ELA 8: Timeless Narratives of the First Nations and Greek Peoples

ELA 8:  Timeless Narratives of the First Nations and Greek Peoples

Every culture has its stories. Long ago, before people invented writing, stories about important beliefs, deities, heroes, and experiences were told and retold. The best of these were passed by word-of-mouth from one generation to the next to form an important part of our heritage. Some early stories were told in the form of poems, others in the form of songs, and others in the form of what we now call tales or narratives.

 Each of these stories has something important to tell and teach us. The main characters challenge us to explore the complexity and fragility of being human. They force us to examine our relationships with others and our environment, our many faces of virtue and our human failings. They force us to relate the values, behaviours, and attitudes of the characters in the narrative to our own personalities and our own lives. Many of the stories are tales that give us a window into the values, beliefs, and practices of people past and present.

 These narratives not only teach and entertain but also make us think about the big questions regarding human nature and the meaning of life that have confronted humankind through the ages.