Mostly Illiterate - Unit 5: Cultural Ownership and Storytelling

Central Questions

What are universal themes in storytelling that extend beyond race, culture, and time period?

How does cultural ownership shape who gets to tell stories, and who gets to claim them?

How can engaging with both classical and diverse texts expand our understanding of shared human experiences?

Who gets to claim ownership of classic texts? Should they still be read and studied today? Which ones and for what purpose?

Unit Overview

This unit challenges students to examine cultural ownership in literature and storytelling, questioning who stories belong to, how they evolve across cultures, and their relevance today. By studying diverse texts, students will analyze how literature shapes collective identity and representation. Rather than viewing classical texts as inaccessible, this unit encourages students—especially those from diverse backgrounds—to claim ownership of these narratives, exploring adaptations and reinterpretations across cultures. Emphasizing universal themes like heroism, love, and justice, students will critically assess how literature can both reinforce and challenge dominant narratives, ultimately considering how stories define who we are and who has the right to tell them.

Suggested Unit Length

4-6 weeks

Suggested Vocabulary

Cultural Ownership

Myth & Legend

The Hero’s Journey

Adaptation & Transformation

Tragic Hero vs. Epic Hero

Fate vs. Free Will

Power & Agency

Representation in Classical Texts

Narrative Structure

Ethnic Studies Targets

(4) Developing a better understanding of others – Examining how different cultures adapt and reinterpret classical narratives.

(5) Recognizing intersectionality – Analyzing how race, gender, and cultural identity influence the retelling of stories.

(6) Promoting self-empowerment for civic engagement – Encouraging students to claim ownership over texts that have historically been seen as "untouchable" or "elite."

(7) Supporting a community focus – Discussing shared cultural myths and how they shape society’s collective memory.

English Standards (Targeted)

Reading Standards

RL.9-10.1 – Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly and implicitly.

RL.9-10.2 – Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text.

RL.9-10.9 – Analyze how an author draws on and transforms source material in a specific work (e.g., West Side Story and Romeo and Juliet).

Writing Standards

W.9-10.2 – Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas.

Speaking and Listening Standards

L.9-10.4 – Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings.

Text Bank

Classic Texts

The Odyssey (Homer) – The epic journey, heroism, fate vs. free will

Romeo and Juliet (William Shakespeare) – Love, fate, power structures, impulsivity, tragedy

Plato’s "Allegory of the Cave" – Perception vs. reality, enlightenment, knowledge and power

Julius Caesar (William Shakespeare) – Betrayal, power, fate, and rhetoric

Paired Adaptations & Juxtapositions

West Side Story (Film & Script) – Modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet with themes of race, cultural conflict, and agency

O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Film) – A modern Southern reimagining of The Odyssey

Circe (Madeline Miller) – A feminist retelling of The Odyssey, centering on Circe’s perspective

The Penelopiad (Margaret Atwood) – The Odyssey retold from Penelope’s point of view, deconstructing the epic hero’s legacy

These Violent Delights (Chloe Gong) – A Romeo and Juliet-inspired novel set in 1920s Shanghai

Supplemental Shorter Texts & Poetry

"Ozymandias" (Percy Bysshe Shelley) – The impermanence of power and legacy

"Still I Rise" (Maya Angelou) – A response to oppression, connects to themes of fate and resilience

"The Second Coming" (W.B. Yeats) – Chaos, fate, and shifting power structures

"Invictus" (William Ernest Henley) – Defying fate and maintaining personal agency

Excerpts from The Hero with a Thousand Faces (Joseph Campbell) – The Hero’s Journey framework, connecting mythology to modern storytelling

"Dulce et Decorum Est" (Wilfred Owen) – War, deception, and questioning the heroic narrative

"Sonnet 116" (William Shakespeare) – A reflection on love, endurance, and time.

Nonfiction & Articles

"Why Read Shakespeare?" (Michael Mack) – The relevance of Shakespeare today

Excerpts from Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (Yuval Noah Harari) – How storytelling defines human history

"What Makes a Hero?" (TED-Ed Video by Matthew Winkler) – Understanding The Hero’s Journey

"The Power of Myth" (Joseph Campbell & Bill Moyers Interview) – Discussing mythology’s place in shaping culture

Assessment Bank

Comparative Essay – Analyzing how a modern adaptation (West Side Story, Circe, or O Brother, Where Art Thou?) transforms the source material.

Thematic Analysis – Writing about fate, power, or cultural ownership in a classical text.

Creative Retelling – Students rewrite a scene from a classical text in a modern context.

Hero’s Journey Project – Mapping a literary character (or a real-life figure) onto Campbell’s Hero’s Journey model.

Socratic Seminar – Debating whether classical texts should remain central in education, considering issues of representation and accessibility.