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."

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.

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.

Lady Lilith

Eve

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.

"What women are like"

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.

The Dragon Lady

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.

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...

The King's Castle

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.

Madeline

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.

Week 3: Reading Diary - Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve in the Garden

Part A.
The Creation (Genesis)
This has actually been taken from the Biblical book of Genesis. It picks up on the 6th day of Creation as God is creating Man. It takes us through the creation of Adam, the first man, the creation of the Garden of Eden, with its Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, as well as the creation of Adam's wife, Eve - the first woman. It is strange reading from the book of Genesis in not so much of a biblical context in which I am hoping to glean knowledge and life application from its text, but rather reading it as a story.

The Fall (Genesis)
Also taken from the book of Genesis, this chapter follows the Fall of Man caused by Eve's disobedience to  God. In this chapter, we gain an etiology of why women suffer great pain during childbirth and also why the snake slithers on its belly rather than walking on four legs like most other beasts of the land. It is interesting how etiologies exist in all type of "mythological" creation stories. This is the only one I know of that explains women's pain at childbirth.

The Ideal Man
This story goes into more detail about Adam himself in the creation of the earth. It explains that Adam was not only the first man, but got a glimpse of the history of Mankind, illuminating the lives of some of his descendants. He was originally created to be a perfect being - a prophet with an untstained soul. I found interesting how this version of creation gives more explanation of units of time, determining that one of the Lord's days is equal to 1000 years. Time is one of the aspects of the book of Genesis that is not made quite clear in my opinion so it was unusual, yet helpful, to see that addressed.

The Fall of Satan
I have heard the story of the Fall of Lucifer but this is a little different. In this version, Satan is jealous of Adam because God ordains that the angels of heaven (of which Satan is one) show reverence to Man, and Satan believes that the roles should be reversed. God entertains Satan's jealousy of Adam and allows Satan to enter into a contest of wits with the mortal in which if Satan is bested, he must agree to show reverence for Adam. Satan is indeed bested but he is unsatisfied and begins to boast that he is like God and should not be made to bow before any mortal. God immediately casts him from heaven to earth. This story provides an etiology of Satan's desire to destroy God's most precious creation - Man.

Lilith
We are told in this chapter of Adam's first wife Lilith - with him only a short time before the creation of Eve. I have heard of Lilith in the context of the deity to which Wiccan practices are centered, but I had never heard her origin. Lilith was created from the same dust from which Adam was created and demanded equality of position with her husband since they came from identical origins. When refused, she left Adam but was captured by angels who demanded that she return to her husband or be punished by losing her children. She accepts the punishment but exacts her revenge by injuring newborn children. This gives some insight as to why Eve was created from Adam's rib - so that Man would be the dominant figure, and history has proven that this still reigns true.

Eve
This is probably my favorite of the readings so far. We are not only told of the creation of the first woman, but her creation, and the details of her creation, are used to explain the inherent differences between men and women. For example: women are not easily placated as men are because they were created from flesh and bone and bone must sit in water for days to be softened unlike clay - by which Man was created - can be softened by only a few drops of water. It also explains why men seem not to notice girls with whom they have been friends since childhood and these girls remain in the "friendzone." Adam's first wife was created in front of his eyes, so the details of her creation were known to him and repulsed him and in the same way, knowing the details of a woman's childhood acts as a repulsive force toward men. There are many other examples of explanation of the nature of women in comparison with that of men in this story, but these were some of my favorites.

Paradise
Once again, this is a more detailed description of something described in the book of Genesis: the Garden of Eden. In this version of Eden, however, it could almost be compared to the underworld known in Greco-Roman mythology. However, like the biblical account of Eden, it outlines how life was meant to be lived - how God intended for us to not have to work for our food and live in paradise with Him forever - before this ideal was poisoned by Man's disobedience.

The Fall of Man
The account of the Fall of Man in Genesis tells us that the Serpent was cursed to slither on its belly after bringing forth sin into the world, but it does not tell us what the serpent was like before its fall from grace. Here we are given an account of the magnitude of the Serpent's curse as well as the magnitude of Eve's disobedience. She not only ate of the forbidden fruit and gave it to her husband, but she also gave it to all living things on earth so that they may reap the same punishment as she. It is at this point that she and her husband realize that they are naked and Adam seeks to sew leaves together to make coverings for themselves but only the fig tree - which provided the forbidden fruit (this - the species of the forbidden fruit - is left to speculation in the bible) - is willing to provide leaves for covering.

The Punishment
The punishment for disobedience to God is actually split into two parts. Here we find the initial punishment of Adam who must give up his supernatural size and will now die eventually. He is also made to fear the voice of God. The Serpent is now to be hunted and killed by Man, must painfully shed its skin, and is no longer to be called ruler of the beasts of earth.

The Punishment (Cont..)
The punishment of Adam, Eve, The Serpent, and also the Earth is continued (the Earth had, too, disobeyed God with the way it bore its fruit). The earth was made dependent on rainfall to produce its crop and Adam and Eve were cast out of Paradise. It is revealed that, had they been repentant, God would have allowed them to remain in the garden, but they were unrepentant and had to leave the garden. It is also said that if they remained in the garden, their new god-like understanding would have led them to take fruit from the tree of life and live forever.

Adam and Eve Driven out of Eden

Part B.
Leaving the Garden
This is the first story in the unit that I have found to be a real departure from the traditional telling of Adam and Eve in the fact that this portion of the legend is not found in the bible. In this chapter, God debates the different areas in which He should place Adam and Eve after their fall. If placed in the wrong spot, Adam would, for one reason or another, forget his transgressions therefore not be cleansed of them. Eventually, God decides to situate Adam and Eve near a cave in which they were to live (and would eventually come to be known as the Cave of Treasures) but they are so afraid and distraught at finding themselves in a foreign land after knowing the beauty of Eden that fall, trembling, and must be brought back up by the merciful spirit of God Himself.

Entering the Cave of Treasures
It is at this point that we really begin to see Adam and Eve lament the loss of their position. This chapter also (if I understood correctly) foretells the coming of Christ that will save Adam and his seed.

They Die a First Time
This is simply more of Adam and Eve's sorrow at being cast out of Eden: Adam becomes so sick with grief that he falls into a death-like state and Eve prays that God either awaken Adam or allow her to join him in (what she supposes to be) death. God reminds them, gently, that their fate was brought upon them through their own transgressions and that He never intended this fate for any of His creations but they angered Him and must now pay the price.

The Beasts of the Creation
We observe further example of God's mercy and pity for humankind when he sends the animals He created to Adam to re-familiarize themselves with him rather than devouring Adam as he fear. I should note that the biblical story of Adam and Eve does not really emphasize the sorrow Adam and Eve must have felt after being cast from the Garden. It focuses mainly on the consequences of their sin on a large scale - the entrance of sin and death into the world - rather than on the immediate consequences Adam and Eve faced, that is, being torn from the life to which they had become accustomed. When they lived in the Garden, they wanted for nothing and had the ability to see angels and other things of Heaven, but when they were cast out of Eden, they, too, lost those luxuries.

Want of Water and Light
At this point, you could say that Adam and Eve are throwing themselves a pity party. They have discovered that now, outside the Garden, they require water, which they had never paid attention to before, as well as light, which they used to provide on their own. We are being shown all of the things that were taken for granted and were forsaken when Adam and Eve sinned. This is something we can all relate to, not knowing just how good we have it, and in our desire to gain more, we lose what good we have.

The Darkness
God explains to Adam why he and his wife had to be punished. He also explains that darkness is not quite the punishment Adam takes it to be - darkness does not last forever, and it is intended for Man to rest from his toiling during the dark. Finally, He reminds them that they will be able to reenter the Garden after the 5 and a half days (5500 years). I wonder if it is supposed to be taken literally that Adam and Eve will literally eventually reenter the Garden, or if God is referring to the coming of Christ, or if He is just referring to the death of Adam and Eve at which point they will enter Heaven which symbolizes the paradise that the two lost to sin.

The Sunrise and the Serpent
Adam and Eve continue to be faced with things they had taken for granted in the Garden. The sun rises and Adam feels its burn and he fears that the sun is God. Also, Adam and Eve come face to face with the Serpent that tricked them, though it is clear the Serpent blames the pair for his cursed fate. We are told that the Serpent used to be the most beautiful, envied, animal of the land, but now has been cursed to be ugly and all the other animals flee from it. The Serpent tries to attack Eve but God sends it away and further curses it by taking away its speech.

Suicide and Salvation
This is more of the same lamentation of Adam with explanation and encouragement from God. In this chapter, God must encourage Adam an Eve not to take their own lives as they seem wont to do out of misery and repentance.

Worship and Blessing
Adam and Eve attempt to get back into God's good graces (they seem to not be aware of His pity toward them and or of His love) by offering Him sacrifices. It's here, finally, that Adam and Eve seem to be coming to terms with their new position and therefore begin to praise and worship God, who in turn, blesses them.