Write an essay about the depiction of an internal battle of self-definition

Several of the texts we have studied this semester have suggested that the conflicts or battles
that people experience within their hearts or minds are at least as important as the external battles
they fight or competitions they experience in coming to understand their true identity. We could
therefore read these texts as explorations of how a person’s self-image or identity involves an on-
going struggle that also plays out in the conflicts or community a person has with others, whether
individuals or groups. Write an essay about the depiction of an internal battle of self-definition
experienced by a person or persons in two of the following works (only one can be a lyric poem):
“The Song of Louis,” “My Heart is in the East,” “In Wintertime,” “Song of Palestine,” Yvain,
Parzival, or The Romance of Silence. How does each text reveal the person’s internal battle?
What steps does each text depict the person taking that lead to resolution in the internal battle,
whether through external battles or finding ways to make “peace” with external opponents or
categories of identity imposed by society? How does each text suggest that the internal battle is
part of the person’s education in understanding human identity or the ideals of the person’s
community? How does each text’s depiction of the person’s internal battle suggest the author’s concern with broader issues of human identity or the relationships of people in “different”
communities?