| 1 | Introduction | |
| 2 | Culture, Sign and Symbol | Response essay, on Susan Sontag's Illness as Metaphor (2 pages) due in class |
| 3 | Discuss Illness as Metaphor | |
| 4 | Metaphor and Other Tropes | |
| 5 | More Tropes | |
| 6 | Interpreting Metaphor | |
| 7 | Metaphorical Imperialism | |
| 8 | Animals | |
| 9 | Animals and Classification | Trope Quick-pick (1 page) due |
| 10 | Roosters and Interpretation | |
| 11 | The Human Body | |
| 12 | More Bodies | |
| 13 | Classification and Cosmology | Essay with rewrite due |
| 14 | Ritual | |
| 15 | Passage and Persuasion | |
| 16 | Ritual and Power | |
| 17 | Magic and Ritual Curing | Tropes field assignment (3-4 pages) due |
| 18 | Narrative and Life | |
| 19 | Narrative and Control | |
| 20 | Folktale and Form | Second field assignment (3-4 pages) due |
| 21 | Little Red Riding Hood and the Freudian Wolf | |
| 22 | Goldilocks Meets Oedipus | Essay on Narrative (3 pages) due |
| 23 | Hyenas and Demon Brides | |
| 24 | Jaguars, Vampires, and Starlets | Proppian Analysis of Narrative (3 pages) due |
| 25 | Movies on Myth | |
| 26 | Wrap up | Structural Myth Analysis Sketch (2 pages) due |