Student Special #5

In this episode I feature projects completed by Comparative Literature 2800 students Shan Rabbi, Rigi Geci, and Johanna Gustafsson. Shan’s project compares the Tortoise from Aesop’s fable, “The Tortoise and the Hare” to the anime character Naruto. In particular he focuses on how these characters challenge expectations by achieving goals that are deemed impossible and overcoming criticism from those around them. Johanna and Rigi focus on the Prologue from “The Thousand and One Nights” and consider the consequences that women face (compared to that of men) when they are unfaithful. They look at how female characters’ lives change in the face of infidelity in this text as well as in two separate Netflix television series: Dark Desire and Sex Life. Both projects address texts from distinct cultures from different historical periods. These students were able to draw parallels with contemporary works in order to demonstrate the relevance of these works in our society today.