2. Essay: Consider these two course objectives, which are found in the course syllabus. The student will: Understand cultural, ethnic and national differences through reading literature Will understand cultural, ethnic and national similarities through reading literature I believe that a lot of learning has occurred in this of course, both on your part and on my part. So I'm more interested in you telling me what you've learned, rather than asking questions on this exam that require you to demonstrate your learning. Then, go back through the course and compose a page on what you learned about each of these course objectives. For the first objective of the course, through the different lessons of the course, I learned that not all cultures are the same or have the same values. In older European countries, when the Brothers Grimm collected and told stories, society was patriarchal, which is also reflected in fairy tales. The girls are passive, damsels in distress, who cannot save themselves but must wait for the man to help them. However, in several tales such as Tatterhood, created later, women have been given more power and are active. Also, another big difference between different cultures (American vs. Jewish, Mexican, African, Islamic) is the ending. American stories, like other fairy tales, always have a happy ending, while Islamic and Jewish stories differ from that in that they do not have a “happy ending.” Native American fairy tales along with Aboriginal fairy tales were unique stories that delineated cultures that not everyone had been exposed to. Each of these cultures were similar in the sense that they focused on the love of nature… middle of paper… You deserve an excellent grade for your writing. Develop your answers accordingly. Requests? please ask. This course is not a course you don't need to put effort into. It is time consuming and requires a lot of reading. One of the tips I would give to future students is time management. Always plan ahead and make sure to read all assigned readings to better understand what the question is really about. Additionally, this course is not a course where you regurgitate facts, it is instead a course that provokes your thinking and forces you to think outside the box. Each of the questions allows you to really dig deep into the stories and find similarities and differences between cultures. Another piece of advice I would give to future students is to ask questions when they don't understand the material because by asking you can learn.