 3 The Iliad recounts heroic burials that were
rational Greeks may have frowned upon. thought to bring honor to mythic heroes like
2 Later, Theodore Garcia’s research, though at Patroclus, who was cremated and whose ashes
times scant on the Roman concept p of the afterlife,, were then placed
p in a funeraryy urn and buried. His

Continued

Synthesis of Information 217

 funeral was accompanied by the ritual sacrifice 5 In reality, there was an anticremation geist
of animals as well as offerings of oil and other in ancient Greek epic poetry, which contained
precious materials. According to the Edwardian some early references to an unquiet spirit. In the
British socialite and amateur archaeologist Sir Odyssey, in discussing the dead, Homer writes that
Beowulf Tate, this was originally an Anatolian the fires of cremation destroy the body: “ ... life
heroic burial custom that the Greeks eventually leaves the white bones,” he writes, “and the spirit,
emulated, especially for soldiers who had perished like a dream, flits away, and hovers to and fro.”
on the battlefield. Whether the Greeks practiced But doing nothing was not an option, of course.
cremation before the Trojan War is a matter of The Greeks, especially by the mid-8th century BCE,
debate. Tate stumbled across various animal believed that the soul of one unburied would
bones interred alongside human remains in graves continue to trouble the living, according to Moore.
in both Cyprus and Attica—graves that predate Garcia’s translations corroborate ideas that Moore
the Trojan War across the seas—which has led first introduced. In The Art of Death, Moore devotes
scholars such as George Kristidis of the Athenian a chapter to the discovery of graves in which the
Academy to reluctantly acknowledge a possible inhumed are covered in heavy stones to prevent a
connection between the cremation passages in zombielike rising and haunting of the living.
the Iliad and burial customs in ancient Greece. 6 Romans had similar concepts of the interaction
Cremation among the Greeks did eventually between the living and dead. Like Odysseus,
become somewhat acceptable but never really Aeneas interacts in the underworld with unburied
commonplace. friends, who implore the hero to bury them so
4 Hundreds of years later, the majority of Roman that they can be at rest. According to Moore, this
citizens practiced cremation and burial of the theme in Virgil’s Aeneid was a value shared by
ashes as a funerary tradition, for a while. Tate Roman citizens, who, like the Greeks before them,
speculated that cremation proved eventually believed the spirits of the dead could influence
too unceremonious for what he considered the living relations, either positively or negatively. This
“grandiosity” of Rome, but he was doing little was an idea that the dilettante Tate could sink his
more than airing prejudices. In reality, as Heather amateur teeth into, and did—and even serious
Parenti, professor of religious studies at the scholars have come to the same conclusion:
University of Corinth, points out, the spread of that extensive funerary rites in ancient Roman
Christianity and its decriminalization in 313 CE culture were an attempt to ward off the dead.
brought the widespread practice of cremation to Along with the body, food was interred in the tomb,
an end. Garcia and Moore agree that the custom and deceased family members were honored on
of cremating was eschewed for both religious and designated days of the year. These kinds of rites,
practical reasons: Cremation simply consumed too so Romans believed, would protect the living and
much of an already limited timber crop. give peace to the dead.

The sources and source quotations in this passage are fictional.

B. Read each question and write a short answer about sources and their credibility.
1. The author mentions two aspects of Elaine Moore’s background that indicate expertise. What
are they?

2. Why would Hector LeBaise probably not be considered a respected source of archaeology?

218 HUMANITIE S PART 2

 3. In what way is Theodore Garcia competent to speak about ancient

PART 2
CULTURE NOTE
Greek life? Many English words derive
He’s a linguist who can read ancient Greek from the religious beliefs of
ancient cultures, including
those of the Greeks, Romans,
4. In what way is Garcia less competent than Elaine Moore in speaking and Norse (the inhabitants
about ancient Greek life? of present-day Scandinavia).
For example, the names of
He is not a fi eld archaeologist Roman gods give us January,
March, May, and June. Norse
mythology gives us the
words Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, and Friday. Other
5. What is the author’s attitude toward the expertise of Sir Beowulf Tate? English words derived from
Greek, Latin, and Norse
He is not an expert, just an unqualifi ed person with an interest in Greek history include bible, chaos, die,
hell, mortality, mercurial,
postmortem, and theology.

6. What indicator of expertise is shared by George Kristidis and Heather Parenti?

7. When the author mentions Tate in the last paragraph, he uses two adjectives to indicate that Tate
is not a great expert. What is one of them?

8. What does the author say in the last paragraph, however, that indicates Tate was not always
wrong?

Go to to complete a vocabulary exercise and skill practice, and to join in collaborative activities.

Synthesis of Information 219

 READING-WRITING CONNECTION
UNDERSTANDING AND USING DIRECT AND INDIRECT QUOTATIONS

WHY IT’S USEFUL By recognizing and evaluating how an author quotes other sources, both directly and
indirectly, you can add depth to your understanding of a reading. You not only appreciate the author’s
efforts to support his or her claims, but you also see how the author is trying to position his or her text
within a larger sphere of discourse. By understanding the way an author frames a quote, you can also
appreciate nuances of the author’s own stance and point of view.

The English physicist and mathematician Sir Isaac Newton once wrote, “If I have seen further, it is
because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.” This is a remarkable thing for him to say because very
few humans have shaped our knowledge of the physical universe as fundamentally as Newton. Yet, the
statement expresses his debt to the countless generations of explorers and thinkers who went before
him and whose accumulated wisdom made his own discoveries possible. This attitude also explains
something basic about academic writing and the authors who engage in it: Great value is placed on
knowing what other thinkers have said or written, and your own work gains credibility if you can
support it with quotations from other writers or researchers.
Notice that, even in describing the importance of quotations, we used a quotation. It is a direct
quotation because it reproduces Newton’s exact words, as indicated by the set of quotation marks
around part of the statement.
We also could have expressed it as an indirect quotation, a statement based on his words but not
reproducing them exactly (a kind of paraphrase):
Sir Isaac Newton once commented that, if he could see things that most people couldn’t, it was
because he was able to make use of the contributions of other great thinkers before him.
Another possibility is a hybrid statement, which is partly a direct quote and partly indirect:
Sir Isaac Newton once commented that if he “saw further” than most people, it was because
he “stood on the shoulders of giants.”
Direct, indirect, and hybrid quotes are all effective, and all have their place in academic pieces. Here are
some factors to note:
• Direct quotations are often preferred if the wording from a CULTURE NOTE
source is particularly clever or picturesque. This could be said of As prime minister of the UK,
Newton’s quote. The value of the statement is not just in what he Winston Churchill (1874–1965)
delivered what is perhaps one
said but in the way he said it. of the greatest expressions of
• This “clever or picturesque” point includes wording that creates defiance under pressure. Speaking
to the House of Commons in June
an allusion or a metaphor. Consider the passage by Winston 1940, a time when World War II
Churchill in the CULTURE NOTE. Not only does Churchill’s seemed to be going entirely the
Nazis’ way, he said, “We shall fight
clever phrasing, with its persistent rhythm, justify a direct on the beaches, we shall fight on
quote, but his mention of the “beaches” and “landing grounds” the landing grounds, we shall fight
in the fields and in the streets,
(an allusion to recent Nazi victories in France) and his choice of we shall fight in the hills; we shall
words—all of Old English descent except for “surrender”— also never surrender.”
strike a defiantly British tone that no paraphrase could equal.
• An indirect quotation may be preferred if the original is too long or not efficiently stated.
• A hybrid quotation may be preferred if part of the original is notably well stated, but the whole
quotation is either too long or not consistently well worded.
• Often quotations are extended—that is, referred to off and on throughout an entire paragraph or
even a set of paragraphs.
• Sometimes, a direct quotation is inset—printed with narrower margins than the text around
it—not printed within an ordinary text paragraph. If the quotation is inset, there are no quotation
marks around it. Typically authors inset a quotation if it is four lines long or longer.

220 HUMANITIE S PART 2

 PART 2
EXERCISE 3
A. Read the passage. Then read the questions on the following page and choose the best answers.

The Norse Underworld

1 Like the Greeks and Romans, the Norse of medieval northern Europe believed in an
1

underworld that awaited people after their death. 2However, as Professor Bjarni Gorlund puts it,
“Our knowledge of the Norse afterlife is a mere inch of thread compared to the elaborate Greek
and Roman shrouds we know.” 3These elaborate, well-documented, hero-populated underworlds
of the Mediterranean peoples—Gerda Rollins went so far as to call their highly organized strata
“rational”—are so fully realized that subsequent writers, viz. Dante Alighieri, could have characters
give tours of them. 4Karl Ramstad characterized the Norse underworld as a “dark basement,” which
we navigate “without much light from early commentators and certainly no floor plan.”
2 5Alva Ros Gunnarsdottir, of Iceland’s Poetic Trust, notes that the few sources we do have that
describe the underworld in Norse mythology—primarily the Poetic Edda, the Prose Edda, and
the Eglis Saga of Iceland—are of relatively late provenance. 6Gunnarsdottir doesn’t take at face
value the claims these sources make—including the unknown author of the Eglis Saga—about
being based on earlier works, and indeed she notes that they date from the post-mythological age.
7Snorri Sturluson is the primary authorial suspect in the literary “whodunnit” surrounding those

specifically named works, at least Gunnarsdottir believes so—and Sturluson was writing in the
13th century, after the Norse had been Christianized.
3 8Perhaps because a long-prevailing metaphor in English situates the punitive afterlife in hell,
which is reflexively understood as being “down,” we have given too little attention to directionality
in both the Mediterranean and Norse mythic cosmologies. 9As Gorlund puts it:
10The dead are buried. 11Downward, below the surface that the living inhabit, is

perhaps the most intuitive location for a land of the dead. 12Since we can only access
the depths of the Earth through fearsome places like caves or craters, the entrance to a
subterranean underworld—if one ever saw it—would probably be a frightening place,
and construing it as guarded by a wizened gatekeeper or a vicious beast seems almost
rational, at least according to the spirit-besotted worlds in which ancients lived.
4 13 Gunnarsdottir has attempted to draw a trail map of the three possible destinations for the soul.
The English word hell derives from the name of one Norse destination of the dead—Helheim, ruled
by the goddess Hel. 14Gunnarsdottir cautions that Norse sources are unclear and contradictory, but
Helheim was not a place of suffering. 15“It wasn’t an especially distinguished place,” she says. “It
was really a bland default position.” 16Valhalla, perhaps the best known postmortem destination
in Norse mythology, was supposedly a gathering place of heroes, chosen by supernatural beings
called the Valkyries—although many heroes apparently were not chosen and wound up elsewhere.
17 Finally, Gunnarsdottir mentions Folkvangr (“Field of the People”), ruled by the goddess Freyja.

18This was another pleasant but unexciting destination—at least as far as one can gather from what

Gunnarsdottir calls “a mythical canon that really needed an editor.”

The sources and source quotations in this passage are fictional.

Synthesis of Information 221

 1. Which sentence contains a direct, non-hybrid quotation?
a. Sentence 1
b. Sentence 2
c. Sentence 3
d. Sentence 4
2. Which person is NOT quoted (directly or indirectly) in the first paragraph?
a. Bjarni Gorlund
b. Gerda Rollins
c. Dante Alighieri
d. Karl Ramstad
3. Which is used in a metaphor in the quotation in Sentence 2?
a. War
b. A journey
c. Cloth
d. A celebration
4. Which does the pronoun she in Sentence 6 refer to?
a. Gunnarsdottir
b. Eglis Saga
c. “unknown author”
d. Snorri Sturluson
5. Which statements are true of Sentences 10 to 12? Choose TWO.
a. They are a direct quotation.
b. They contain thoughts by Gunnarsdottir.
c. They show how Norse myths differ from Roman or Greek.
d. They are inset because they form a quotation more than four lines long.
e. They are an extended quotation that’s part direct and part indirect.
6. In this reading, there is one extended quotation. Which source is quoted (both directly and
indirectly in the same paragraph) in this extended quotation?
a. Gorlund
b. Ramstad
c. Sturluson
d. Gunnarsdottir

222 HUMANITIE S PART 2

 PART 2
B. Read the article. Notice the various quotations—direct, indirect, and hybrid—within the article.

Virgil as the Guide of Dante

1 The focus on theological matters in Dante provide marginal ecclesiastical immunity at best.
Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy may seem, at “No serious Church censor would be deterred by
first glance, to be representative of the archaic such weak tea,” as Cardinal Avery Billinks puts it.
belief system of the late Middle Ages, complete Most scholars agree that the connection Dante
with blazing inferno and eternal damnation. has with Virgil goes far beyond geographic ties to
However, Dante’s influential text also focuses the homeland of the Latin poet.
on individuality, earthly happiness, and classical 3 Dante wrote The Divine Comedy in the
scholarship, which cemented the epic poem's 13th century after he had been exiled from his
place in the foundation of neoclassical humanism. native Florence for political reasons. He completed
Dante wrote in Italian, the common language of the poem shortly before his death at age 56,
the people, rather than in Latin, so that anyone never having returned to his home. His work
could read his work. He also revealed a deep is both fictional and autobiographical; Dante
admiration for Roman and Greek classics, which simultaneously authors the book and becomes
was a key component of Renaissance thought. the main character in his epic journey through the
“Within his writing about the depths of hell,” underworld, purgatory, and paradise. He begins
says Benjamin Cook, professor of medieval his poem with a famous line that reveals a depth
literature and culture at Mid-Coast College, “Dante of despair, possibly referring to the author’s inner
plants a seed that blossoms into the medieval psychological struggle as well as to his character’s
Renaissance” (Ultra Praescriptum 2015). What journey through the underworld:
immediately lifts Dante’s work out of the realm of Midway upon the journey of our life
simple espousal of medieval beliefs, Cook claims, I found myself within a forest dark,
is the man who Dante chose for his guide at the For the straightforward pathway had
beginning of his narrative: Virgil, the celebrated been lost.
Augustan poet of the pre-Christendom Roman
It is just after this passage that Dante meets
Empire, and a pagan in the eyes of the medieval
Virgil, who becomes his guide, his protector,
church. In this essay, we will examine why Dante
and his father figure as he passes through hell
chose Virgil as his guide and what ramifications
and purgatory. Dante makes the reader aware of
this choice had for the development of thought in
Virgil’s presence in the story when he rhetorically
medieval Europe.
asks if the character he sees is indeed Virgil, and
2 The Divine Comedy has long posed this
clues the reader in to the greatness of the Roman
question for scholars: Why did Dante choose
poet. Dante refers to Virgil as a fountain, and
Virgil? Dante did not choose a religious
poetically states that a river of speech flows from
character from the Bible, nor did he choose an
the ancient poet. Dante makes his partnership
anthropomorphized virtue, such as “Faith,” to
with Virgil in the following stanzas, and names him
lead his character, as English author John Bunyan
as his muse:
later did in The Pilgrim’s Progress. Rather, Dante
chose Virgil, “the pagan,” to lead him through Thou art my master, and my author thou,
hell and purgatory. Some scholars, such as Thou art alone the one from whom I took
Marguerite Spellman, professor of literature at The beautiful style that has done honor
the University of Reinsdorf (South Africa), have to me.
argued that Dante chose Virgil because Virgil’s The praise Dante bestows on Virgil shows
epic poem the Aeneid is about the founding of the Dante’s great respect for the Roman poet’s
city of Rome, “a worthy topic” because it is the writing.
precursor to the Holy Roman Empire of Dante’s 4 Dante’s epic poem then follows in the
time. However, that seems a stretch, and it would footsteps of Virgil in more ways than one,
Continued
Synthesis of Information 223
 according
di to C Cook.
k There
Th is
i the
h metaphorical
h i l a cruell operation,
i the
h ripping
i i up off old ld
following, in which Virgil guides Dante through griefs, and the venturing again upon the
the darkness of the underworld, and there is the ‘infandum dolorem’ of years, in which the
literal pattern in literature, in which Dante follows stars of this lower heaven were one by
Virgil by emulating his epic poem about a journey one going out?
to an underworld. Cook, speculating on how Dante “Infandum dolorem” (unspeakable pain) is a
viewed his work, writes that the poet saw The direct quote from the Aeneid, used by Newman
Divine Comedy “first and foremost as his literary in depicting the difficulties of his own spiritual
masterpiece” and believed it would become a journey. Spellman noticed Newman’s affinity for
classic in the annals of literature. “By choosing his Virgil despite the extreme orthodoxy of his time,
most-admired author,” Cook notes, “Dante draws and she finds it striking that even in Newman’s
attention to the literary nature of his work.” Just as Victorian milieu, perhaps less experimental than
he described Aeneas’s geographical meanderings other periods of Christian history, Virgil is an
in the Aeneid, Virgil explains the various acceptable intellectual trailblazer.
topographical features of hell, even offering details 6 This glimpse into Dante’s admiration for the
of where various rivers originate. Dante offers classics foretells the neoclassical revival of the
lavish praise to Virgil and goes on later in the book Renaissance and, as we see from Newman,
to offer similar praise to all his favorite classical sets a sturdy precedent. The medieval church
authors, whom he meets in the underworld. He ruled over civic matters as well as “matters of
imagines himself as a similar, celebrated author in faith and morals”—as the Church’s First Vatican
the following stanzas: Council would put it in 1870, during the height of
And more of honour still, much more, they Newman’s career—and it did not stress liberal
did to me, education. Dante, who believed the Church
In that they made me one of their own band; should focus solely on spiritual matters and
So that the sixth was I, ‘mid so much wit. leave civic rule to the government, longed for a
The other great minds, according to Dante, were different, reawakened society, as Cook notes in
Horace, Ovid, Lucan, and Homer. He travels for a Ultra Praescriptum. “It is not difficult to imagine
short while with the other classical poets and sees Dante, the exile, longing for a society like that of
many other important figures from ancient Greece ancient Rome or Greece, which placed a priority on
and Rome, including Hector and Aeneas, Socrates scholarship,” Cook writes. Dante’s work sparked
and Plato, and Euclid and Ptolemy. Cook suggests an interest in the Roman and Greek classics,
that it is in these stanzas that Dante helps the which went on to inspire a revival in classical
reader understand the importance that studying education, especially after the classics were
the classics had to him. reprinted and made widely available through the
5 Dante’s bold choice of the secular Virgil as a invention of the printing press in the 15th century.
guide has more modern reverberations as well. From the study of these classics, Cook maintains,
The revered (and officially “Blessed,” according to the humanist philosophy of the Renaissance
the Roman Catholic Church) John Henry Newman emerged from the shadows of Church strictures
echoed Virgil when he wrote, in his Apologia because Dante, and a few others of his ilk,
promoted the belief that moral and ethical issues
who can afford to be leisurely and
are a matter for civil society.
deliberate, while he practises on himself

Aside from excerpts from Dante’s The Divine Comedy and Newman’s Apologia, the sources and source quotations in this pas-
sage are fictional.

224 HUMANITIE S PART 2

 PART 2
C. Read the questions and choose the best answers.
1. Which idea is expressed in a direct quotation in Paragraph 1?
a. Dante meant his work to be understandable by the average person.
b. Dante’s tale of the underworld led to the development of the Renaissance.
c. Choosing Virgil as his guide is what truly distinguishes Dante’s work.
d. Virgil was a pagan, and as such was not able to enter the realm Christians knew as “hell.”
2. In Paragraph 2, the author preserves the source’s own words by using a direct quote, which
contains a metaphor. What is that metaphor?
a. That a concept like faith can be spoken of as a person.
b. That when Dante had Virgil speak of “hell,” he meant it to be a reference to the city of Rome.
c. That a certain idea is so unimpressive that it is like drinking something tasteless.
d. That Virgil’s lack of Christian belief made him like one of the people suffering in hell.
3. In Paragraph 3, the author directly quotes Dante twice. What do the two quotes have in common?
Choose TWO.
a. Both are inset.
b. Both are hybrids.
c. Both are explained by the author in the sentence before the quote.
d. Both are introduced by verbs showing that something is in dispute.
e. Both involve the voice of Dante speaking to Virgil.
4. Which paragraph involves an extended quote from a single scholarly source?
a. Paragraph 3
b. Paragraph 4
c. Paragraph 5
d. Paragraph 6
5. According to Paragraph 5, what evidence is given that John Henry Newman appreciated Virgil as
an intellectual forebear?
a. Newman quotes a Latin phrase from Virgil.
b. Newman is considered “Blessed” by the Catholic Church.
c. Newman caught the attention of Marguerite Spellman.
d. Newman was writing during the strict Victorian Era.
6. Which of these ideas are ascribed to Cook in Paragraph 6? Choose TWO.
a. The Church before the Renaissance got too involved in the affairs of civic life.
b. Dante probably wished he had lived in earlier times when learning was more widely
respected.
c. Dante’s use of Virgil, a figure from classical times, helped usher in the Renaissance.
d. Newman showed that references to classical figures was a strong technique, usable in nearly
any era.

Synthesis of Information 225

 TIP
Usage Notes The verb an author uses to introduce a direct or indirect quotation indicates a lot about the author’s views of the
source, what the source said, and how the source said it.
The Source Is . . . Example
saying something neutral, believable, or say, write, note, mention, point out, comment, observe, remark, put
moderate: it, call, characterize
conveying something new or not commonly said: propose, posit, postulate, put forth, suggest, reveal, announce
engaged in an issue that many others are also add, agree, disagree, answer, admit, deny complain, repeat, confirm
commenting on:
saying something that others might dispute: claim, argue, insist, maintain, aver

D. Based on sources and information in “Virgil as the Guide of Dante,” create direct, indirect, and
hybrid quotes. Follow the prompts. (For ideas, see the TIP: Usage Notes, above.)
1. Neutral, hybrid quote: Marguerite Spellman calls Rome “the central actor of an entire millennium”
and says that the city defined life even for peoples who had never heard of it.

2. Neutral, direct quote:

3. New information, direct quote:

4. Information others are commenting on, indirect quote:

5. New information, extended quote, partly direct and partly indirect:

6. Neutral, hybrid quote:

7. New information, hybrid quote:

Go to to complete a vocabulary exercise and skill practice, and to join in collaborative activities.

For more about QUOTATIONS, see ECONOMICS 2 .

226 HUMANITIE S PART 2
 PART 2
LANGUAGE SKILL
APPRECIATING HEDGING

WHY IT’S USEFUL Recognizing hedging language will enable you to understand when a writer is
attempting to sound reasonable, strike a moderate tone, or avoid unsupportable extremes, all through
the use of cautious language.

Hedging is cautious, vague, or noncommittal language used intentionally by authors in academic

writing. It includes language like modal verbs, adjectives of probability, and phrases for generalization,
and is employed for several reasons. Identifying hedging language is important because while some
may assume that academic writing is wholly based on facts, researchers often have to take a subjective
position on a “fact” or a result and the level of certainty they have about the statements they are
making.
One reason that a writer might hedge is to express a certain level of precision when presenting
information, data, or results of a study. For example, the first sentence—which includes hedging
language with the words Based on the evidence and likely—is much more precise than the second
sentence:
Based on the evidence from our study, it is likely that the Greek text was written
by a prominent scholar of ancient times
Our study demonstrates that the Greek text was written by a prominent scholar
of ancient times.
In the first sentence, the writer is being as specific as possible in order to demonstrate the source of the
information—the evidence from their study. The writer is also using an adverb that indicates a level of
bias and impreciseness (likely) to demonstrate that the conclusion was interpreted by the writer, rather
than proven by the evidence. The second sentence, on the other hand, leaves a reader wondering how the
author drew this conclusion, as it lacks the source that led the writer to the conclusion. It also conveys a
level of certainty with the word demonstrates, which does not accurately capture the level of (un)certainty
the author actually has about the conclusion.
Another reason authors hedge is to indicate to readers that while they are confident about the validity of
their statements, they recognize that other writers also have valuable information to contribute on the
same topic. It also helps them to appear willing to accept other viewpoints and to demonstrate that they
do not believe that they possess all knowledge that exists about a given topic.
Writers also may use hedging language in an attempt to decrease the likelihood of other authors arguing
with or disputing the information they are writing about.

Hedging Language Example

Modal verbs can, may, might, could, should, would Art pieces described in Virgil’s the
Aeneid may represent art that actually
existed during his time.
Verbs appear, seem, estimate, tend, suggest, Some scholars argue that Dante and
indicating assume, speculate, propose, argue, Virgil placed souls in given rings of hell
tentativeness postulate, claim in order to make political points.
or evaluation
Some nouns possibility, estimate, assumption, The possibility exists that the Greeks
suggestion, likelihood viewed the aerlife as something
significantly more dreadful than the
Romans did.

Continued

Synthesis of Information 227

 Hedging Language Example
Some adverbs perhaps, likely / unlikely, Perhaps art as depicted by Homer was
possibly, apparently, presumably, nothing more than a figment of his
approximately, occasionally, imagination.
somewhat, usually, roughly, frequently,
generally, conceivably, necessarily
Adjectives of possible, probably, unlikely It is possible that the first instance of
probability ekphrastic poetry was in Homer’s epic
the Odyssey.
Phrases It is my view that, We believe that, We believe that there is little
introducing To my knowledge evidence that ancient Romans and
an author's Greeks practiced human sacrifice.
position on a
topic
Compound seems likely, may suggest, could It seems likely that heroic burial
hedges assume customs existed, as they were recorded
in the Iliad.
Phrases of based on, on the basis of, according to, Based on University of Sedona’s
attribution on the evidence of, in the words of classicist Wei Chen Liu’s examination of
the aesthetics of Achilles’s shield, it is a
characterization of everyday life of the
aristocracy in ancient Greece.
Language for mainly, usually, primarily, largely, The underworld in Norse mythology
generalization generally, predominantly, for the is primarily based on the Poetic Edda,
most part, to a great extent, most, the Prose Edda, and the Eglis Saga of
the majority of, except for, with the Iceland.
exception of, apart from

Language that writers typically avoid when they are attempting to be cautious in their communication
of information includes the following: undoubtedly, without a doubt, there is no doubt that, clearly, obviously,
definitely, certainly, absolutely, always, never, all, every. This is due to the fact that this language expresses
complete certainly, thus leaving no room for error or alternative viewpoints.

EXERCISE 4
A. The following are excerpts from readings in this unit. What hedging language do you see? Identify
the words and phrases that hedge and underline them.
1. Virgil’s hero Aeneas, like Homer’s Odysseus, descends into the underworld to interact with the deceased,
but Virgil’s portrayal is that the honor due to Aeneas vastly outweighs whatever the reader may owe
Odysseus.
2. Different scholars have speculated on various intentions Homer may have had for writing the passage,
from simply recording what life looked like during his time to using the beauty of the passage to deepen
the scope of the great tragedy about to occur in the poem.
3. Further, many fine art examples described in the text, such as the famous shield of Achilles, likely
did not exist.
4. Tate stumbled across various animal bones interred alongside human remains in graves in both Cyprus
and Attica—graves that predate the Trojan War across the seas—which has led scholars such as George
Kristidis of the Athenian Academy to reluctantly acknowledge a possible connection between the
cremation passages in the Iliad and burial customs in ancient Greece.
5. The Greeks, especially by the mid-8th century bce, believed that the soul of one unburied would continue
to trouble the living, according to Moore.

228 HUMANITIE S PART 2

 6. Romans and many medieval Europeans, on the other hand, largely considered the aerlife a place divided

PART 2
according to a person’s behavior in life.
7. Homer’s epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey give vivid descriptions of textiles, decorative battle gear,
and architectural elements that should be considered in art history as an authentic depiction of art
objects of great importance.
8. Odysseus heroically longs for his land and his love, and the reader can more easily empathize with him
than with the somewhat pompous Roman poetic hero.
B. The information in the following sentences is stated in an overly confident manner. Identify the
excessively confident language and then replace it with hedging language. It may be necessary to
change word order or grammar. The sentences you write should express the same information as
the original sentences but with lesser degrees of certainty.
1. Ancient Greek artifacts depicted in the Odyssey and the Aeneid were certainly real artistic pieces
that existed at the time the epics were written.

2. Ancient Greeks undoubtedly practiced cremation before the Trojan War.

3. It is obvious that Dante wrote in Italian—the common language of the people—rather than in
Latin so that his work could be understood by everyone.

4. Dante clearly chose Virgil to be his guide because of Virgil's reputation as a pagan in the eyes of the
medieval church.

5. Every scholar disagrees about the authenticity of the art pieces described by Homer and Virgil.

6. Dante’s The Divine Comedy is absolutely a literary masterpiece of ancient times.

Go to to complete a skill practice.

Synthesis of Information 229

 APPLY YOUR SKILLS
WHY IT’S USEFUL By applying the skills you have learned in this unit, you can successfully read this
thought-provoking text and learn what a hero’s journey entails.

BEFORE YOU READ

A. Discuss these questions with one or more students.
1. Think of a heroic character from a modern book or movie. What type of journey does he or she
take to become a hero? Is it linear, or are there many incremental tests and triumphs along the way?
2. Do you think that most hero stories follow a pattern similar to the example you gave in
Question 1? Why or why not, and what do you think the reason for this is?
3. What do you think makes people relate to stories about heroes even if, on the surface, they seem to
have nothing in common with a heroic character?
B. Imagine that you will be participating in a small group discussion about the passage “The Hero’s
Journey,” which begins on the next page. Your group will be discussing the following questions. Keep
these questions in mind as you read the passage.
1. What is a monomyth, and what are some of its key features?
2. Why are hero stories so easy for average people to identify with, regardless of the culture from
which they come?
3. What is a “collective unconscious,” and how does it relate to hero stories?
4. What do ancient stories of hero journeys like the Odyssey have in common with more
contemporary works, such as Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter?
5. Do readers or viewers have to be able to relate to the time period in which a hero’s tale takes place
in order to form a connection with the tale? Why or why not?
C. Review the Unit Skills Summary. As you read the passage, apply the skills you learned in this unit.

UNIT SKILLS SUMMARY

Synthesize information from several sources.
• Put together ideas and perspectives from several different sources.
Understand multiple perspectives.
• Recognize how sources agree, disagree, add to one another, and update one another.
Evaluate the credibility and motives of sources.
• Learn to better judge which sources’ perspectives are more convincing than others.
Use and understand direct and indirect quotations.
• Understand the author's efforts to support claims and try to recognize the author's attempt to position
ideas within a larger sphere of discourse.
Appreciate hedging.
• Appreciate and recognize the author’s rhetorical strategies to sound reasonable, strike a moderate tone,
avoid unsupportable extremes, and avoid or minimize possible points of controversy.

230 HUMANITIE S PART 2

 PART 2
READ
A. Read the passage. Annotate and take notes as necessary.

The Hero’s Journey ancient world, the story of the Sumerian

goddess Inanna’s descent and journey through
the underworld, where the goddess is forced to
1 At first glance, an ancient epic poem like the undergo trials that eventually lead to her death
Odyssey may seem wholly disconnected from and rebirth. Ancient myths portray learning
21st century life and the modern student. as a journey, Fields writes, and journeys to
However, the text quickly reveals familiar knowledge are part of the human experience.
experiences, including a call to a quest, a yearning This is why the modern reader may still find a
for a homeland, a seemingly insurmountable connection to Inanna’s ancient journey. Fields
challenge, and a heroic emergence from trials notes that the repetition of the themes in other
as a wiser and stronger individual. This pattern, stories support the theory. Epic poems from
known as the “hero’s journey,” is found in many the Greeks, the Romans, medieval authors,
stories in different cultures, from ancient epic and many others contain the same prevailing
poetry to modern popular fiction. Researchers theme of a journey to the underworld and the
refer to the concept as a “monomyth” and undertaking of physical and psychological trials
argue that this archetypal story arises from the along the way. Modern tales contain similar
inherent human need for understanding and components as well, which we will see later in
growth through quests for knowledge. this essay in a discussion of 20th and 21st century
2 The hero’s journey archetype contains hero quests.
several identifiable stages. There is a call,
motivated by either internal longing or external CULTURE NOTE
pressure, for the hero to leave his common The first person to write of the phenomenon of the monomyth
was American researcher Joseph Campbell, who studied
world and join a quest, which is followed in the myths from around the globe and identified familiar patterns,
narrative by a reluctance to answer the call. or archetypes, that transcend time and culture. Campbell’s
book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, published in 1949,
The hero, male or female (but typically male), is was popularized in the 1970s and is still studied today in
persuaded to leave and shortly thereafter finds comparative mythology, literature, film, and religion courses.
Campbell argues in his work that the human consciousness
a mentor. At this point in the narrative, the naturally creates characters who undergo similar journeys.
hero generally meets trials, tests of endurance, Campbell names each stage of the journey of the hero in his
chapters, beginning with the departure, then the initiation,
and enemies. This individual then undergoes and finally the return of the hero and the keys, or the reward,
a major struggle, either external or internal, that the hero earns through his journey. Subsequent writers,
scholars, and filmmakers termed this particular pattern “the
from which he emerges victorious with an hero’s journey,” and a great deal of popular fiction, including
earned reward. Following the reward, the hero Star Wars, follows this archetypal story.
attempts to complete the journey and must
sacrifice something—often his own life—in 4 Fields claims that the hero’s journey
order to be reborn with a sort of healing power. emerges in every culture because the stories
The last stage, the apotheosis, is when the hero and the trials the characters undergo are a
experiences self-realization, gained through representation of the knowledge growth and
battling his foe. character development that occur in our own
3 Gareth Fields, professor of cognitive life stories. This is why we empathize with
psychology and author of The Hero’s Journey Homer’s character Odysseus as he plummets to
in the Modern Mind, postulates that the hero’s literal and metaphorical darkness when facing
journey emerges from the human desire to the underworld, where he must journey to
use an external struggle—a story—to mirror find his way home. The hero Frodo from J.R.R.
psychological difficulties that people must Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings captures a reader’s
overcome. This hero narrative is evident in heart, as well, Fields says, because “individuals
one of the first recorded myths found in the easily identify with the despair of dealing with
Continued

Synthesis of Information 231

 difficulties and the longing for order and peace in Bolster Magazine, other tales of heroes who
in the world.” Frodo and his fellow travelers follow the same hero’s journey archetype do not
eventually bring about the destruction of the necessarily suffer the same fate. Inez’s work,
ring, supposedly ridding the world of evil forces, though it appears in a popular source rather
though the effort nearly destroys him. Like than a scholarly source, makes valid points that
Odysseus, Frodo must overcome his trial before are relevant to the discussion, particularly in
emerging with the strength necessary to restore the context of pointing out how modern hero
order to his homeland. Fields argues that these journeys resemble ancient texts. Citing heroes
two examples, among many, are common and from Frodo and Harry Potter to Luke Skywalker
popular in lore because they mirror the way in and Neo ( The Matrix), Inez shows that their
which humans must prevail over hardship and success as characters lies in their quests and
grow into their potential. in an audience’s desire to see them achieve
5 While Fields focuses on the draw that myths self-realization through perseverance. Their
have because of the way they inspire character glory, unlike Odysseus’s, is something not just
growth and help individuals face psychological understood, but celebrated. The tale of author
hurdles, Thaddeus Burns, professor of archaic J.K. Rowling’s hero, Harry Potter, is a “dyed-in-
and classical Greek civilization, looks more the-wool” example of the hero’s journey, Inez
closely at the monomyth concept and how writes. The wild success of the story, despite the
humans use the template of myth to express character living in a magical world completely
common yearning. Burns addresses how the unlike the real world, is rooted in the main
theories of analytical psychologist Carl Jung character’s journey. Like Odysseus, Harry is
influenced the development of the idea of an called to a quest. During the quest, he gains a
archetypal story, in particular Jung’s theory of mentor, grows through trials, and eventually
the collective unconsciousness. The collective conquers evil through special powers he wins
unconscious is, according to Burns, a shared through sacrifice.
structure of archetypes found in the human 7 Even nonreaders cannot avoid the hero’s
unconscious mind. It is part of the foundation journey, Inez claims, and that is in no small part
of the hero’s journey archetype and the reason due to Star Wars. Theaters in 2016 opened to a
myths transcend culture and history. It is from film that continues one of the classic journeys of
this collective unconscious that humans draw a hero—that of Luke Skywalker. Skywalker fits
common themes. Burns argues that the story all the tropes of a classic hero, complete with his
of the Odyssey—as well as other epic poems call to the quest, his sacrifice, and his choice to
that imitate it—uses common tropes to provoke die—or sacrifice himself—instead of succumb
feelings of triumph, despair, and glory that bring to evil. Skywalker’s journey culminates with
about an individual’s awareness of the self, which victory and the salvation of his people. What
Burns refers to as knowledge acquisition. the story means to viewers, however, represents
6 While the Odyssey may not fall into the “much more than just cute Ewoks and victory
category of “pleasure reading” for the average over the Emperor,” says Inez. “It appeals to the
student of the mid-2010s, as Boudicca Inez human yearning for personal growth through a
so poignantly expresses in her recent article quest.” Jung would likely agree.

The sources and source quotations in this passage are fictional.

B. Reread the questions in Before You Read, Part B. Is there anything you cannot answer? What reading
skills can you use to help you find the answers?

Go to to read the passage again and answer critical thinking questions.

232 HUMANITIE S PART 2

 PART 2
THINKING CRITICALLY
Follow these steps:
1. Consider the seven stages of a hero’s journey:
1 A call to a journey or quest 5 An internal or external struggle
2 Reluctance to answer the call 6 A sacrifice in order to complete the journey
3 Persuasion of hero and meeting with mentor 7 Victory
4 The encountering of tests, trials, or enemies
2. Then choose the main character (Frodo, Harry Potter, Luke Skywalker, or Neo) from one of the works
you just read about OR the main character of a book or movie of your choice.
3. Try to identify each of the seven steps in your chosen character’s journey. What occurs in each of
these stages? You may have to do some research if you do not know or cannot recall the events of each
stage. If any of the stages do not exist, what do you think is the reason for this?

THINKING VISUALLY
You have learned that the collective unconscious is a shared structure of archetypes found in the
human unconscious mind and is part of the foundation of the hero’s journey.
1. Study the chart, which features archetypes suggested by June Singer, a psychologist and analyst of
Carl Jung’s work. Do some quick Internet searches to find out the meanings of unfamiliar words or
concepts in the chart. You will note that each row presents a pair of opposites (e.g., the Great Mother
is the opposite of the Terrible Mother.)
2. Now think of literary and film characters you know well. Which archetypes from the chart do you
think these characters represent? Think of specific examples of scenes in which these archetypes
manifest themselves. Add their names to the chart. How do these archetypes contribute to the “hero’s
journey” of this character? Share your chart with another student.

Characteristic Examples from Film and Literature Characteristic

Ego Shadow

Great Mother Terrible Mother

Old Wise Man Trickster

Time Eternity

Light Darkness

Synthesis of Information 233

 THINKING ABOUT LANGUAGE
Read these excerpts from “The Hero’s Journey.” What hedging language do you see? Identify the words
and phrases and write them on the line. Then rewrite the original sentence, replacing the hedging
language with a hedging word or phrase that is similar in meaning.
1. At first glance, an ancient epic poem like the Odyssey may seem wholly disconnected from 21st century life
and the modern student.

Words / Phrases:
Rewritten sentence(s):

2. Researchers refer to the concept as a “monomyth” and argue that this archetypal story arises from the
inherent human need for understanding and growth through quests for knowledge.

Words / Phrases:
Rewritten sentence(s):

3. At this point in the narrative, the hero generally meets trials, tests of endurance, and enemies.
Words / Phrases:
Rewritten sentence(s):

4. Gareth Fields, professor of cognitive psychology and author of The Hero’s Journey in the Modern Mind,
postulates that the hero’s journey emerges from the human desire to use an external struggle—a story—to
mirror psychological difficulties that people must overcome.

Words / Phrases:
Rewritten sentence(s):

5. The collective unconscious is, according to Burns, a shared structure of archetypes found in the human
unconscious mind.

Words / Phrases:
Rewritten sentence(s):

234 HUMANITIE S PART 2

6. Burns argues that the story of the Odyssey—as well as other epic poems that imitate it—uses common

PART 2
tropes to provoke feelings of triumph, despair, and glory that bring about an individual’s awareness of the
self, which Burns refers to as knowledge acquisition.

Words / Phrases:
Rewritten sentence(s):

7. While the Odyssey may not fall into the category of “pleasure reading” for the average student of the mid-
2010s, as Boudicca Inez so poignantly expresses in her recent article in Bolster Magazine, other tales of heroes
who follow the same hero’s journey archetype do not necessarily suffer the same fate.

Words / Phrases:
Rewritten sentence(s):

8. Even nonreaders cannot avoid the hero’s journey, Inez claims, and that is in no small part due to
Star Wars.

Words / Phrases:
Rewritten sentence(s):

9. Jung would likely agree.

Words / Phrases:
Rewritten sentence(s):

Go to to listen to Professor Harrison and to complete a self-assessment.

Synthesis of Information 235