Myths

Hebrew Bible, Genesis

Bereishith, from the Tanakh (c. 6^th-3^rd Centuries B.C.E.) pg. 98-111

1.      What differences do you notice about the roles of female figures? What’s the name of Noah’s wife?

In these myths, I notice that the roles of women are insignificant. The man is made out to be the main “ruler” of a couple, with the wife obeying and succumbing to his rule. An example of how women were insignificant is when Adam and Eve eat the apple and God says that he will increase the pain that Eve will suffer during labor. Also, in this passage, “Because you have hearkened to the voice of your wife…” (pg. 101) God is giving Adam his punishment and he pretty much says because you listened to your wife, you did something wrong, making it sound like a man should never take the word of the woman. As for Noah’s wife’s name, I don’t think it is mentioned once in the myth. A perfect example of the unimportance women play in this myth.

2.      What is the nature of Adam’s relationship to God? Of Adam’s relationship to Eve? How do these conflict?

Adam sees God as his leader, his creator, because that’s what God is to him. Adam expresses the love and devotion of a child who thinks their “parent” is the whole world. That is, until God makes an appropriate companion for him, Eve. I think that the parent analogy is still applicable here because as the child ages, they still love the parent, but they know how to live independently of them now and when they find a mate, they live more for the mate. He still loves God, but he has an even more special place in his heart for Eve, making him listen more to her and agree with her.  These conflict because of course, God says “Don’t eat the fruit.” But Eve says that it’s ok to eat the fruit. Adam is going to side with Eve, which he did, and ate the fruit. This made him defy god and bring the downfall of humankind. 

3.      What is the place of human beings in these stories?

 Even though the gods are creating these humans, they are still supposed to be a lesser form of a god. They are made to have the outward appearance of a god, but not the inner powers. The gods still know that they are the superior ones and they point out, and are even a little degrading, about the imperfections of man. For example, in this myth when god decides that all things with life in them are bad, he wipes them out with a flood, leaving only Noah and his family with the animal pairs. They look down on man because man sometimes makes decisions that are frowned upon by the gods.

Epic of Gilgamesh

(c. 2500 B.C.E.) pg. 91-93

1. How might the movement from an oral version of the story to a written version of the         story affect what we take from it?

I am going to connect this to Shakespeare in the Bush with the tribe and Hamlet and how the story completely changed for the author of the article because the tribe members had a different way of interpreting what happened in the story based on their beliefs and values. With that said, an oral version of a story or myth has room to grow and change and mold with the story teller and the people the story is being told to. But when a story is written down, that is how it is and that is how it is going to stay forever. The only room for change is if it is translated in another language, losing some of its meaning and value in the last language.

2. In all these stories, how do the gods behave?

In these myths, I feel that the gods have at least two main characteristics: they always bicker and they are arrogant. When they argue, there is always one bad apple of the group who wants to start some kind of war so the gods face off against each other and fight, with the good always prevailing. For example, in this myth, the gods are unpleased with the humans so they want to create a flood and kill them all, like in the bible with Noah. The gods are arrogant because they always think that their creations are amazing until they get to humans, then they look down on humankind’s flaws. If they don’t approve of the human race, why did they make us in the first place?

3.      What differences exist between the human and divine worlds?

One difference between the human and divine worlds is that there are only a small number of divine members and there are a huge number of humans. Another difference is that the gods are normally based on elements of the earth or things dealing with nature. For example, there’s a god who raises the sun every day and there is a god who controls the sea. The biggest difference is that obviously the members of the divine world have powers and humans don’t. The divine can make anything happen while humans have to work for things.

Bering Strait Eskimo Creation Myth

The Time When There Were No People on the Earth Plain pg. 118-119

1.      Would you agree that creation myths represent one of the most stunning feats of the human imagination? Why?

I agree that myths are really a great display of the creativity within the human mind. I agree with this because the world and people are “made” out of the weirdest things and it’s never the same in different myths. For example, in this myth, the figure that is supposed to represent god is a man that has a magical raven mask that can either make him human or bird. And the first man is born from a pea-pod. Then the raven uses the dirt to make new things. I know that dirt is a common theme but the raven-man? Where did that come from? It’s a great display of imagination and creativity in humans.

2.      What might account for the differences between the original materials used to create human beings in all these stories?

I think the main difference in the perception of what everything was originally made of depends on what geographical region the myth came from. For example, if the myth were to come from an island writer, I think a lot of things would revolve around the water and waves. Where this myth talks about Eskimos, I associate them with fishing and I notice that in this myth the raven-man makes a lot of fish. The only connection I can’t make is the dirt but they are outdoorsy people so it can connect in a small way.

3.      What differences exist between the human and divine worlds?

In this myth I really like how there isn’t a difference between the divine and human world. I feel like this because when the guy is “born”, I get the impression that the god made him for some company. I feel like the god is actually a sweet tempered guy and is trying to make things that please the human. He finds joy knowing that a creation has awed the human. He also tries to help the human out, like in this passage, “Then Raven asked man if he had eaten anything. The latter answered that he had taken some soft stuff into him at one of the pools. ‘Ah!’ said Raven, ‘you drank some water. Now wait for me here.’… when Raven returned, bringing four berries in his claws.” (pg. 118-119) It seems like a peaceful union of divine world and human world in this myth.