FIRST, read my Guidelines for Effective Writing. 

You may take one of the following two approaches, using any of the narratives we have read as your sources:
    A. You may choose a single mythic narrative, and analyze the story based on your understanding of the points it is intended to make (about, e.g., the nature of the physical world or society, the standards of right and wrong, the way people worship or practice asceticism).  Be clear about what sort of interpretive strategy you are using: What is the symbolism of the characters and events of the story?  What message is the story meant to convey to its audience?  Why is it presented the way we find it?  It is especially important to pay attention to details that seem surprising or incongruous to you.  What does the story tell us about the social and religious outlook of its tellers?  What are their assumptions about human nature and the proper relationships between people?
    B. Alternatively, you may compare two or more variant narratives on the same theme.  (O'Flaherty often provides them side by side, but you can find them dispersed in the book as well.)  Here, the focus should be on the structure of the narrative, paying special attention to differences between versions.  Lévi-Strauss emphasized that mythic structures are directly comparable with one another; the meaningful differences between versions are at the structural level (wording alone is not as important; thus myth does not lose as much in translation as, say, poetry).  But the structure is communicated in words, so pay close attention to even small details.
    In both cases, resist the impulse simply to retell the story.  You may allude to events in the narrative as you discuss them, but the aim is to do more than clarify the order of events.  You should begin by outlining the issues you plan to address, and then maintain that format for presenting your argument.  What is the central conflict or scenario?  What is its cause or background?  Who is involved, and what is their broader importance? (or: What do they symbolize?)  What is necessary before the situation can be resolved in the story?  Why do things come out as they do?

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