The Monkey King Unit
Part A: Favorites
Handsome King of the Apes
From a high rock in the Great Sea, a stone ape is hatched from an egg. The Lord of the Heavens, frightened by the sudden golden radiance that emanates from the ape's eyes, sends two gods to see what has happened. They report that a stone ape has been born by magic and need not be feared. The stone ape grows up among the other apes and one day they decide that whichever ape can get through a waterfall which sits high up on a mountain without getting hurt will be the king. The stone ape, of course is able to do such, leaping in and out of the waterfall and showing the others what he finds behind the fall. He is appointed king, with other monkeys as his attendants.
The Great Sea
The Monkey King is distressed by the imminence of death and despairs to his subjects. An older ape tells the King that there exist three beings that can escape death: the Buddhas, Blessed Spirits, and gods. The King asks where these beings can be found and the old ape tells him at the tops of the highest mountain and goes out to seek their knowledge. While he is searching, he happens to hear a man singing in the woods...This reminds me very much of the Tales of Buddha in that the despair of death and suffering leads the king on a quest.
Sun Wu Kung Gets His Name
The singing belongs to a woodcutter, who the Monkey King mistakes for a saint. The woodcutter tells the King where he can find the actual saint. The Saint welcomes the Monkey King into his home and makes the King his student, giving him the name Sun Wu Kung. But the Monkey King has trouble leaving off his wild nature and is reproached by the master.
The Master
I found this story pretty funny. The Master inquires of the Monkey King what he wishes to learn. Sun Wu Kung declines to learn about anything that will not earn him eternal life. The Master, apparently, becomes frustrated with the King and strikes him over the head 3 times before withdrawing to his own quarters. We learn, however, that the Master was only pretending to be angry and is giving Sun Wu Kung a coded message. The message is that the Monkey King must meet the Master in secret and then will he be given the Great Truth. Sun Wu Kung picks up on the message immediately showing that the Monkey King does possess wisdom even though he is portrayed rather comically at times.
Learning the Art
The Master is impressed with the Monkey King's perception of his message and decides to reveal to him the incantation that would allow him to concentrate his powers. The Monkey King masters this art after a relatively short time, but the Master reveals that while he is seeking truth and knowledge, the Monkey King will be in danger of three beings. In order to protect himself, the Monkey King must learn the incantation that will allow him to transform himself 72 times - it does not state why there is a limit on the number of times he can transform, maybe that will come into play in a later story. Soon the Monkey King masters this art as well and is able to fly up to the clouds and walk on them. I think this may be a metaphor for the elevated level and truth and knowledge that the Monkey King now possesses that is far above the heads of all, including his very own teacher.
Sun Wu Kung Departs
I feel that this story may be foreshadowing what will become of the Monkey King and his "monkey-mindedness." Sun Wu is talking with the other disciples of his Master teacher and tells them that he can change his shape to whatever he wishes. The disciples demand a demonstration, telling the Monkey King to transform himself into a pine tree. Eager to impress the other disciples, Sun Wu obliges, despite the fact that the secret to his transformation is supposed to remain just that - secret. When the Master happens upon the display, he is angry and reprimands the Monkey King, demanding that he leave and tell no one who his teacher was. If he tells, the Master threatens, he will have his soul locked up in the deepest part of hell. Sadly, the Monkey King swears not to tell a soul and departs from the company of the Master and his disciples. I believe with near certainty, simply based on the character that has been revealed thus far, that Sun Wu Kung will be unable to keep this promise and will suffer consequences.
The Devil-King
This story was a little strange, but probably my favorite so far. When Sun Wu Kung returns home, he is greeted by his apes who tell him that not long ago a Devil-King arrived and tried to take their home by force. They were able to fight him off, but he carried away many of their children and was expected to return. Sun Wu is outraged and flies off to the north where this Devil-King is said to live. He demands to see the Devil-King who scoffs at his seemingly unimpressive appearance. The Devil-King is huge and clad in black armor, but he is clumsy and so Sun Wu Kung is able to fight him. This is where things begin to get a little strange. During the fight, Sun Wu pulls a hair from his body, chews it up and spits it out, and commands it to transform into hundreds of small apes that can fight the Devil-King. He does this with all 84,000 of the hairs on his body, thus demonstrating the power he has learned from the Master. After the Devil-King is defeated, Sun Wu releases the apes that had been prisoners and returns home in a cloud of triumph with the Devil-King's knife as a trophy.
The Nether World
After finally obtaining a weapon worthy to protect his family and his home from the Dragon-King - a long powerful rod that grows and shrinks as commanded - the Monkey King falls into a sleep. He dreams that he is led down to the Nether World. He is furious because he has learned from the Master how Death can be conquered. He demands of the princes of Death to see the book of life where he finds his own date of mortality. He strikes his name and the entire ape family from the book, so that they will now be immortal. When he wakes up, all that he has done in his dream takes effect, and none of the apes ever die.
Part B: Favorites
The Lord of the Heavens
The Lord of the Heavens, Jade Emperor, receives complaints about the Monkey king from both the Dragon King and the princes of Death. Everyone in Heaven seems to want to punish Sun Wu but the Evening Star alone speaks on his behalf, saying that he has attained truth and knowledge and should be forgiven his sins. Then, the Evening Star is sent down to retrieve the Monkey King and bring him up to Heaven so that he might be given a charge. He is placed in charge of the heavenly stables, albeit with some misgivings from those in Heaven whom he immediately offends, but nonetheless, he excels at his charge.
The Great Saint
Once again it is demonstrated that Hubris is not a strictly Greek vice, because this is where the Monkey King begins to get himself into serious trouble. He discovers, at the feast in his honor that his title of stablemaster is not one of great honor. He is furious and decides to go back down to earth to reign as a true king, forcing his way out of Heaven using his magic rod. When he arrives back at his mountain, his apes tell him that he has been gone for ten years (he thought he had only been gone a few days). Monkey King decides that he is better suited to live on earth and decides that he should henceforth be known as The Great Saint Who is Heaven's Equal.
Notscha, Son of Li Dsing
The Lord of the Heavens is concerned by the Monkey King's abrupt exist and sends a party to capture Sun Wu and imprison him. Among this party is Notscha, the third son of the Lord of the Heavens. He is a great warrior, but even he is no match for the clever trickery of the arrogant Monkey King. Once again, the Evening Star intercedes on behalf of Sun Wu and proposes that Sun Wu be given an empty title in order to appease the Monkey King's ego but not give him any real power. He is officially given the title the Great Saint Who is Heaven's Equal, which is, apparently, a very high title. The fact that the Monkey King blindly accepts the title without questioning its charge or real meaning show that, for all his cleverness, his arrogance leads him repeatedly to foolish acts and decisions.
The Queen Mother of the West
Per his chargeless title, the Great Saint spends a great deal of time loafing around and doing as he pleases. The Lord of the Heavens begins to worry that with such idleness mischief was sure to ensue (as they say, the idle mind is the devil's playground). He decides to give the Great Saint a seemingly small charge - guarding the sacred life-giving peaches of the Queen-Mother. The Great Saint accepts this charge with great enthusiasm and it seems that all will go well, that is, until he discovers the power of the sacred fruit he is to protect. One group has the power to give great health, another prevents the consumer from aging, and still another group gives everlasting life. The Great Saint eats to his hearts content. Meanwhile, the Queen-Mother is preparing for the banquet and sends her fairies to collect the fruit in baskets. They discover that much of the fruit is missing.
Laotzse
This story provides really the straw (or series of straws) that broke the camel's back, if you will, in terms of the patience of the Lord of the Heavens for the Monkey King. His true selfish nature is revealed once and for all. From the fairies, the Great Saint learns of the banquet (to which he was not invited) and freezes them where they are so they are unable to tell anyone anything. Through a series of deceptive acts and trickery, the Great Saint manages to divert a god from the banquet, get himself drunk on the sacred nectar of the Heaven, and consume a great deal of life giving pills from the sage Laotzse. Feeling that he has gone maybe just a little too far this time, the Monkey King decides to returen to earth once and for all. For a moment, I feel that he may feel remorse for what he has done, however, he then steals more nectar from its storehouse to take to his ape children proving that he is not sorry for what he has done, but worried that he will be caught.
Yang Oerlang
So the Lord of the Heaven's is reasonably furious about the entire situation and considers how this rogue ape might be stopped. His daughter suggests that he send his grandson, Yang Oerlang, to defeat the Monkey King. They are pretty evenly matched, both can shift shapes, both are strong, and both possess special weapons. So they fall into a battle - one of strength, wit, and wills. Neither can seem to outdo the other.
The Destiny of Sun Wu Kung
After enlisting the help of Buddha to help subdue the out of control Monkey King, those in the Heavens manage to temporarily trap the Monkey King. Once he escapes the Buddha calmly approaches the Monkey King and tells him of his desire to tame the ape. Sun Wu is that anyone try to tame someone as powerful as he. Buddha says that if he is so powerful, Sun Wu should be able to leave Buddha's hand - if he does so, Buddha will beg for pardon of the Lord of the Heavens and if not, we will have to yield to Buddha. The Monkey King somersaults and somersaults until he believes he has reached the edge of the earth. He writes his name so that he can prove that he has been there and then returns to Buddha, feeling triumphant. However, Buddha reveals that what Sun Wu thought was the edge of the earth was really Buddha's middle finger. So Sun Wu has lost and is captured under a mountain for hundreds of years. Once he is reformed, he becomes an assistant to a Monk and is then know as the Wanderer. On his head, he wears a golden circlet that the Monk has the power to tighten if Sun Wu disobeys, but it is, apparently, rarely needed. Maybe the Monkey King has learned after all.
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Monday, September 29, 2014
Week 6: Famous Last Words - The Storyteller
Oh my goodness, where is the semester going? Is it really almost time for week 7?! There seriously needs to be a day in between Saturday and Sunday because by the time I get to Saturday evening I feel a little bit like this:
It's been really interesting to read stories and posts from other people in the class and get ideas for my own writing style. This week, I've been working on writing from the third-person storyteller perspective. I used this method in both my storytelling for this week and in my first story for my storybook. It's pretty different from how I usually write, but I feel that it can add another dimension to a story. It's different from the third-person omniscient perspective in that the reader receives some commentary about the events occurring in the story rather than just the events themselves. Sure this commentary could be biased, and the narrator is less reliable than an omniscient narrator, but I think that the commentary provided has the ability to provide analysis about important themes within the story or novel. One of the greatest examples I can think of where this proves true is in one of my all-time favorite novels, The Great Gatsby. Literary critics have called Nick an unreliable narrator, but I don't believe the readers would have been able to grasp the tragic beauty or the "greatness" of the character Gatsby if he were described by a more removed voice.
I can't in anyway say that I've achieved anything close to Fitzgerald level commentary with the use of the storyteller perspective - I should be so lucky as to even offer a fraction of a fraction of the skilled literary analysis he provides with Gatsby - but I hope with practice, I could use this style of writing to provide deeper insight into my own writing.
Homer's Scream (image source:BlogSpot)
But I must persevere.It's been really interesting to read stories and posts from other people in the class and get ideas for my own writing style. This week, I've been working on writing from the third-person storyteller perspective. I used this method in both my storytelling for this week and in my first story for my storybook. It's pretty different from how I usually write, but I feel that it can add another dimension to a story. It's different from the third-person omniscient perspective in that the reader receives some commentary about the events occurring in the story rather than just the events themselves. Sure this commentary could be biased, and the narrator is less reliable than an omniscient narrator, but I think that the commentary provided has the ability to provide analysis about important themes within the story or novel. One of the greatest examples I can think of where this proves true is in one of my all-time favorite novels, The Great Gatsby. Literary critics have called Nick an unreliable narrator, but I don't believe the readers would have been able to grasp the tragic beauty or the "greatness" of the character Gatsby if he were described by a more removed voice.
I can't in anyway say that I've achieved anything close to Fitzgerald level commentary with the use of the storyteller perspective - I should be so lucky as to even offer a fraction of a fraction of the skilled literary analysis he provides with Gatsby - but I hope with practice, I could use this style of writing to provide deeper insight into my own writing.
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Week 6: Essay - The Trickster/Fool
Studying recurring archetypes in literature has always been a source of great interest to me such that I frequently find myself trying to identify the different archetypal roles in whatever I am reading. The West African Folktales unit provides a rather elegant example of the archetypal "trickster" in the character Anansi, also called "Spider." In this case, the role of trickster in in conjunction with the role of "the fool". These archetypes can and do exist separately in many examples of literature, but I believe the roles to be more impactful and significant when used together due to both the paradox the roles create and to the two-fold lessons one is able to derive from the single character. The significance of these two aspects of the Trickster/Fool role is illustrated throughout the stories involving the character Anansi.
The Trickster/Fool (image source: Smith Music Online)
Anansi is a recurring character throughout the West African Folktales. He is the classic fool, constantly getting himself into comical predicaments which often result both he and the reader/listener learning a lesson of some sort. What is different, however, about the character Anansi's role as the fool is that he is repeatedly described as crafty or clever, which is a distinct trait of the archetypal trickster. Herein lies the paradox the merging of these two roles creates: how can anyone be a clever fool? To answer this, one must consider what it means to be a fool. When first brought to mind, the personified fool resembles something of a court jester (see above picture), or maybe a child with a dunce cap on his head. The term fool is often associated with lack of intelligence or sense, but it is certainly true that a so called intelligent person can make a foolish decision or act in a foolish manner. And if that person continues to conduct himself in said manner, he runs the risk of being labeled a fool, despite his above average intelligence. All this to say that a fool can be anyone who not only does foolish things repeatedly, but seems not to learn from the consequences of foolish behavior. One will observe time and time again how Anansi's greed or jealousy lead him into some convoluted plot that, in a sort of dramatic irony, the reader can be sure will lead to ruin, simply based upon the outcome of other stories. This impending sense of doom seems to elude Anansi no matter how many times his world is brought down around his ears, and he presses on with whatever clever trickery he has devised to get himself ahead in a particular story. One knows exactly what to expect from Anansi, and that is because he refuses to learn from his past mistakes.
One can derive some important lessons from the double faceted archetype that is the Trickster/Fool, especially from one such as Anansi. First, it is immediately apparent that one does not need to lack intelligence to be a fool. This is clearly evidenced by the ever crafty Anansi frequently falling into sticky situations. To see clearly the second lesson one can learn from a character such as Anansi, one must delve a little bit into what exactly makes a character like Anansi tick. Why, exactly, does Anansi never seem to learn from his mistakes? If there is one thing the reader learns quickly about Anansi is that he is a very prideful character. The first story in the unit, How We Got the Name "Spider Tales", talks about how Anansi thought that the stories of the land should be named after him rather than after a god. In Greco-Roman Mythology, this would be referred to as hubris or excessive pride that, more often than not, leads to untold misery. Anansi's excessive pride prevents him from correcting his faults because in his head, he does not have any faults. It is generally accepted that only the extremely arrogant and/or foolish truly believe that they are free from faults or vices. The lesson the reader learns from this portrayal of the Trickster/Fool is one that warns against arrogance and pride. It is not a bad thing to take pride in oneself as a person or be proud of one's accomplishments, but when pride begins to distort reality and promote delusions of grandeur, it becomes reminiscent to hubris, and any Greek tragedy will explain why that is an extreme detriment.
I believe that the use of the trickster or the fool in any sort of storytelling serves the purpose of teaching the reader/listener a lesson. Separately, the roles of both the trickster and the fool teach their own lessons, but when combined, the lesson these roles teach is two-fold and the way the two roles contradict one another is central and significant to the overall purpose of this role in a story.
I believe that the use of the trickster or the fool in any sort of storytelling serves the purpose of teaching the reader/listener a lesson. Separately, the roles of both the trickster and the fool teach their own lessons, but when combined, the lesson these roles teach is two-fold and the way the two roles contradict one another is central and significant to the overall purpose of this role in a story.
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Week 6: Reading Diary - West African Folktales
West African Folktales Part A: Favorites
How We Got the Name Spider Tales
I found this story interesting in that it appears that excessive pride does not seem to warrant the punishment it does in Mythology of other cultures. In this story, Spider, also called Anansi, decides that he wants all of the stories told to be about him rather than the god Nyankupon and Nyankupon agrees as long as Anansi can perform three tasks - produce a jar of live bees, a boa constrictor, and a tiger. Through cunning and trickery, Anansi is able to perform all of these tasks and so now the stories are called Anansi Tales.
How Wisdom became Property of the Human Race
This is another example of folklore in which the supreme being, in this case, Father Anansi, becomes angry with humanity and seeks to punish it. In this case, however, the attempt of the god is almost a comical failure. Anansi, as previously stated, has become angry with the human race and decides to take all the world's knowledge from them. He throws all the wisdom in a pot and attempts to climb a high tree to put the wisdom just out of reach to all but himself. However, as he is climbing the tree, with the way he has the pot situated upon himself - on his front - he is unable to climb. Anansi's son Kweku Tsin witnesses his father's struggle and suggests that Anansi place the pot on his back instead. Frustrated by his son's apparent possession of knowledge despite Anansi's attempt to hide it, Anansi throws the pot down onto the ground, releasing all the world's knowledge back to the human race.
Anansi and Nothing
This story made me chuckle to myself. Not because of the content - the story itself is a bit sad - but because it involves a play on words. Anansi and his rich friend Nothing decide to go get wives from a neighboring town. Anansi convinces Nothing to let him wear Nothing's fancy clothes in exchange for Anansi's threadbare ones so that when they get to town, Anansi takes several wives and Nothing is only able to procure one, and out of pity. However, upon returning to their homes, Anansi's wives are distressed to see the hovel in which they are to live, so Nothing's wife, feeling pity for her friends, invites all of Anansi's wives to live in her palace. When Anansi's wives refuse to return home, Anansi grows angry and plots to kill Nothing. When he does, Nothing's wife mourns for him and travels about sharing her suffering with the village children so that they may join her in mourning. This is why it is said that when a child is found crying, seemingly for no reason, that the child is "crying for nothing."
Thunder and Anansi
Anansi, for all his selfish and trickster ways, seems to learn a bit of a lesson in this story. He and his family are very much in want of food. He goes out in search of food and through a series of events finds himself at the hut of Thunder who lives in the sea. After hearing Anansi's sad tale, Thunder provides Anansi a pot with which will provide him and his family with plenty of food. Anansi selfishly decides to keep the pot and the food from his family. They eventually find out about it, however, with the help of Anansi's eldest son who follows Anansi around in the form of a fly. The family uses the pot to provide the whole town with a meal but the large order causes the pot to melt away. Anansi discovers this and, resolving to punish his family, returns to Thunder. Thunder listens to his tale and provides him with a stick that beats Anansi until he regrets not being wiser with his fortune in the first place.
Tit for Tat
This story contrasts all the good virtues and characteristics of Kweku Tsin with the faults and vices of his father, Anansi. During a famine, Kweku discovers a wood in which he can hunt animals and sell them in town. Anansi soon becomes jealous of his son's growing wealth and sets out to steal from him. Anansi discovers where his son has been hunting and drives Kweku out of the wood to take all the game for himself. Kweku, however devises a clever scheme to trick his father into giving the meat back by making Anansi think that he has angered the gods. Once the famine is over, Anansi is forced to acknowledge his son's virtues and wisdom and promises to give over his selfish, trickster ways. He will soon break this promise.
Why White Ants Always Harm Man's Property
*I am unsure if, when the story mentions Spider, it is referring to Anansi
Spider, in the midst of another famine, happens upon a dead antelope and decides to take it for himself, concealing it cleverly. Wolf and Leopard suspect that Spider is up to something and eventually succeed in tricking Spider into losing his prize. Spider is angry and strings up Wolf and Leopard. A group of white ants (termites) happen by and help the two down so the Wolf and Leopard invite the white ants to a feast. Well, Spider disguises he and his family as white ants and attend the feast. When the real ants show up, Wolf and Leopard assume that they are Spider's family in disguise so they pour boiling water on the ants killing them all except the father. In his anger at this betrayal, White Ant vows to never help man again and instead be known as a perfect pest.
Squirrel and Spider
Spider is hit with some major karma in this story. HE steals crops from a hardworking squirrel saying that because there is no road leading to the farm, the farm cannot possibly be his. But then the same thing happens to spider: his bundles of crop are stolen by a crow who claims that no one would leave bundles by the road so the bundles clearly belong to the crow. Maybe now we will see if Spider will begin to change his conniving ways...
Why We See Ants Carrying Bundles as Big as Themselves
I cannot quite tell reading these stories if these creatures are actually figured as the creatures they represent or if these are people that represent each creature. However in this story we see Anansi again with his son Kweku, who is the opposite of his father in terms of virtue. Anansi's greed gets the better of him once again and he ends up killing the King's favorite jesters in the pursuit of "more." So the King wraps up the body of the poor jester and makes Anansi carry it on his head and he must continue to do so unless someone takes the load from him. Anansi, crafty fellow that he is, convinces Mr. Ant to hold the body for just a moment and Anansi promises to return. Being Anansi, however, he does not return, and poor Mr. Ant is doomed to carry that huge bundle on top of his head forever.
Part B: Favorites
The Moon and Stars
This story does not emphasize the faults and poor characteristics of Anansi, but rather makes him part of a heroic tale. Anansi and his son Kweku are captured by a dragon and held captive in the dragon's lair with a group of other unfortunates who were also captured by the dragon. Kweku soon devises a plan for escape that involves the group making a rope ladder and throwing it up to heaven to out climb the dragon. The group also employs several tricks along the way that keep the dragon from ascending the ladder, one of which includes playing a magic violin so that the dragon will have to return to the ground to dance. When the group reaches the heavens, the gods are so pleased with Kweku that they make him the sun in the sky. Anansi is made the moon and their friends are made the stars.
The Hunter and the Tortoise
This story is actually meant to teach a lesson rather than entertain or provide an etiology. A hunter hears the beautiful song of a tortoise and asks the tortoise to come home with him so that the hunter may hear her song everyday. The tortoise agrees, as long as the hunter promises to keep the tortoise a secret. Not unpredictably, the hunter does not keep his promise and begins to brag about his singing tortoise, so much so that the ruler of the land hears of the tale. The ruler and his officials do not believe the hunter's story, but the hunter swears that he is telling the truth and that if he cannot prove himself, he may be killed. So he brings the tortoise before the court to sing, but the tortoise will not utter a word. The hunter is executed, per his agreement with the ruler, and only then does the tortoise speak saying that if the hunter had been content to keep the tortoise a secret, no ill would have befallen him.
The Leopard and the Ram
Another etiology, this story explains why rams are domesticated while leopards live in the wild. This is one of the more humorous stories in my opinion. In the story, through an odd turn of events, a ram and a leopard end up helping each other build the same house without either one of them realizing it. After they discover that they have both built the house, they decide to live together, becoming good friends. Both wonder at the other's keen hunting ability and sends his son to discover the secret of the other's hunting success. The leopard's son discovers that the ram backs up and runs its head into its prey and thus warns his father that if he ever sees the ram backing up, he should fear for his life. One day, the ram slips on the wet floor of the hut and slides backward. Remembering his son's warning, the leopard runs for his life into the woods never to return to civilization. This is why leopards live in the wild
The Elephant and the Wren
Ah, the reappearance of the trickster, Spider! Spider wins a contest, through cunning and trickery of course, in which he chops down a great tree. His prize is an elephant. Spider, showing his selfish character once again, decides that he does not want to have to share the elephant with his family. He decides to try to catch a wren and act as though that is all that he has procured for the day. He ties up his elephant and goes after the wren. He is unsuccessful in catching the wren, and then while he is trying to catch the bird, the elephant gets loose. Now he has absolutely nothing to show for the day, and both he and his family must go hungry for the day. Spider seems to not learn from his past experiences as he keeps running into similar outcomes in return for his deceit and coveting.
Why Tigers Never Attack Men Unless They are Provoked
I have to admit that this story made me feel a bit uncomfortable - I am terrified of both tigers and lions. I also thought that it was interesting to include in folktales from Africa tigers, which are not found in Africa. As the story goes, a man befriends a tiger and convinces the tiger to come live with him for a time. The tiger agrees despite apprehensions that the man's friends will try to kill the tiger. On his way to visit the man sometime later, the tiger is shot, but not killed, by some of the man's friends. Fearing that he had been betrayed by his friend, the tiger feigns death to gage the reaction of the man in order to determine whether or not the man had anything to do with the shooting. When the man discovers the apparently dead tiger, the man mourns the loss of his friend and determines to protect the tiger's body as well as the tiger's cub. Upon seeing this, the tiger tells the man that he will never attack any man unless he is first provoked.
How We Got the Name Spider Tales
I found this story interesting in that it appears that excessive pride does not seem to warrant the punishment it does in Mythology of other cultures. In this story, Spider, also called Anansi, decides that he wants all of the stories told to be about him rather than the god Nyankupon and Nyankupon agrees as long as Anansi can perform three tasks - produce a jar of live bees, a boa constrictor, and a tiger. Through cunning and trickery, Anansi is able to perform all of these tasks and so now the stories are called Anansi Tales.
How Wisdom became Property of the Human Race
This is another example of folklore in which the supreme being, in this case, Father Anansi, becomes angry with humanity and seeks to punish it. In this case, however, the attempt of the god is almost a comical failure. Anansi, as previously stated, has become angry with the human race and decides to take all the world's knowledge from them. He throws all the wisdom in a pot and attempts to climb a high tree to put the wisdom just out of reach to all but himself. However, as he is climbing the tree, with the way he has the pot situated upon himself - on his front - he is unable to climb. Anansi's son Kweku Tsin witnesses his father's struggle and suggests that Anansi place the pot on his back instead. Frustrated by his son's apparent possession of knowledge despite Anansi's attempt to hide it, Anansi throws the pot down onto the ground, releasing all the world's knowledge back to the human race.
Anansi and Nothing
This story made me chuckle to myself. Not because of the content - the story itself is a bit sad - but because it involves a play on words. Anansi and his rich friend Nothing decide to go get wives from a neighboring town. Anansi convinces Nothing to let him wear Nothing's fancy clothes in exchange for Anansi's threadbare ones so that when they get to town, Anansi takes several wives and Nothing is only able to procure one, and out of pity. However, upon returning to their homes, Anansi's wives are distressed to see the hovel in which they are to live, so Nothing's wife, feeling pity for her friends, invites all of Anansi's wives to live in her palace. When Anansi's wives refuse to return home, Anansi grows angry and plots to kill Nothing. When he does, Nothing's wife mourns for him and travels about sharing her suffering with the village children so that they may join her in mourning. This is why it is said that when a child is found crying, seemingly for no reason, that the child is "crying for nothing."
Thunder and Anansi
Anansi, for all his selfish and trickster ways, seems to learn a bit of a lesson in this story. He and his family are very much in want of food. He goes out in search of food and through a series of events finds himself at the hut of Thunder who lives in the sea. After hearing Anansi's sad tale, Thunder provides Anansi a pot with which will provide him and his family with plenty of food. Anansi selfishly decides to keep the pot and the food from his family. They eventually find out about it, however, with the help of Anansi's eldest son who follows Anansi around in the form of a fly. The family uses the pot to provide the whole town with a meal but the large order causes the pot to melt away. Anansi discovers this and, resolving to punish his family, returns to Thunder. Thunder listens to his tale and provides him with a stick that beats Anansi until he regrets not being wiser with his fortune in the first place.
Tit for Tat
This story contrasts all the good virtues and characteristics of Kweku Tsin with the faults and vices of his father, Anansi. During a famine, Kweku discovers a wood in which he can hunt animals and sell them in town. Anansi soon becomes jealous of his son's growing wealth and sets out to steal from him. Anansi discovers where his son has been hunting and drives Kweku out of the wood to take all the game for himself. Kweku, however devises a clever scheme to trick his father into giving the meat back by making Anansi think that he has angered the gods. Once the famine is over, Anansi is forced to acknowledge his son's virtues and wisdom and promises to give over his selfish, trickster ways. He will soon break this promise.
Why White Ants Always Harm Man's Property
*I am unsure if, when the story mentions Spider, it is referring to Anansi
Spider, in the midst of another famine, happens upon a dead antelope and decides to take it for himself, concealing it cleverly. Wolf and Leopard suspect that Spider is up to something and eventually succeed in tricking Spider into losing his prize. Spider is angry and strings up Wolf and Leopard. A group of white ants (termites) happen by and help the two down so the Wolf and Leopard invite the white ants to a feast. Well, Spider disguises he and his family as white ants and attend the feast. When the real ants show up, Wolf and Leopard assume that they are Spider's family in disguise so they pour boiling water on the ants killing them all except the father. In his anger at this betrayal, White Ant vows to never help man again and instead be known as a perfect pest.
Squirrel and Spider
Spider is hit with some major karma in this story. HE steals crops from a hardworking squirrel saying that because there is no road leading to the farm, the farm cannot possibly be his. But then the same thing happens to spider: his bundles of crop are stolen by a crow who claims that no one would leave bundles by the road so the bundles clearly belong to the crow. Maybe now we will see if Spider will begin to change his conniving ways...
Why We See Ants Carrying Bundles as Big as Themselves
I cannot quite tell reading these stories if these creatures are actually figured as the creatures they represent or if these are people that represent each creature. However in this story we see Anansi again with his son Kweku, who is the opposite of his father in terms of virtue. Anansi's greed gets the better of him once again and he ends up killing the King's favorite jesters in the pursuit of "more." So the King wraps up the body of the poor jester and makes Anansi carry it on his head and he must continue to do so unless someone takes the load from him. Anansi, crafty fellow that he is, convinces Mr. Ant to hold the body for just a moment and Anansi promises to return. Being Anansi, however, he does not return, and poor Mr. Ant is doomed to carry that huge bundle on top of his head forever.
Part B: Favorites
The Moon and Stars
This story does not emphasize the faults and poor characteristics of Anansi, but rather makes him part of a heroic tale. Anansi and his son Kweku are captured by a dragon and held captive in the dragon's lair with a group of other unfortunates who were also captured by the dragon. Kweku soon devises a plan for escape that involves the group making a rope ladder and throwing it up to heaven to out climb the dragon. The group also employs several tricks along the way that keep the dragon from ascending the ladder, one of which includes playing a magic violin so that the dragon will have to return to the ground to dance. When the group reaches the heavens, the gods are so pleased with Kweku that they make him the sun in the sky. Anansi is made the moon and their friends are made the stars.
The Hunter and the Tortoise
This story is actually meant to teach a lesson rather than entertain or provide an etiology. A hunter hears the beautiful song of a tortoise and asks the tortoise to come home with him so that the hunter may hear her song everyday. The tortoise agrees, as long as the hunter promises to keep the tortoise a secret. Not unpredictably, the hunter does not keep his promise and begins to brag about his singing tortoise, so much so that the ruler of the land hears of the tale. The ruler and his officials do not believe the hunter's story, but the hunter swears that he is telling the truth and that if he cannot prove himself, he may be killed. So he brings the tortoise before the court to sing, but the tortoise will not utter a word. The hunter is executed, per his agreement with the ruler, and only then does the tortoise speak saying that if the hunter had been content to keep the tortoise a secret, no ill would have befallen him.
The Leopard and the Ram
Another etiology, this story explains why rams are domesticated while leopards live in the wild. This is one of the more humorous stories in my opinion. In the story, through an odd turn of events, a ram and a leopard end up helping each other build the same house without either one of them realizing it. After they discover that they have both built the house, they decide to live together, becoming good friends. Both wonder at the other's keen hunting ability and sends his son to discover the secret of the other's hunting success. The leopard's son discovers that the ram backs up and runs its head into its prey and thus warns his father that if he ever sees the ram backing up, he should fear for his life. One day, the ram slips on the wet floor of the hut and slides backward. Remembering his son's warning, the leopard runs for his life into the woods never to return to civilization. This is why leopards live in the wild
The Elephant and the Wren
Ah, the reappearance of the trickster, Spider! Spider wins a contest, through cunning and trickery of course, in which he chops down a great tree. His prize is an elephant. Spider, showing his selfish character once again, decides that he does not want to have to share the elephant with his family. He decides to try to catch a wren and act as though that is all that he has procured for the day. He ties up his elephant and goes after the wren. He is unsuccessful in catching the wren, and then while he is trying to catch the bird, the elephant gets loose. Now he has absolutely nothing to show for the day, and both he and his family must go hungry for the day. Spider seems to not learn from his past experiences as he keeps running into similar outcomes in return for his deceit and coveting.
Why Tigers Never Attack Men Unless They are Provoked
I have to admit that this story made me feel a bit uncomfortable - I am terrified of both tigers and lions. I also thought that it was interesting to include in folktales from Africa tigers, which are not found in Africa. As the story goes, a man befriends a tiger and convinces the tiger to come live with him for a time. The tiger agrees despite apprehensions that the man's friends will try to kill the tiger. On his way to visit the man sometime later, the tiger is shot, but not killed, by some of the man's friends. Fearing that he had been betrayed by his friend, the tiger feigns death to gage the reaction of the man in order to determine whether or not the man had anything to do with the shooting. When the man discovers the apparently dead tiger, the man mourns the loss of his friend and determines to protect the tiger's body as well as the tiger's cub. Upon seeing this, the tiger tells the man that he will never attack any man unless he is first provoked.
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Week 5: Essay - Knowledge is Power
In the author's note for my story this week, I included a disclaimer noting that my story was not meant to be a social commentary or a criticism of the education system. While this is true, writing that story did lead me to begin thinking about the education is viewed in today's society. It has become apparent to me that educations is often viewed as a means to an end rather than an end in a of itself. What I mean by this is that we, as a society, do not learn for the sake of knowledge, but in order to get ahead. This is not to say that exceptions to my theory do not exist - they do exist and are numerous - however these people are just that, the exception, and the rule remains. The perception of education as a means to an end is detrimental for a number of reasons the main of which is that it trivializes the acquisition of knowledge.
In my story, I presented a rather dramatized scenario in which a teacher encounters a student that wishes to take initiative in his own education. I do not believe that all or even most teachers would respond so negatively to a student who showed such a keen interest in gaining knowledge - quite the opposite, fact. I believe that many teachers would be more than willing to facilitate the in depth study of particular subjects that interest students (though there are some who would not). The problem is that, with things like standardized tests, teachers are required to follow a rigid teaching plan that hits all of the points deemed important by the makers of these standardized tests. What the preparation for these tests teaches us, and from an early age, is that if you are not directly tested over a subject, knowledge of said subject is unimportant. I can't tell you how many times a I have heard a classmate ask a teacher during a lecture will this be on the exam? You can physically see the student's eyes glaze over and his mind begin to wander if the teacher dares to reply no. I won't deny that there are times that I won't even glance at a section in a book if a professor happens to let it slip that the content in that particular section will not appear on the test. Why should I waste my time? I think to myself. The real question I should be asking myself is why I would ever view learning of any sort as a waste of time.
My mother always complains that her high school education left her ill-prepared for college. She never learned how to study, she says, and when she did study, it was the night before the exam and she forgot everything she'd studied immediately after taking the exam. This is true for so many students, myself included. I can't tell you half the things I learned in my high school AP government class despite the fact that I passed the class with an A and scored well on the AP exam. This is a huge problem - not only are we qualifying the significance of knowledge based on whether or not it appears in the context of a test, but we aren't even remembering what we did learn. In essence we are merely regurgitating what we are told is important in exchange for a letter or score that we hope will help us succeed in life. I am not condemning the desire for academic success or the will to achieve - I too strive for good grades and high test scores - I am merely questioning what education might look like if approached from a different angle, from an angle that places knowledge itself above the quantification of said knowledge.
I don't have any studies or statistics to prove that education as an ends to a mean is detrimental to education itself. I can only speak from my own experience. In retrospect, I've had access to a plethora of fascinating subjects in my years in the education system, However, there is much of it that I was not able to appreciate because I was so concerned with discerning which information would benefit me most to study so that I could do well in the class. This, to me, is the saddest result of the perception of education as a means to an end - that we are constantly surrounded by knowledge, and the opportunity to absorb so much of it, but instead we focus our energy on weeding out the useless "fluff" in favor of the information we "need to know." Why not seek to know and understand everything rather than limit ourselves to what someone else has deemed as important? When we open ourselves up to the idea that all knowledge is worthwhile, then I believe we could begin to really explore just what all the mind can do.
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In my story, I presented a rather dramatized scenario in which a teacher encounters a student that wishes to take initiative in his own education. I do not believe that all or even most teachers would respond so negatively to a student who showed such a keen interest in gaining knowledge - quite the opposite, fact. I believe that many teachers would be more than willing to facilitate the in depth study of particular subjects that interest students (though there are some who would not). The problem is that, with things like standardized tests, teachers are required to follow a rigid teaching plan that hits all of the points deemed important by the makers of these standardized tests. What the preparation for these tests teaches us, and from an early age, is that if you are not directly tested over a subject, knowledge of said subject is unimportant. I can't tell you how many times a I have heard a classmate ask a teacher during a lecture will this be on the exam? You can physically see the student's eyes glaze over and his mind begin to wander if the teacher dares to reply no. I won't deny that there are times that I won't even glance at a section in a book if a professor happens to let it slip that the content in that particular section will not appear on the test. Why should I waste my time? I think to myself. The real question I should be asking myself is why I would ever view learning of any sort as a waste of time.
My mother always complains that her high school education left her ill-prepared for college. She never learned how to study, she says, and when she did study, it was the night before the exam and she forgot everything she'd studied immediately after taking the exam. This is true for so many students, myself included. I can't tell you half the things I learned in my high school AP government class despite the fact that I passed the class with an A and scored well on the AP exam. This is a huge problem - not only are we qualifying the significance of knowledge based on whether or not it appears in the context of a test, but we aren't even remembering what we did learn. In essence we are merely regurgitating what we are told is important in exchange for a letter or score that we hope will help us succeed in life. I am not condemning the desire for academic success or the will to achieve - I too strive for good grades and high test scores - I am merely questioning what education might look like if approached from a different angle, from an angle that places knowledge itself above the quantification of said knowledge.
I don't have any studies or statistics to prove that education as an ends to a mean is detrimental to education itself. I can only speak from my own experience. In retrospect, I've had access to a plethora of fascinating subjects in my years in the education system, However, there is much of it that I was not able to appreciate because I was so concerned with discerning which information would benefit me most to study so that I could do well in the class. This, to me, is the saddest result of the perception of education as a means to an end - that we are constantly surrounded by knowledge, and the opportunity to absorb so much of it, but instead we focus our energy on weeding out the useless "fluff" in favor of the information we "need to know." Why not seek to know and understand everything rather than limit ourselves to what someone else has deemed as important? When we open ourselves up to the idea that all knowledge is worthwhile, then I believe we could begin to really explore just what all the mind can do.
"Knowledge is Power!" - School House Rock (image source Wikipedia-School House Rock)
Week 5 Storytelling: Knowing Things
I've always felt like I was different from the other kids. I never watch cartoons. I don't understand why all the other kids find them so entertaining. If you dropped an anvil on a coyote's head, its skull would be crushed and it would die almost immediately - what is funny about that? I've also never had much interest in playing dress up or make-believe. If the whole point of life is to discover who you are, why would you want to waste time pretending to be something or someone you know you're not? It just doesn't make sense. To be completely honest, many of the mundane practices of my fellow third-graders seem nonsensical to me. I've explained to my parents dozens of times that I could learn more staying at home and reading books, teaching myself than I could ever learn in school. They insist, however, that, though they retain full confidence in my abilities and my affinity for academia, that I must attend school in order to be "adequately socialized." Their words, not mine. I told them that I knew that they just didn't want to be known as those people with that weird kid who's too smart for his age and doesn't have any friends. They didn't tell me I was wrong.
So I continue to go to school, against my will, mostly for the sake of my parents. Today, the teacher says that we are going to begin preparation for our big third grade standardized test at the end of the year. We begin with math. We are to know our times tables as well as be able to do long division with decimals. I quickly grow bored because I knew how to do long division in the first grade so I decide to try to expand my current knowledge. I inquire of teacher the theories and the history behind arithmetic as a subject - I'd heard it dated back to Ancient Egyptian civilization - but she merely looks slightly flustered and answers that I wouldn't need to know those things for the Big Test. Puzzled I reply:
"Yes I realize those things won't be on the test, but I would like to know."
"Why?" teacher asks, mystified.
"Because I like to know things," I say simply.
"Well," begins teacher, becoming slightly indignant, "at this time, we are going to focus on the things that will be on the Test. If you wish to 'know things' you may do so out in the hall where you will not disrupt your classmates who wish to well on this Test."
I rise from my desk, unfazed - this is not an unusual occurrence, teacher does not seem to particularly care for me - and exit the classroom deep in thought.
Is the concept of knowledge for the sake of knowledge so foreign? Must learning only be worthwhile if it can be quantified by a standardized test? I begin to realize how little learning is done just for the love of learning. My older sibling who are in high school are constantly talking about grades and scores and GPA and class rank. I don't think I've ever heard one of them talk in depth about anything they're actually learning in school. Well, I think, I certainly don't care for grades or test scores. I would just like to learn things. Things beyond "what will be on the test". With that, I walk down to the library, locate a book on Ancient Egyptian civilization, and sit down to read. I resolve to tell my parents that I will not be returning here tomorrow.
Author's Note: Disclaimer: this is NOT meant to be a commentary on academia or standardized testing. The original story from which my retelling derives, Arata Kalama, from the Buddha Unit, addresses the question of why we do certain things. In the story, Buddha questions the practices of the hermit Arata Kalama and his disciples which include denying themselves more than basic sustenance in order to achieve a great position in their next lives. Buddha views the cycle of rebirth as an undesirable curse, therefore to pursue actively is insanity. I chose to portray Buddha as a precocious third-grader because one of the attributes of children is to see things as they really are, just as Buddha did. I compared the cycle of barely living in hopes of desirable reincarnation to the process of striving for grades rather than knowledge because I believe that they are analogous in that in both situations, one is given a spectacular opportunity, but if too focused on the reward for one's labor, the ability of one to enjoy the experience is greatly diminished.
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So I continue to go to school, against my will, mostly for the sake of my parents. Today, the teacher says that we are going to begin preparation for our big third grade standardized test at the end of the year. We begin with math. We are to know our times tables as well as be able to do long division with decimals. I quickly grow bored because I knew how to do long division in the first grade so I decide to try to expand my current knowledge. I inquire of teacher the theories and the history behind arithmetic as a subject - I'd heard it dated back to Ancient Egyptian civilization - but she merely looks slightly flustered and answers that I wouldn't need to know those things for the Big Test. Puzzled I reply:
"Yes I realize those things won't be on the test, but I would like to know."
"Why?" teacher asks, mystified.
"Because I like to know things," I say simply.
"Well," begins teacher, becoming slightly indignant, "at this time, we are going to focus on the things that will be on the Test. If you wish to 'know things' you may do so out in the hall where you will not disrupt your classmates who wish to well on this Test."
I rise from my desk, unfazed - this is not an unusual occurrence, teacher does not seem to particularly care for me - and exit the classroom deep in thought.
Is the concept of knowledge for the sake of knowledge so foreign? Must learning only be worthwhile if it can be quantified by a standardized test? I begin to realize how little learning is done just for the love of learning. My older sibling who are in high school are constantly talking about grades and scores and GPA and class rank. I don't think I've ever heard one of them talk in depth about anything they're actually learning in school. Well, I think, I certainly don't care for grades or test scores. I would just like to learn things. Things beyond "what will be on the test". With that, I walk down to the library, locate a book on Ancient Egyptian civilization, and sit down to read. I resolve to tell my parents that I will not be returning here tomorrow.
Author's Note: Disclaimer: this is NOT meant to be a commentary on academia or standardized testing. The original story from which my retelling derives, Arata Kalama, from the Buddha Unit, addresses the question of why we do certain things. In the story, Buddha questions the practices of the hermit Arata Kalama and his disciples which include denying themselves more than basic sustenance in order to achieve a great position in their next lives. Buddha views the cycle of rebirth as an undesirable curse, therefore to pursue actively is insanity. I chose to portray Buddha as a precocious third-grader because one of the attributes of children is to see things as they really are, just as Buddha did. I compared the cycle of barely living in hopes of desirable reincarnation to the process of striving for grades rather than knowledge because I believe that they are analogous in that in both situations, one is given a spectacular opportunity, but if too focused on the reward for one's labor, the ability of one to enjoy the experience is greatly diminished.
Siddhartha - the Buddha (image source: Wikipedia/Siddhartha)
Bibliography: "Arata Kalama." The Life of Buddha Andre Ferdinand Herold. 1922
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Week 5: Reading Diary - The Life of Buddha
Part A: Favorites from the Buddha Unit
Maya's Dream
I just find it really interesting how much I can interrelate so many of the different mythologies. This story was about the conception (immaculate) of Buddha, which, of course, made me think of the virgin Mary. Maya, Buddha's mother, and the king are given visions concerning the importance their son will have in the world, not unlike when the angel Gabriel told Mary that she was giving birth to the savior. In this story however, Maya is praised, not ostracized for her immaculate conception like Mary is and the mere essence of her unborn son allows Maya to heal the sick and suffering.
The Birth of Siddhartha
This story tells about how the birth of Maya's son, who is given the name Siddhartha, brings about joy and peace throughout the land. There is such great joy at the child's birth that all bow to him and praise him.
Asita's Prediction and Siddhartha at the Temple
Both of these stories really emphasize the view of Siddhartha as a god. See Buddha was a real person, and I think I've heard before that he never wanted anyone to think of him as a god. These two stories set the tone for the stereotypical "god" vision most of us have concerning the gods. At one point, the gods actually bow down to Siddhartha. It is said over and over again that this child is the hope of breaking the cruel cycle of reincarnation. I would imagine this is where a lot of the myth that we have based on the life of Buddha comes from.
First Encounter
This is where we begin to get into the part of Buddha's history in which he begins to travel outside the sheltered walls of his palace, and what he sees on the outside causes him great distress and suffering. This marks a great turning point in the life of Buddha. The gods, jealous of the praise afforded Siddhartha, create an old man so that he will cross the path of Siddhartha (His father had ordered that only the young and beautiful be out on the streets on his son's path). Upon seeing the old man - he has never seen an old person - Siddhartha is greatly distressed, especially when he learns that this fate is inevitable. This is a perfect illustration of the way people become isolated in their own lives and remain clueless about what is happening in their own backyard.
Two More Encounters
This is also an important part of the turning point to the life of Buddha that is really what shaped the Buddha we recognize today as a religious figure. Siddhartha travels outside his palace once again and this time he sees a man ravaged by sickness as well as a corpse, two things he had never seen before due to the attempts of his parents to shelter him from disquietude. I like the portrayal of the Buddha's parents who are just like any other parents, concerned for their child's happiness and well meaning, but sometimes that well-meaning protectiveness can prove detrimental to the child. In this case, Siddhartha is extremely disturbed by these things he has seen - death, sickness, old age - and the inevitability of them all because he has never before encountered them. Imagine how traumatizing it would be to be college age and not knowing that you will eventually get sick, you will eventually grow old, and you will eventually die. It may not be something we dwell on daily, but at least we are aware of it, whereas Siddhartha had no idea.
The Fair Maidens and Gopa's Dream
This story illustrates the magnitude of the disquietude felt by Siddhartha at his discovery of death and sickness. He is tempted in a wood by a group of beautiful maidens but for all their charms and loveliness, they cannot stir poor Siddhartha for all he can think of is how their youth and beauty will be taken from them as well as himself. It must be difficult to come to terms with one's mortality because suddenly, everything could seem pointless. If we are all going the same way, then what is the point of doing anything? So in the story, Siddhartha begins to shun all types of pleasure and his father becomes quite worried.
The Great Truths
It's at this time that we see Siddhartha's life really begin to take shape into the life of Buddha. He wants to leave the comforts and pleasures of his home in order to gain a sense of the greater truths of the world. His father is distressed and begs him not to leave, but Siddhartha says that unless his father can promise that he will not become sick, or old, or die, he must leave. His father, or course, cannot promise any of these things so Siddhartha leaves. And this is where the real journey of the Buddha will begin
Part B:
Siddhartha Leaves
Siddhartha has become determined to enter into the life of the hermit. His ultimate goal is to conquer old age and death. Whether he means to metaphorically or literally conquer death. I cannot be sure. In this episode, we see the strength of Siddhartha's resolve - he claims that he will never return to his kingdom - yet he has peace and joy due to his decision. He is leaving his family behind, yet feels no regret. Sometimes, it seems, decisions made in faith bring about the greatest feelings of peace.
Siddhartha the Hermit
We gain, in this episode, and understanding of some of Siddhartha's reasons for leaving home. It must be unfathomable to someone who lived in the midst of the caste system, someone like Siddhartha's attendant, Chandaka, that a prince, especially one that is esteemed to the degree at which Siddhartha is esteemed (it is seen in the following story the great lamentation that ensues once it is discovered that Siddhartha has gone), would sacrifice that position for anything.
Arata Kalama
I found this very interesting. Siddhartha, in this story, is seeking knowledge of the great truth from a hermit, Arata Kalama. Siddhartha's apparent knowledge of the great truth seems, at least to Arata Kalama, to have matched or even surpassed that of his own. Arata Kalama asks Siddhartha to take part in teaching Arata's own disciples. Interestingly enough, Siddhartha begins to ponder Arata's Kalama real understanding of great truth and ascertains that Arata knows nothing. It is because through denying themselves sustenance, per the doctrine of Arata Kalama, they are only contributing to the cycle of rebirth (which Siddhartha hopes to break) by trying to receive a good position in the next life. This really made me think about what might our motivation to do anything be. To be rewarded, to get ahead?
Siddhartha and King Vimbasara
I think it is interesting how now matter how he tries to be a hermit, to go unnoticed and live simply, the world does not seem to want Siddhartha to do that. It has even been said that he would be horrified to see that he has been elevated to the status of god. Even as a beggar, Siddhartha's inherent radiance transcends his beggar costume and he gains the notice of a king who desires to make Siddhartha his companion. Siddhartha gently refuses - here I though sure that this would be someone who would find fault in Siddhartha, or be offended by his rejection, yet he is praised for his piety. It is strange how, those who have the most effect, often are not trying to do so.
Mara's Defeat
Here I found yet another parallel I can draw between this mythology and bible - the attack on a holy, pious, man from the Evil One. However, unlike in the story of Job, the bible story which comes to mind in conjunction with this story, the assaults of the Evil One do not even land on Siddhartha. It is his essence that protects him from the attack of the Evil One and his army - Siddhartha himself doesn't even seem to register the attack. Once the Evil One is put into his place, Siddhartha ascends to the role of the Buddha.
Maya's Dream
I just find it really interesting how much I can interrelate so many of the different mythologies. This story was about the conception (immaculate) of Buddha, which, of course, made me think of the virgin Mary. Maya, Buddha's mother, and the king are given visions concerning the importance their son will have in the world, not unlike when the angel Gabriel told Mary that she was giving birth to the savior. In this story however, Maya is praised, not ostracized for her immaculate conception like Mary is and the mere essence of her unborn son allows Maya to heal the sick and suffering.
The Birth of Siddhartha
This story tells about how the birth of Maya's son, who is given the name Siddhartha, brings about joy and peace throughout the land. There is such great joy at the child's birth that all bow to him and praise him.
Asita's Prediction and Siddhartha at the Temple
Both of these stories really emphasize the view of Siddhartha as a god. See Buddha was a real person, and I think I've heard before that he never wanted anyone to think of him as a god. These two stories set the tone for the stereotypical "god" vision most of us have concerning the gods. At one point, the gods actually bow down to Siddhartha. It is said over and over again that this child is the hope of breaking the cruel cycle of reincarnation. I would imagine this is where a lot of the myth that we have based on the life of Buddha comes from.
First Encounter
This is where we begin to get into the part of Buddha's history in which he begins to travel outside the sheltered walls of his palace, and what he sees on the outside causes him great distress and suffering. This marks a great turning point in the life of Buddha. The gods, jealous of the praise afforded Siddhartha, create an old man so that he will cross the path of Siddhartha (His father had ordered that only the young and beautiful be out on the streets on his son's path). Upon seeing the old man - he has never seen an old person - Siddhartha is greatly distressed, especially when he learns that this fate is inevitable. This is a perfect illustration of the way people become isolated in their own lives and remain clueless about what is happening in their own backyard.
Two More Encounters
This is also an important part of the turning point to the life of Buddha that is really what shaped the Buddha we recognize today as a religious figure. Siddhartha travels outside his palace once again and this time he sees a man ravaged by sickness as well as a corpse, two things he had never seen before due to the attempts of his parents to shelter him from disquietude. I like the portrayal of the Buddha's parents who are just like any other parents, concerned for their child's happiness and well meaning, but sometimes that well-meaning protectiveness can prove detrimental to the child. In this case, Siddhartha is extremely disturbed by these things he has seen - death, sickness, old age - and the inevitability of them all because he has never before encountered them. Imagine how traumatizing it would be to be college age and not knowing that you will eventually get sick, you will eventually grow old, and you will eventually die. It may not be something we dwell on daily, but at least we are aware of it, whereas Siddhartha had no idea.
The Fair Maidens and Gopa's Dream
This story illustrates the magnitude of the disquietude felt by Siddhartha at his discovery of death and sickness. He is tempted in a wood by a group of beautiful maidens but for all their charms and loveliness, they cannot stir poor Siddhartha for all he can think of is how their youth and beauty will be taken from them as well as himself. It must be difficult to come to terms with one's mortality because suddenly, everything could seem pointless. If we are all going the same way, then what is the point of doing anything? So in the story, Siddhartha begins to shun all types of pleasure and his father becomes quite worried.
The Great Truths
It's at this time that we see Siddhartha's life really begin to take shape into the life of Buddha. He wants to leave the comforts and pleasures of his home in order to gain a sense of the greater truths of the world. His father is distressed and begs him not to leave, but Siddhartha says that unless his father can promise that he will not become sick, or old, or die, he must leave. His father, or course, cannot promise any of these things so Siddhartha leaves. And this is where the real journey of the Buddha will begin
Part B:
Siddhartha Leaves
Siddhartha has become determined to enter into the life of the hermit. His ultimate goal is to conquer old age and death. Whether he means to metaphorically or literally conquer death. I cannot be sure. In this episode, we see the strength of Siddhartha's resolve - he claims that he will never return to his kingdom - yet he has peace and joy due to his decision. He is leaving his family behind, yet feels no regret. Sometimes, it seems, decisions made in faith bring about the greatest feelings of peace.
Siddhartha the Hermit
We gain, in this episode, and understanding of some of Siddhartha's reasons for leaving home. It must be unfathomable to someone who lived in the midst of the caste system, someone like Siddhartha's attendant, Chandaka, that a prince, especially one that is esteemed to the degree at which Siddhartha is esteemed (it is seen in the following story the great lamentation that ensues once it is discovered that Siddhartha has gone), would sacrifice that position for anything.
Arata Kalama
I found this very interesting. Siddhartha, in this story, is seeking knowledge of the great truth from a hermit, Arata Kalama. Siddhartha's apparent knowledge of the great truth seems, at least to Arata Kalama, to have matched or even surpassed that of his own. Arata Kalama asks Siddhartha to take part in teaching Arata's own disciples. Interestingly enough, Siddhartha begins to ponder Arata's Kalama real understanding of great truth and ascertains that Arata knows nothing. It is because through denying themselves sustenance, per the doctrine of Arata Kalama, they are only contributing to the cycle of rebirth (which Siddhartha hopes to break) by trying to receive a good position in the next life. This really made me think about what might our motivation to do anything be. To be rewarded, to get ahead?
Siddhartha and King Vimbasara
I think it is interesting how now matter how he tries to be a hermit, to go unnoticed and live simply, the world does not seem to want Siddhartha to do that. It has even been said that he would be horrified to see that he has been elevated to the status of god. Even as a beggar, Siddhartha's inherent radiance transcends his beggar costume and he gains the notice of a king who desires to make Siddhartha his companion. Siddhartha gently refuses - here I though sure that this would be someone who would find fault in Siddhartha, or be offended by his rejection, yet he is praised for his piety. It is strange how, those who have the most effect, often are not trying to do so.
Mara's Defeat
Here I found yet another parallel I can draw between this mythology and bible - the attack on a holy, pious, man from the Evil One. However, unlike in the story of Job, the bible story which comes to mind in conjunction with this story, the assaults of the Evil One do not even land on Siddhartha. It is his essence that protects him from the attack of the Evil One and his army - Siddhartha himself doesn't even seem to register the attack. Once the Evil One is put into his place, Siddhartha ascends to the role of the Buddha.
Monday, September 15, 2014
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Week 4: Famous Last Words
This week, I've really enjoyed trying out different writing styles and experimenting with them in my storytelling. When we were asked to come up with different styles for the storybook project last week, I initially had a hard time coming up with four different styles. It caused me to really have to think about what my personal style is, and how I could depart from said style. For instance, I typically write in the third person narrative though I do switch between limited and omniscient, at least I think I do - sometimes I find it difficult to say for sure. So for my storybook introduction, I decided to switch things up just a bit and write from the first person perspective. This was fun and interesting as I got to experiment with the narrator's voice and personality. I think that is the best part of writing in the first person - the creation of personality. You can, of course, create a character's personality in a third person perspective, but that comes mostly from direct characterization, and outside party telling exactly what a certain character is like. With direct characterization, however, you begin to get into some of the questions like "is the narrator reliable? Can I trust what he/she is saying about this character?" In respect to third person omniscient, the answer is, most likely, yes, but you can't really know for sure. Then there's the third person limited perspective in which the story is being told about other people from the perspective of an outsider to the story. This style may contain bias about certain characters. I think the most interesting way to gain a sense of a character is through indirect characterization, reviewing the thoughts, actions, and words of the character in question. Sure, the narrator can tell you things about himself/herself and be lying, but dialogue doesn't like, and a character's actions don't lie, and what one is thinking certainly doesn't lie. This week I hope to experiment more with first person narration to step outside of my comfort zone just a little more. Hopefully it works out for me!
Random Fun Fact: Did you know that the novel Crime and Punishment was originally written in the first person? Author Fyodor Dostoyevsky wrote almost the entire book (about 300 pages!) in the first person before scrapping the *entire* thing in order to rewrite the novel in the third person. Why might he have done that? What does one gain in the third person perspective that cannot be attained in the first person? What does one lose? Maybe Dostoyevsky was trying to reveal something, or keep something hidden
Random Fun Fact: Did you know that the novel Crime and Punishment was originally written in the first person? Author Fyodor Dostoyevsky wrote almost the entire book (about 300 pages!) in the first person before scrapping the *entire* thing in order to rewrite the novel in the third person. Why might he have done that? What does one gain in the third person perspective that cannot be attained in the first person? What does one lose? Maybe Dostoyevsky was trying to reveal something, or keep something hidden
Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment
(Image source:WikiSpaces)
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Friday, September 12, 2014
Week 4: Essay - Representations of Good and Evil
In my reading of the Ancient Egypt Unit this week, there was one detail that stood out to me that set this set of mythologies apart from those with which I am more familiar (i.e. Greco-Roman myth). The sense of justice in these texts differ greatly from those in the Classical Mythology Unit I read a few weeks ago. In reading Classical Mythology, I was forced to accept the fact that bad things happened to good people, and there was not always (not even most of the time) justice for the wronged innocent. Ancient Egyptian Mythology was a departure from this school of thought because it seemed that the wicked always eventually got what was coming to them. I find this difference between the two mythologies interesting because I have, for a long time, believed that one can gain a sense of the values important to a given society based on its fictional representations of Good and Evil.
A few years ago, I remember watching a movie with my mother during which she told me something I have always since held on. I cannot recall exactly what movie it was, but it was something rather action-y, with a storyline that involved a clear "good guy" and "bad guy," and I remember growing anxious as I had become very invested in the plot and the characters and it seemed as if the "bad guy" was going to be victorious. I remember then that my mom turned to me and said, "Oh, honey, don't worry. They still don't like to let the bad guy win." I remember feeling comforted by this thought and was then able to relax and enjoy the rest of the movie with the firm notion that Good would always triumph over Evil. I found this axiom comforting, not because it is absolute in reality - there are murderers and rapists and child abusers out there that have managed to evade prison - but because it gives me hope for our society, which at times seems pretty broken. Even in this age of looser morals and not so clear line between right and wrong, the fact that Hollywood chooses to portray Good conquering Evil indicates, at least in my eyes, that our desire for justice and our optimism in the face of adversity is something that society will hold onto for generations to come. In a similar manner, it could be inferred* of Ancient Egyptian Society that it places high value on bringing those who do wrong to justice, no matter their position, for we see even the gods being busted down to size on regular occasion. An example of this value appears in the story The Death of Osiris. When Osiris is killed and his throne usurped, it would appear that good guys do indeed finish last. However, We later learn that Osiris has been avenged by his son which illustrates the value placed on justice in Egyptian society.
In contrast to the Egyptian Mythology, justice does not always make an appearance in classical mythology. Countless women are raped by Jupiter and then punished by his irrational sister. What, then, could be said about the values of Ancient Greco-Roman culture? The gods are revered and worshipped even despite their widely known character flaws and vices. This could be indicative of an admiration for power and immortality that overshadows a desires to see justice play itself out. This is not to say that this society had no sense of justice or desire to see evil punished, just that it was perhaps not as large a value as immortality and reverence for the gods. This could be why we often see the humans in Classical Mythology at the mercy of the whims and ways of the gods while the gods themselves seem to typically walk away unscathed. Gods were outside the realm of law and social so it stands to reason that they might overshadow values that concerned or related to the law.
I've always had a small apprehension that one day, I'll be watching a movie, a Marvel or DC superhero movie, perhaps, and after the dust from the big stand off has settled, it will be the villain who emerges victorious. This may seem silly, to be concerned with the endings of fictitious stories and plotlines, but I really do believe it would be indicative of a shift in society's values. When the bad guy starts to win, I think it will be time to evaluate our values in society as a whole.
Depiction of Osiris (Image Source:Ancient Civilization History Website)
A few years ago, I remember watching a movie with my mother during which she told me something I have always since held on. I cannot recall exactly what movie it was, but it was something rather action-y, with a storyline that involved a clear "good guy" and "bad guy," and I remember growing anxious as I had become very invested in the plot and the characters and it seemed as if the "bad guy" was going to be victorious. I remember then that my mom turned to me and said, "Oh, honey, don't worry. They still don't like to let the bad guy win." I remember feeling comforted by this thought and was then able to relax and enjoy the rest of the movie with the firm notion that Good would always triumph over Evil. I found this axiom comforting, not because it is absolute in reality - there are murderers and rapists and child abusers out there that have managed to evade prison - but because it gives me hope for our society, which at times seems pretty broken. Even in this age of looser morals and not so clear line between right and wrong, the fact that Hollywood chooses to portray Good conquering Evil indicates, at least in my eyes, that our desire for justice and our optimism in the face of adversity is something that society will hold onto for generations to come. In a similar manner, it could be inferred* of Ancient Egyptian Society that it places high value on bringing those who do wrong to justice, no matter their position, for we see even the gods being busted down to size on regular occasion. An example of this value appears in the story The Death of Osiris. When Osiris is killed and his throne usurped, it would appear that good guys do indeed finish last. However, We later learn that Osiris has been avenged by his son which illustrates the value placed on justice in Egyptian society.
In contrast to the Egyptian Mythology, justice does not always make an appearance in classical mythology. Countless women are raped by Jupiter and then punished by his irrational sister. What, then, could be said about the values of Ancient Greco-Roman culture? The gods are revered and worshipped even despite their widely known character flaws and vices. This could be indicative of an admiration for power and immortality that overshadows a desires to see justice play itself out. This is not to say that this society had no sense of justice or desire to see evil punished, just that it was perhaps not as large a value as immortality and reverence for the gods. This could be why we often see the humans in Classical Mythology at the mercy of the whims and ways of the gods while the gods themselves seem to typically walk away unscathed. Gods were outside the realm of law and social so it stands to reason that they might overshadow values that concerned or related to the law.
I've always had a small apprehension that one day, I'll be watching a movie, a Marvel or DC superhero movie, perhaps, and after the dust from the big stand off has settled, it will be the villain who emerges victorious. This may seem silly, to be concerned with the endings of fictitious stories and plotlines, but I really do believe it would be indicative of a shift in society's values. When the bad guy starts to win, I think it will be time to evaluate our values in society as a whole.
The Dark Knight Rises (Image source: Giri's Domain-Blogspot)Ancient Civilization History Website
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Week 4: Storytelling - The Cheer Captain
There were some that said that Jenna Clare was the best cheer captain that had ever come through the University. Since she had become captain as a sophomore, the team had won back-to-back championships at UGA Nationals. She worked her team hard, but she was right there with them running suicides, lifting in the weight room, and conditioning. She didn't ask of them anything she wasn't prepared to do herself. When they ran, she was always at the front of the pack - that is, until she saw someone lagging behind the group (usually Carrie) then she would circle back and run with the girl, encouraging her to the finish. Jenna had a strict "no drama" policy: all problems were to be left at the door and your teammates were to be as your sisters. It was she who'd advocated for bi-monthly team bonding nights in which the team got to know and care for each other in a non-practice environment. For this reason, the team was strong, stronger than any team that had ever existed at the University. The girls worked well together because they genuinely cared for one another, and no one loved a group of girls more than Jenna loved her team. In return, the girls worshipped the ground on which Jenna walked.
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(Image source: CheerleadingLT)
It was Jenna's senior year and the fall semester had just begun. The team had picked up a few new recruits from the spring tryouts and it looked liked this year, they'd be stronger than ever. Some of the new freshmen were pretty green, but they had a lot of raw talent. One girl in particular stood out among the rookies. Eliza executed her tumbling and stunting with a precision that couldn't really be taught. Her straight-legged scorpions and over-extended heel-stretches nearly rivaled those of the reigning captain. Some of her teammates even began to jokingly refer to her as the "mini-Jenna," and much like Jenna, she began to gather her own set of worshippers among the rookie set. But Eliza wasn't content being mini-Jenna. Back home, she had been the best of the best - she was not used to coming in second place, and she always seemed to be runner-up whenever Jenna was in the room. Well, thought Eliza, its high time Madame Jenna be knocked down a few pegs. She and her minions devised a plan to do just that.
It just so happened that Jenna and Eliza had a class together - one of those gen-ed courses that students save for their senior year to lighten the load of Capstones and 4000-level classes. Jenna made it a point to sit with her teammates whenever they happened to shared a class, especially if that teammate was a young, frightened freshmen, so the girls were accustomed to sitting next to one another. On exam day, the two sat together as usual, the exams were passed out and time was started. Eliza, who was deviously inclined, wrote a little note at the top of her scantron in light pencil. She nudged Jenna with her elbow and gestured to her paper. The note was simply an inquiry about the exact time for practice later that afternoon. As Jenna looked intently at Eliza's message, Eliza suddenly erased it and shot her hand into the air. The TA happened to pass by just in time to see Jenna apparently studying Eliza's scantron rather intently. Before Jenna even knew what was happening, the TA snatched up Jenna's exam and signaled to the professor. The entire class watched as a very confused Jenna Clare was escorted out of the room.
(Image source: WikiSpaces)
There was, of course, no for Jenna way to prove to the University Integrity Council that she had been reading a note written by her teammate and not attempting to copy her work especially when Eliza denied profusely ever having written any note. Several of Eliza's minions came forward as well to attest to the good character of their new queen. There was nothing Jenna could do when they cited her for academic misconduct and suspended her for the semester.
The team was devastated by the loss of their beloved captain. The coach was forced to appoint a new captain and despite her lack of seniority, it seemed that Eliza was the best suited for the position. But the team wasn't the same after Jenna's fall from grace. The fact that Eliza and her cohorts had betrayed a teammate created animosity within the group. It seemed there was always a tension in the air and the team's performance began to suffer. In fact, that year, the team placed 6th at UGA Nationals. It was the lowest the team had placed in over a decade.
Author's Note: This is a retelling of the story The Death of Osiris from the Ancient Egypt unit. In the original telling, the god Osiris brings about peace, prosperity, and order to a world of chaos during his reign as king, but his throne is usurped by jealous Set. Set and his followers actually kill Osiris in order to gain the throne and after Set ascends to power, the world descends into evil and destruction. I changed the literal death of the leader to a metaphorical death for the purposes of this retelling - getting suspended for academic misconduct would be pretty damaging to one's academic career - so as to not make the story excessively morbid. I used college aged cheerleaders as counterparts to the story of Osiris because the actions taken by Set reminded me of those of jealous, catty women.
Bibliography: "The Death of Osiris." Egyptian Myth and Legend. Donald Mackenzie. 1907
Monday, September 8, 2014
Week 4: Reading Diary - Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt Unit
Part A: My favorites
The Secret Name of Ra
Ra, the god of the sun, is known by many names but one is kept secret and it is this name that gives him his power. The goddess Isis become jealous of the god's great power and longs to know the secret name that Ra keeps hidden in his heart. She devises a scheme in which a serpent of her creation (she is an enchantress) bites Ra and she tells him that the only way she can do the spell that will save Ra's life is for him to reveal to her his secret name. I found myself really invested in this story - I really wanted the secret name. In the end, Ra transfers the secret name from his heart into that of Isis, so the name is not revealed to us. I was disappointed, but when I thought about it, it made sense that this secret name had to remain secret even in the telling of the story. I think this shows how devoted the Egyptian people were to their gods, that even in their storytelling, they kept the law of the gods.
Ra and Hathor
This story seems to be a staple of Mythology and folklore - the humans that the gods have created have turned against the gods and thusly need to be destroyed. In this instance, Ra bids the goddess Hathor to slaughter all of mankind. Before she is finished with her work, Ra has a change of heart and sets out to save what is left of mankind. He sends out his subordinate gods to collect the blood of Man mixed with barley which is made into beer. The gods flood the earth with beer so that Hathor will drink it, become drunk, and leave over her work destroying Man. After all of this comes to pass, Ra grows weary of his time on earth and ascends back to the heavens at the great sorrow of his people.
The Sun's Journey
When Ra decides to enter the heavens, he must pass through the 12 divisions of night. After the twelfth (at dawn), he is taken up by Nut and born of Nut in the heavens. The description of each of the divisions reminded me a lot of the levels of hell depicted in Dante's Inferno - horrible creatures, domains of punishment, suffering, and just really "out there." The gods of this culture are not to be viewed as beautiful creatures like those in Classical Mythology. Instead, these mighty gods are revered for their power and their power alone.
Osiris
I liked this story because though I love Mythology, much of it can be pretty negative, so it was a nice change to read a story in which the events are purely positive. This story tells of the reign of Osiris the Good who sat in Ra's seat after he'd ascended to the heavens. Osiris gave the scattered, savage humans law and order, taught them agriculture, and taught them to worship the gods. Isis, his wife, brought wisdom. At the very end of the story, there is a notion that this time of goodness is going to end soon with a rebellion at the hands of the jealous god, Set.
The Death of Osiris
As I predicted, and as the title of the story implies, the peace, joy, and prosperity of the time of Osiris came to a crashing halt. Set, during a celebration of Osiris, tricks the god to lay down in a chest that is perfectly sized to fit him. Once Osiris is in the chest, Set's followers appear and seal the chest so that Osiris dies. They dispose of the body in secret (much to Isis' chagrin), Set ascends the now vacant throne, and the world plunges into a time of disorder and corruption. Meanwhile, a broken Isis searches for the lost body of her slain husband under the protection of seven scorpions that follow her. Ra, seeing her from heaven, feels pity for he suffering and sends Anubis, the opener of ways, to be her guide. This story, to me, illustrates Man's inherent discontentment with peace. Despite the fact that the time of Osiris was described as a time of peace and prosperity, Set was able to drum up some supporters who were not satisfied with the way things were.
The Journey of Isis
Wow, Okay so this story was pretty complex. Isis has a son, Horus, who she places in the care of Uazit to keep him safe from his uncle, Set, lest he kill the child to keep him from taking his rightful place on the throne as the heir of Osiris. Meanwhile, the body of Osiris has been floating down the Nile River and lands upon the shores of a land and immediately a tree grows around the chest in which Osiris' body lie. The king of this land has the tree cut down and declares it a sacred pillar. Isis manages to convince the king to allow her to take the pillar back to Egypt. However, Set discovers the body where Isis has hidden it and tears it into pieces, scattering it into the river. Isis does eventually find all of the pieces and creates a tomb over which temples have been dedicated to the worship of Osiris. Possibly the most striking feature of this story is the tenacity of Isis. So often is she hindered in her quest to put her husband's body to rest and yet she remains undeterred and determined that her husband find rest.
The King of the Dead
In this story, Horus, Osiris' son, avenges his father's death by reclaiming his rightful place on the throne. We are also given an etiology of the mummy god: upon hearing the broken laments of Osiris' consorts, Isis and Nepthys, Ra joins the pieces of Osiris' mutilated body together with cloth wrap. Isis is then able to give life to him, and he rises to become the King of the Dead. So far, in Egyptian storytelling as opposed to Greco-Roman, it seems that there is a sense of justice for those wronged and a restoration of the natural order of things. Osiris was wronged, to be sure, however, in the end the good guy came out on top and wickedness was punished.
The Wax Crocodile
This story is interesting to me, not because of its content (though it was a very entertaining story), but because it gives an instance of infidelity in which both the man and the woman are punished. It is common to see stories in which women are seen as the sole perpetrators in acts of adultery (i.e. The Scarlett Letter, the woman to be stoned in the Bible, every woman who had the misfortune to appeal to Zeus in Greco-Roman Mythology). The fact that both the man and the woman are punished alludes to the forward thinking of the Egyptian people who gave us things like written language and paper. In the story, the Scribes wife is having an affair with a handsome youth. The Scribe finds out and captures the youth with a wax crocodile that can be brought to life and readily commanded. The wife is burnt at the stake.
Part B: Favorites
The Two Brothers: Part 1
This story reminded me of the story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife in the Bible. The younger of the two brothers, Bata, lives almost as a son to his elder brother, Anpu, and his wife. Bata is essentially the perfect house-guest, waiting on his brother and his wife, plowing their fields, and preparing meals. All is well until the day that Anpu's wife sets her sights on Bata and he rejects her angrily. She then makes it look as though she has been attacked and tells her husband that it was at the hands of Bata. Furious, Anpu seeks to destroy his younger brother. It is strange how often this theme occurs in much of Mythology: the blameless being persecuted despite their loyalty to their persecutor. I suppose martyrs are extremely important in all cultures.
The Two Brothers: Part 2
In this story, we observe the redemption of the younger brother in the eyes of the older, but by the time this redemption comes, too much has happened between the two for things to go back to the way they were. As Anpu pursues Bata, Ra has pity on Bata and creates a wide stream full of crocodiles to separate the brothers. From the bank opposite his brother, Bata relates the truth of what occurred with his brother's unfaithful wife and says also that because of all that has occurred, Bata must travel on his own and no longer live with his brother. Anpu, finally seeing clearly, mourns the loss of his brother by killing his wife. Meanwhile, the gods find Bata in his travels and decide to create for him a wife so that he is not lonely. He loves her dearly and warns her not to step outside or she will be swept away by the sea, for it has been prophesized that she will only live a short time. This is all too familiar, the giving of an explicit warning with clear consequences that is sure to be ignored which also seems to be a unifying feature of Mythology/Folklore.
The Two Brothers: Part 3
So surprise, despite her husband's warning, the created wife of Bata decides to go on a walk and captures the love of the sea god who pursues her. She escapes and the sea mourns. Now there is a sacred acacia tree that bears the soul of Bata in its topmost blossom and as it perceives the sea spirit's sorrow, it cuts a lock of sweet smelling hair from the girl and casts it into the water. The fragrance from the girl's hair is so strong and enticing that the king of the land, after discovering the source of the lovely smell, orders that the girl be brought to him. Once she is with him, he praises her beauty and orders that the acacia tree bearing the soul of the girl's husband be cut down that he might die (he was advised on this by Bata's wife). Bata dies, and through a number of signs, Anpu is made aware of this and he sets out to find Bata's soul. After three years, Anpu finds the soul of his slain brother and places it into a vessel of water which returns the soul to the body of Bata. Thus, the brothers are happily reunited! I like the roundabout way these stories link. Bata told Anpu that the tree bearing his spirit would fall and he would die, but it did not occur in the way that I expected, so it made for an interesting plot twist that he was killed in the name of love/lust.
The Two Brothers: Part 4
Bata goes to great lengths to expose his wife for her betrayal of him. Ultimately he makes it so that he is born her son and given favor by the king and made king of Ethiopia. Once he is made king, Bata exposes his wife's disloyalty and she is sentenced for her crimes. From this story, I gain a sense of the importance of justice to the Egyptian people - Bata is tenacious in his plight for justice and he is rewarded for it. In this culture it appears that you always sew what you reap, which is dissimilar to the Classical Mythology I studied in the last unit in which the main question I asked was "why do such bad things happen to good people." The Egyptian school of thought seems to be more along te lines of "bad things happen to good people, but those who do evil will be punished, and those who are good will gain redemption and justice."
Part A: My favorites
The Secret Name of Ra
Ra, the god of the sun, is known by many names but one is kept secret and it is this name that gives him his power. The goddess Isis become jealous of the god's great power and longs to know the secret name that Ra keeps hidden in his heart. She devises a scheme in which a serpent of her creation (she is an enchantress) bites Ra and she tells him that the only way she can do the spell that will save Ra's life is for him to reveal to her his secret name. I found myself really invested in this story - I really wanted the secret name. In the end, Ra transfers the secret name from his heart into that of Isis, so the name is not revealed to us. I was disappointed, but when I thought about it, it made sense that this secret name had to remain secret even in the telling of the story. I think this shows how devoted the Egyptian people were to their gods, that even in their storytelling, they kept the law of the gods.
Ra and Hathor
This story seems to be a staple of Mythology and folklore - the humans that the gods have created have turned against the gods and thusly need to be destroyed. In this instance, Ra bids the goddess Hathor to slaughter all of mankind. Before she is finished with her work, Ra has a change of heart and sets out to save what is left of mankind. He sends out his subordinate gods to collect the blood of Man mixed with barley which is made into beer. The gods flood the earth with beer so that Hathor will drink it, become drunk, and leave over her work destroying Man. After all of this comes to pass, Ra grows weary of his time on earth and ascends back to the heavens at the great sorrow of his people.
The Sun's Journey
When Ra decides to enter the heavens, he must pass through the 12 divisions of night. After the twelfth (at dawn), he is taken up by Nut and born of Nut in the heavens. The description of each of the divisions reminded me a lot of the levels of hell depicted in Dante's Inferno - horrible creatures, domains of punishment, suffering, and just really "out there." The gods of this culture are not to be viewed as beautiful creatures like those in Classical Mythology. Instead, these mighty gods are revered for their power and their power alone.
Osiris
I liked this story because though I love Mythology, much of it can be pretty negative, so it was a nice change to read a story in which the events are purely positive. This story tells of the reign of Osiris the Good who sat in Ra's seat after he'd ascended to the heavens. Osiris gave the scattered, savage humans law and order, taught them agriculture, and taught them to worship the gods. Isis, his wife, brought wisdom. At the very end of the story, there is a notion that this time of goodness is going to end soon with a rebellion at the hands of the jealous god, Set.
The Death of Osiris
As I predicted, and as the title of the story implies, the peace, joy, and prosperity of the time of Osiris came to a crashing halt. Set, during a celebration of Osiris, tricks the god to lay down in a chest that is perfectly sized to fit him. Once Osiris is in the chest, Set's followers appear and seal the chest so that Osiris dies. They dispose of the body in secret (much to Isis' chagrin), Set ascends the now vacant throne, and the world plunges into a time of disorder and corruption. Meanwhile, a broken Isis searches for the lost body of her slain husband under the protection of seven scorpions that follow her. Ra, seeing her from heaven, feels pity for he suffering and sends Anubis, the opener of ways, to be her guide. This story, to me, illustrates Man's inherent discontentment with peace. Despite the fact that the time of Osiris was described as a time of peace and prosperity, Set was able to drum up some supporters who were not satisfied with the way things were.
The Journey of Isis
Wow, Okay so this story was pretty complex. Isis has a son, Horus, who she places in the care of Uazit to keep him safe from his uncle, Set, lest he kill the child to keep him from taking his rightful place on the throne as the heir of Osiris. Meanwhile, the body of Osiris has been floating down the Nile River and lands upon the shores of a land and immediately a tree grows around the chest in which Osiris' body lie. The king of this land has the tree cut down and declares it a sacred pillar. Isis manages to convince the king to allow her to take the pillar back to Egypt. However, Set discovers the body where Isis has hidden it and tears it into pieces, scattering it into the river. Isis does eventually find all of the pieces and creates a tomb over which temples have been dedicated to the worship of Osiris. Possibly the most striking feature of this story is the tenacity of Isis. So often is she hindered in her quest to put her husband's body to rest and yet she remains undeterred and determined that her husband find rest.
The King of the Dead
In this story, Horus, Osiris' son, avenges his father's death by reclaiming his rightful place on the throne. We are also given an etiology of the mummy god: upon hearing the broken laments of Osiris' consorts, Isis and Nepthys, Ra joins the pieces of Osiris' mutilated body together with cloth wrap. Isis is then able to give life to him, and he rises to become the King of the Dead. So far, in Egyptian storytelling as opposed to Greco-Roman, it seems that there is a sense of justice for those wronged and a restoration of the natural order of things. Osiris was wronged, to be sure, however, in the end the good guy came out on top and wickedness was punished.
The Wax Crocodile
This story is interesting to me, not because of its content (though it was a very entertaining story), but because it gives an instance of infidelity in which both the man and the woman are punished. It is common to see stories in which women are seen as the sole perpetrators in acts of adultery (i.e. The Scarlett Letter, the woman to be stoned in the Bible, every woman who had the misfortune to appeal to Zeus in Greco-Roman Mythology). The fact that both the man and the woman are punished alludes to the forward thinking of the Egyptian people who gave us things like written language and paper. In the story, the Scribes wife is having an affair with a handsome youth. The Scribe finds out and captures the youth with a wax crocodile that can be brought to life and readily commanded. The wife is burnt at the stake.
Part B: Favorites
The Two Brothers: Part 1
This story reminded me of the story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife in the Bible. The younger of the two brothers, Bata, lives almost as a son to his elder brother, Anpu, and his wife. Bata is essentially the perfect house-guest, waiting on his brother and his wife, plowing their fields, and preparing meals. All is well until the day that Anpu's wife sets her sights on Bata and he rejects her angrily. She then makes it look as though she has been attacked and tells her husband that it was at the hands of Bata. Furious, Anpu seeks to destroy his younger brother. It is strange how often this theme occurs in much of Mythology: the blameless being persecuted despite their loyalty to their persecutor. I suppose martyrs are extremely important in all cultures.
The Two Brothers: Part 2
In this story, we observe the redemption of the younger brother in the eyes of the older, but by the time this redemption comes, too much has happened between the two for things to go back to the way they were. As Anpu pursues Bata, Ra has pity on Bata and creates a wide stream full of crocodiles to separate the brothers. From the bank opposite his brother, Bata relates the truth of what occurred with his brother's unfaithful wife and says also that because of all that has occurred, Bata must travel on his own and no longer live with his brother. Anpu, finally seeing clearly, mourns the loss of his brother by killing his wife. Meanwhile, the gods find Bata in his travels and decide to create for him a wife so that he is not lonely. He loves her dearly and warns her not to step outside or she will be swept away by the sea, for it has been prophesized that she will only live a short time. This is all too familiar, the giving of an explicit warning with clear consequences that is sure to be ignored which also seems to be a unifying feature of Mythology/Folklore.
The Two Brothers: Part 3
So surprise, despite her husband's warning, the created wife of Bata decides to go on a walk and captures the love of the sea god who pursues her. She escapes and the sea mourns. Now there is a sacred acacia tree that bears the soul of Bata in its topmost blossom and as it perceives the sea spirit's sorrow, it cuts a lock of sweet smelling hair from the girl and casts it into the water. The fragrance from the girl's hair is so strong and enticing that the king of the land, after discovering the source of the lovely smell, orders that the girl be brought to him. Once she is with him, he praises her beauty and orders that the acacia tree bearing the soul of the girl's husband be cut down that he might die (he was advised on this by Bata's wife). Bata dies, and through a number of signs, Anpu is made aware of this and he sets out to find Bata's soul. After three years, Anpu finds the soul of his slain brother and places it into a vessel of water which returns the soul to the body of Bata. Thus, the brothers are happily reunited! I like the roundabout way these stories link. Bata told Anpu that the tree bearing his spirit would fall and he would die, but it did not occur in the way that I expected, so it made for an interesting plot twist that he was killed in the name of love/lust.
The Two Brothers: Part 4
Bata goes to great lengths to expose his wife for her betrayal of him. Ultimately he makes it so that he is born her son and given favor by the king and made king of Ethiopia. Once he is made king, Bata exposes his wife's disloyalty and she is sentenced for her crimes. From this story, I gain a sense of the importance of justice to the Egyptian people - Bata is tenacious in his plight for justice and he is rewarded for it. In this culture it appears that you always sew what you reap, which is dissimilar to the Classical Mythology I studied in the last unit in which the main question I asked was "why do such bad things happen to good people." The Egyptian school of thought seems to be more along te lines of "bad things happen to good people, but those who do evil will be punished, and those who are good will gain redemption and justice."
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Week 3: Storybooks
Topic Statement: My storybook will be based on the four Gospels in the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I'm wanting to blend the accounts of the life of Jesus into one cohesive story (as if the four men were telling the story together, but each has his own perspective to add). I will definitely want to include some of the miracles but I will have to choose ones that are recounted in all four books. One story that I know appears in all four accounts is the story of Jesus feeding the 5000 found in the Gospels of the New Testament.
Bibliography: "Jesus Feeds the 5,000." The Gospels. The Holy Bible (New International Version). Zondervan. 1973.
Storytelling Strategy 1: Interview setting - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are all being interviewed closely following the Resurrection of Christ. While it is clear they all have the same story, each has a little different way of telling it. For example, in one interview, the men could be explaining how Jesus was baptized. I think it would be really interesting for the men to take turns adding to the story, throwing in detail that maybe one of the others "forgot" or didn't think was that important. It would be a way of almost filling in any gaps that occur among the Gospels.
Storytelling Strategy 2: Diary Entries - this would allow me to give each disciple his own personality. I would have each man give a diary entry from the same day about the same event, but in different ways. For example: one could be overly dramatic, another could be strictly factual without much commentary, one could be highly introspective, and so on. Showing the diary entries along side one anther will really illustrate the differences in the writing styles of the gospels.
Storytelling Strategy 3: My side of the story - Each disciple tells of a specific event in story format with his own personality. There should be slight variations with each retelling of the event. I think with this strategy, I may be able to add a little humor to the storybook. For example, the disciples could be poking fun at one another's reaction to Jesus performing a certain miracle.
Storytelling Strategy 4: What my dad saw: I was playing with the idea of a third person storyteller perspective for this storybook idea and what I came up with was the idea of having the children of the four men relate what each of their fathers had told them of this mysterious Jesus. Each child would have a different story based on how he or she had be told the story (which relates to which gospel we are referring). I also really like the idea of a child's perspective of a story of miracles and great wonders.
Thursday, September 4, 2014
Week 3: Essay
My reading this week of the Book of Adam and Eve, got me thinking about the role of women in past and present society. The story of Lilith in particular stood out to me in this respect. In addition to Lilith, Eve's role in the story as a whole provides some insight into the view and role of women both now and then. From both Eve's and Lilith's story, we learn some hard truths about what it means to be a woman even in our modernized society in which we continue to strive for equality with men: that women are seen as inherently inferior beings, many human tendencies that are typically of a negative connotation are often thought of as "woman-like," and it is almost abnormal for a woman to have or desire strength and power.
In her story, Lilith is painted as a sort of wild woman who should be punished for desiring to run free. I tried to emphasize this depiction of Lilith in my retelling of her story by comparing her to a witch in order to drive home the idea that Lilith's request for equality and power was viewed as unnatural and even wicked. Women cannot be made equal to men even if, as we saw of Lilith, they arise from the same circumstances. Lilith was punished because she refused to accept this societal truth and demanded that she be seen as her husband's equal. In the end, after Lilith flees, it must be that Woman is taken from the flesh of Adam so that there will be no question of her supplicant role. This perception of women can be found in current society in instances of women holding the same position as men, yet getting paid less for it, and women expected to accept it. The perception of women as inferior is something that has definitely been addressed on a large scale, but given how long this perception has existed, there is much more ground that need be covered.
Ginzberg's description of the creation of Eve serves as an etiology of all of tendencies that women are thought to possess, and thereby deemed "woman-like." Some of these tendencies include jealousy, grudge holding, vanity, and eavesdropping. These and other tendencies have to do with the manner and the material from which God created Eve. God struggled when deciding from which part of Adam Eve should be created - if created from the mouth she would be a tattler, from the head and she would be prideful, from the ear and she would be an eavesdropper, and so on. So God created Eve from the rib, a chaste part of the body in hope that Woman would be a chaste creature. However, when Eve allowed sin to enter the world, she obtained all of the poor, "womanly" qualities that God had hoped to spare her and thus imposed said qualities upon all women after her. Many of these qualities that are supposedly inherent to women are vast generalizations used to attempt to make sense of the complex female psyche. Phrases like "you women are so dramatic," or "women stay mad forever," make it seem like women alone are capable of having injured feelings or harboring bad feelings toward one another. Almost any display of negative emotion is synonymous with being female to the point that if a male should deign to show envy toward another person, express that something has offended him, or hold a grudge, he is mocked for "acting like a chick" or "being a little girl." There is nothing wrong or unmanly with showing emotion, but when insulted in the worst way - having his manhood challenged - it is easy to see why these emotions have such a negative connotation.
Though in modern society, it is becoming generally more accepted when women hold positions of power, there is still a bit of a stigma placed on being a powerful woman. Female executives are often portrayed like Meryl Streep's character in The Devil Wears Prada, or Charlotte Pickles in the 90s cartoon series Rugrats - cold, ruthless, "dragon-ladies" who have no time for things like family, sympathy, or any sort of emotion. We have to create this businesswoman persona in order to make sense of having women in the workplace, because women, with their highly emotional tendencies and bleeding hearts, couldn't possibly be successful in the fast paced rat race that is the business world, right? No, there has to be a character to which successful women in the workplace can be assigned that is a departure from the traditional view of women. "Normal" women don't belong in the workplace, but this "businesswoman" can do whatever she wants. Again, this is why Lilith is portrayed as almost demon-like - her desire for power was abnormal, so she must be assigned a role that fits her abnormality.
I'm not saying that all people or even all men have this schema for women. Actually, more and more of society is becoming progressive minded and drawing attention to some of the issues that I have addressed. However, enough people still hold this schema that it continues to hold women back from equality with men. As we chip away at that number, we can move closer to that goal.
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Storytelling for Week 3: The King's First Wife
In the far off land of Lizbet, there ruled a beloved King. He had been ruler of the tiny nation for as long as anyone could remember and it was generally accepted throughout the kingdom that King Darius, as he was called, possessed some supernatural quality that caused him not to age. Few questioned this quality or from whence it came, and the few that knew kept quiet, for the entire kingdom was content with the King's eternal reign. At his right hand sat his beloved Queen Mellrose, who was almost as much loved throughout the kingdom as the King. Like the King, the Mellrose had been Queen for as long as most could remember. However, the same few that had knowledge of the secret of the Kings immortality could also remember a time before the reign of Queen Mellrose, for the stories were intertwined...
Long before Mellrose was even born, when Darius was but a young prince of 22 or 23 years of age, it was decided that he should take a wife, for his father, the King, was getting along in years, and it was ordained in the law of the land that a prince could not receive the Crown until he had taken a wife. Maidens from neighboring kingdoms were brought before the young prince, but none seemed to awaken in him feelings of love. In the midst of this processional, a young woman suddenly appeared as if from thin air. She was radiantly beautiful and moved and spoke with such grace and charm that she almost immediately ensnared the young prince's heart. The bewitching creature, who introduced herself as Madeline, charmed also the King and Queen so it was decided that Darius and Madeline would marry immediately.
After the wedding celebration and the passing of the old King, it began to become clear that Madeline would not be the wife or queen that anyone, least of all Darius, had expected. She demanded rights equal to those of the King - to be able to command her own army, the right to make her own ordinances and decrees, and the power to grant or take land away from her subjects - when everyone knew the role of the Queen was merely that of a figurehead. Several years passed and Madeline bore Darius several children (some of whom were illegitimate, but Darius never need know), but she remained fixated upon obtaining power equal to that of Darius. One evening, she flew into a fit of rage, screaming that if she was not granted equal power in the kingdom, Darius and all his subjects would live to regret it. Alas, unmoved by her impassioned speech, Darius refused to give into Madeline's demands and she, in her rage, revealed the secret power she possessed but had long kept hidden from her husband, disappearing in a cloud of smoke.
Stunned and sputtering, Darius called for his royal guard to search for the witch. The search lasted nearly three months until Madeline was finally found living near the sea. The guard, having caught the witch unaware, was able to restrain her with ropes. They demanded that she return to her husband immediately or the illegitimate children, the identity of whom she thought she had succeeded in concealing from her husband, would be put to death. Furious, Madeline demanded to be let go, for she would rather lose her dear children than be kept as a pet to a fool king, but vowed to bring a curse upon the king and his guard for treating the witch as they had. Reluctantly, the guard released her, and Madeline spoke a terrible curse unto them, indeed:
Long before Mellrose was even born, when Darius was but a young prince of 22 or 23 years of age, it was decided that he should take a wife, for his father, the King, was getting along in years, and it was ordained in the law of the land that a prince could not receive the Crown until he had taken a wife. Maidens from neighboring kingdoms were brought before the young prince, but none seemed to awaken in him feelings of love. In the midst of this processional, a young woman suddenly appeared as if from thin air. She was radiantly beautiful and moved and spoke with such grace and charm that she almost immediately ensnared the young prince's heart. The bewitching creature, who introduced herself as Madeline, charmed also the King and Queen so it was decided that Darius and Madeline would marry immediately.
After the wedding celebration and the passing of the old King, it began to become clear that Madeline would not be the wife or queen that anyone, least of all Darius, had expected. She demanded rights equal to those of the King - to be able to command her own army, the right to make her own ordinances and decrees, and the power to grant or take land away from her subjects - when everyone knew the role of the Queen was merely that of a figurehead. Several years passed and Madeline bore Darius several children (some of whom were illegitimate, but Darius never need know), but she remained fixated upon obtaining power equal to that of Darius. One evening, she flew into a fit of rage, screaming that if she was not granted equal power in the kingdom, Darius and all his subjects would live to regret it. Alas, unmoved by her impassioned speech, Darius refused to give into Madeline's demands and she, in her rage, revealed the secret power she possessed but had long kept hidden from her husband, disappearing in a cloud of smoke.
Stunned and sputtering, Darius called for his royal guard to search for the witch. The search lasted nearly three months until Madeline was finally found living near the sea. The guard, having caught the witch unaware, was able to restrain her with ropes. They demanded that she return to her husband immediately or the illegitimate children, the identity of whom she thought she had succeeded in concealing from her husband, would be put to death. Furious, Madeline demanded to be let go, for she would rather lose her dear children than be kept as a pet to a fool king, but vowed to bring a curse upon the king and his guard for treating the witch as they had. Reluctantly, the guard released her, and Madeline spoke a terrible curse unto them, indeed:
"Every child born to you,
on the eighth day of his life,
will I take for my own
that I may ease the sorrow
of my children lost.
And may you live forever
and see each son borne you
snatched from his mother's arms
and brought to my own breast."
Saying nothing more, Madeline vanished for a second time in a cloud of smoke, never to be seen again.
Thus it came to be that King Darius and the members of his guard were cursed with immortality and the burden of watching each and every male child born mysteriously die when he reached eight days old. No one else in the kingdom knew about the terrible curse, and those who fell under its power vowed never to reveal its nature. So many years passed and the King ached for the companionship of a new wife - a wife that would know her place in the kingdom. Mellrose had been brought up for just such a purpose and was brought to Darius to be his wife. Darius delighted in his new queen, and most of all the fact that she didn't question why they must never have children.
THE END
Author's Note: This story is adapted from the story Lilith, from the Adam and Eve unit. The original story tells of Adam's first wife, Lilith, who was created from the dust as Adam was. Because they share the same origin, Lilith demands to be seen as an equal to Adam rather than helper and when she was refused, she flew away from her husband. I made the story about the King of a nation because Adam is often referred to as the Father of Mankind and made the Lilith character into a witch because it is said that Lilith has taken her revenge out on babies by injuring them on certain nights of their lives, which I found made me think of a witch's curse.
Bibliography Information: Lilith. The Legends of the Jews. Louis Ginzberg. 1909.
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