Discussion Week Two Questions 1. Similarities: In both versions of the myth, with the group of gods in the Sumerian version and the one God in the Israeli version, the gods view the world as being corrupt and in need of cleansing. In the Sumerian version of the myth it reads, “The uproar of mankind is intolerable and sleep is no longer possible. So let the gods exterminate mankind.”
Hannah Kent’s speculative novel “Burial Rites” explores the journey of Agnes Magnusdottir, the last person to be executed in Iceland and her struggle to fit into society. Amidst the populace, Agnes is caged by labels that prevent her from attaining a sense of belonging. Through blending narrative perspectives, use of motifs to portray Agnes’ emotional recount, Kent exposes the dominating nature of Agnes’ belonging over rejection in the brutal 19th century Iceland where “how other people think of you determines who you are.” While societal and patriarchal discrimination stripped Agnes of her voice and her version of the truth, Agnes is granted an “audience to her life's lonely narrative” where her truth is accepted thus finding belonging. Furthermore,
Over the course of human history people have always believed in a supreme, divine being, or a god. Today’s society is no exception, there are countless of religions from Christianity to Hinduism. The archetypal theme of “respect for the gods” in both Homer’s Odyssey and the Coen brothers film O Brother Where Art Thou? shows similarities and differences between society's belief in a god in the present and during the time of the Ancient Greeks.
The language depicts society’s values and helps readers understand the significance of social structure and one’s relationship with the gods. The vivid figurative language suggests that one must live life honorably or die in vain. Living honorably results in being thought highly of and leaves you with no regrets. Living a life without devious activity has remuneration.
Since the beginning, men have worshipped higher beings. Elaborate stories of the gods and humanity have been passed down through generations; and Homer’s ‘Odyssey’ is an excellent example of this relationship. _________ . The Odyssey’s themes of sacrifice and revenge depict this relationship as both beneficial and detrimental, and necessary for mankind.
Synthesis #2 Draft #1 The poems “Songs of Experience: The Chimney Sweeper” and “Hymn to the Intellectual Beauty” written by William Blake and Percy Bysshe Shelley touch on the topic of religion and the lack of importance of this faith in people’s lives. Religion does not bring truth and meaning to life as it is perceived to doreword this . There are topics of greater importance in one’s life, faith is not only put in God and his teachings but a much greater power. Blake followed the religious teachings of Christianity growing up, and still expressed religion as not being the most important belief in his life, ironic for a man of strong beliefs for his religion.
For centuries, mortals have scoffed at the actions of the gods, often comparing them to little children arguing over toys. As Honer states, “We men are wretched things.” (Homer) However, what humans fail to realize, is exactly how similar the actions of the immortals are to that of man. The concept that allows readers and audiences to relate to the gods so fully is the fact that they are so similar to humans.
These concepts can even be applied to ancient societies in Greek mythology. Many gods were blinded by the desire of having authority over others or being feared by their competitors and fellow civilians. The god’s persistent angst over this idea of sovereignty consumed them and morphed them into beings filled with vain. The gods are figures of tyranny because of their obsession of power leading to the perpetration of sociopathic acts such as Cronus killing his father, Uranus, Athena challenging Arachne causing Arachne’s death, and Aphrodite scheming against Psyche. One god that made it his cardinal ambition to achieve and maintain high power was the son of Uranus and Gaea, Cronus.
Ray Bradbury uses several craft moves throughout his dystopian story names ‘The Veldt’. Using imagery, foreshadowing, and irony; Ray Bradbury enriches the story with these varying craft moves. Each is used to place the setting and feel of the story in the readers’ minds. Imagery is a craft move that was used to detail important areas in the story and help sell the scene Bradbury is creating to the reader. This is used to build a mood; one in particular is suspense.
Margaret Atwood has seamlessly woven a tapestry of feminist elements - mainly regarding gender oppression - within her works. With that, using two of Atwood’s texts, The Handmaid’s Tale and The Year of The Flood, as the foundation for our literary research, we will be focusing on the commodification of the female flesh in both similar dystopian contexts. Commodification refers to the action or process of treating an object, or a person, as a raw material or product that can be bought and sold, or even treated as an object of which sovereignty can be held over by one. In both works, women are victimized and treated as sexual beings whose bodies and physical expressions can be freely used by the men who have power over them against their will. The two texts illustrate how society brings about the oppression of women and this exacerbates the commodification of women.
Through these tales, the explanation of human nature and behaviour is explained leading to a greater understanding of the origin of such human acts. This essay will examine the different relationships which exist in the myths of Greece between the gods and the mortals as well as the events related to them. Greek mythology highlights the difference between humans and the gods based on the powers they both have. The gods are portrayed as beings with supernatural powers over the different aspects of nature which they have control over. Humans, on the other hand, are viewed as inferior beings with no power
The Human condition is the root of what it means to be human, how we are all human, and in the same way, how we are individuals. Throughout this essay, you will perceive a better understanding of the human condition, and how it is reflected in select pieces of literature. The Human condition is an extremely paramount part of understanding literature. Who are we if we are not human?
She points to the deficiency of the Bakhtinian theory that fails to establish dialogism between the grotesque body and the female one. While explaining that although he relates the grotesque body to the images of womb, pregnancy and childbirth, he fails to recognize their close affinity to “to social relations of gender” (The Female Grotesque: Risk, Excess and Modernity 63). She condemns the Bakhtinian contradictory treatment of the female body, which simultaneously celebrates its generative and subversively debasing potential and abbreviates it to be a mere vessel to give new birth (RW 240). While trying to explain what “remains repressed and undeveloped” in her male counterpart, Russo points to the subversive potential of the female grotesque to overthrow the normative constraints on female actand look (Russo 63). “[D]efined […] in relation to the ideal, standard, or normative form” of the twentieth century, this work tends to argue that the female grotesque in contemporary age still has the power to create horror as it plays a fundamental role “to identity formation for both men and women as a space of risk and abjection” (Russo 12, Miles
The gods represent the best and worst, and they show us both the possibilities and limitations of human behavior. If nothing else, the gods remind us of the overwhelming
Yet it holds the same human experiences, same human emotions, and same human ambitions. It holds the same sentiments we hold dear today, such as life and friendship in utmost importance. It speaks of human ambition to be remembered and to live forever, that can be found even up to this day. Gilgamesh attributed his immortality with enduring monuments, such as the city of Uruk, modern day individuals, in the same manner, attribute their immortality with the name they made for themselves. The truth of society, how nature works, and how human beings relate with each other, and how man’s actions can influence other things, are greatly intertwined.
