Read this student essay written about greek mythology.
1. greek mythology, though ancient, has a long-reaching influence upon modern life. 2. the us space program, for instance, is called apollo, after the god who never missed a target and who ruled light. 3. titanium, an elemental metal, is named after the titans, who were locked far under the ground. 4. even video games include characters such as icarus and kratos.

where should the quotation below be placed to further develop the paragraph?
one greek scholar states, “the influence of the olympians on everyday culture is equal to that of shakespeare and the bible” (thomas 87).
before sentence 1
before sentence 2
before sentence 3
before sentence 4

before sentence 2.

The quote cannot be used in the first sentence of the essay. The first sentence in this essay is the topic sentence, and the topic sentence is not the correct place for a quotation. Sentences 2, 3, and 4 all contain examples of how Greek mythology has influenced modern life. The sentence with the quotation should not split up these examples. The only correct place is for the quotation to come after the topic sentence to further develop the idea that the influence is far reaching.

"why don't you like me the way i am? " i cried. "i'm not a genius! i can't play the piano, and even if i could, i wouldn't go on tv if you paid me a million dollars! "

explanation:

the conflict between jing-mei and her mother is over jing-mei's piano lessons since her mother wants her to become a prodigy but she does not want to play it any more.

agamemnon was the leader of the greek troops in the trojan wars and orestes was his son. when agamemnon returned from the war, he was murdered by his wife's lover in conjunction with his wife. orestes could not stop them but he seeked vengeance for his father. after a long time, he found them and avenged his father while killing them. he killed his mother, but greek mythology claims that his act was just and he was spared the remorse and the guilt. there are a lot of similarities with the ulysses/telemachus father son pair. ulysses was also one of the leaders of the excursion to troy. he still has not returned home, but in a sense the suitors of penelope are marring his estate and his reputation. while penelope is faithful to ulysses, the suitors by taking hold of the palace and committing their shameful acts are dishonoring ulysses. in the same context, telemachus is asked just like orestes to restitution his father's honor, regardless of whether he is alive or dead. athena is him and encouraging him with this example and he himself feels the need to save his father