Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What is the difference between a symbol and an allegory? Can you give examples of these devices from sources you have read, watched, or listened to?

Teaching Suggestion: The Adventures of Ulysses contains examples of both symbolism and allegory. An understanding of these techniques is important to comprehension of the text beyond its surface-level adventure story. The intent of this question is to evaluate students’ prior knowledge and the degree to which they are struggling to differentiate between these two devices, if at all. Once you are satisfied that students understand the basic definitions of these terms, you might ask them to explain the relationship between the two techniques: Are all symbols allegorical? Are all allegories symbolic?

• This 4-minute video from Oregon State University explains the use of allegory in literature.
• This 5-minute video from Oregon State University explains the use of symbolism in literature.

2. In ancient Greek literature, even great heroes have flaws that they must overcome.