African Mythological Commonalities
Creation myths vary among African ethnic groups highlighting similarities and differences in belief systems and societal constructs. There are many factors that contribute to creation myths for each individual group. Survival issues dominate many my ths, suggesting the origins of land, the ability to cultivate land, and the benefit of existing off of what one has cultivated. Questions of where land came from, the purpose of man, and the relationship between the creator and the created are evaluated. The important issues of each African ethnic group became the focal point of their creation and origin myths.
A predominant theme among African creation myth is the people's relation to the land, as a means of survival and origin. The shilluk myth, "An African Story of the Creation of Man" and the Yoruba people's myth, "The Creation of the Universe and Ife" state that man was first made from clay. Both creation myths indicate an awareness and a need for explanation of the physical differences among human beings. The Shilluk myth claims that there are different colored people because of the varying colors o f clay that Joak, the creator according to this myth, encountered as he wandered the world. The Yoruba people's myth explains the differences in the shapes of humans as a result of the god Obatala being drunk when he shaped man out of clay. In both myth s, the action of the creating god caused the variation in man's physical characteristics.
The Shilluk myth attempts to explain why man's body is designed as it is. Each part of the body is designed, according to this myth, to fulfill a purpose related to survival.
Most cultures have a creation myth, a story of how humans came to exist in the world. Often, they involve Gods of some capacity who exist without much question or explanation. Many myths have a common idea for the origin of the world, like Earth being born from water, a golden egg, or a great monster. The Mayan creation myth and the Babylonian creation myth are similar in that they both begin with water, and account the creation and purpose of man. They also differ, as the Mayan Popol Vuh chronicles a peaceful tale of trials to forge the Earth and sentient beings to worship the gods, while the Babylonian Enuma Elish tells of wars between gods that lead to the creation of Earth and of man as a servant to the gods.
Creation stories have profound effects on humans. Those associated with ancient cultures/civilizations aim to ensure the successful survival or well-being of themselves and that particular culture/civilization of their association, but not all are beneficial, prosperous, or fortunate. Mesopotamia’s “The Gilgamesh Epic”, Egypt’s “Hymn to the Nile-Documents”, and Mesoamerica’s Mayan and Aztec creation stories/religion are influential to establishing significant relationships within society, whether that is between humans and nature or humans and their “god(s).”
Myths – as they are known to most of the world – give insight into the pasts of various countries and religions as the people saw them. They have been used to explain phenomena in nature or describe the tales of courageous and important men and women throughout history. Creation myths in particular define how the Earth itself was created, along with the universe, heavens, hell, people, and creatures that exist today. Genesis of Christian mythology, for instance, tells the story of how the single deity God spoke and formed everything from day and night to man and woman. Various African creation myths, such as with the Yoruba, explain the creation of the Earth through at least a couple gods working together and all life sprouting from a seed.
Throughout the world there are various cultures with varying religions and creation stories to explain the creation of the Earth and it’s inhabitants. Of these creation stories two with similar and also different characteristics is the Creation story in the book of Genesis which is a part of the 1st Testament in the Hebrew Bible and explains the creation of Earth and humans, and the Theogony which is the greek creation story that describes the origins of the Earth and the Greek Gods. Both the Theogony and the Creation in Genesis show nature as a blessing for humans but it can also affect them negatively, However the myths differ in the ways that the Earth and humans were created and how humans interact with the deities of the creation stories.
The Maori myth is a Polynesian story about the creation of the universe which according to Rosenberg was different from other creation myths because it begins with nothing and then progresses through a process of “nonbeing to thought to the creation of the universe and human beings” (351). Even though it may be different because it goes from “nonbeing to thought” instead of nothingness to a spoken word or action, it has many similarities to other creation myths in how it explains the origins of the Gods and how each one represents a natural event or aspect of nature and humanity. The myth begins with an “idea” that “was remembered” and then “became conscious” and then “a wish to create”, all of which created a “power to live and to grow, even in emptiness” (352). At this point there was still no being, only thought and desire which gives the idea that what is being addressed are the human attributes of feeling, sensing, desire and thought, this is where this story is different from other creation myths.
If you’re one of the many people who has a family member who simply can’t live without alcohol, then John Cheever’s “The Swimmer” is a story that you would like to read. The story is about a guy named Neddy Merrill who is simply in love with alcohol. Throughout the story, Neddy goes from someone's swimming pool to the next because he wants to make his way home by ‘water.’ This is not normal for an ordinary dude to do. Throughout the story, Cheever hides in plain sight symbolic clues that foreshadow a conclusion that Neddy has a serious issue.
To begin, most Africans have come from societies with traditional African religious backgrounds unrelated to Islam or Christianity. As a whole, African religious traditions combine belief in a Supreme Being with the worship of other gods and ancestors and use ritual and magic to mediate between human beings, nature, and the gods. In many African languages, there is no word for God, because in their tradition every thing and place embodies God. Many African religions have common tenets. They share a belief in a community of deities, the idea that ancestors serve as a way to communicate with these deities. They also share the belief...
In John Cheever’s short story, “The Swimmer” he conveys the transformation of the character through the use of the literary element of setting. The story begins in an American, middle class, suburbs. After what seems to be a night of partying and drinking. Neddy Merrill, the main character initially appears very optimistic; he has a perfect family, high social status and very few problems in his life. In spite of his age, he feels young and energetic therefore decides to swim across town through the neighborhood pools. However, his journey becomes less and less enjoyable as the day unfolds. The water become murky, uninviting and he becomes exhausted. Also the people in his surrounding become less cordial including his mistress who wants nothing to do with him. His voyage then comes to an end when he arrives to an empty, abandoned home. The central idea suggests that an unhealthy obsession with the materialistic aspects of life can lead to alienation.
Desire as Power, and Stripping it through sexual means in The Swimming Lady and The Disappointment.
The swinging sixties were a time of change, people began to think differently they were no longer living in a Great Depression. Middle class families began to move their families to the suburbs to find the great American dream. John Cheever examines suburban life and peels back the clean cut image and exposes its deep, dark secrets in many of his short stories. In “The Swimmer“, John Cheever’s short story explores the dissatisfaction and secrets among the middle class white Americans who live in suburbia .
Slabey, Robert M. "John Cheever: The 'Swimming' of America." Critical Essays on John Cheever. Ed. R. G. Collins. Boston: G. K. Hall & Co., 1983. 180-191. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Janet Witalec. Vol. 57. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 28 Feb. 2014.
“The Swimmer” is the short story written by John Cheever and it is considered as one of his best short stories. It was published in the collection of short stories “The Brigadier and the Golf Widow”. This story is regarded as one of the best examples of Cheever's suburban stories. The story follows eight miles long way that Neddy Merrill tries to pass by swimming the pools of Westchester County. Neddy Merrill is represented as the main character of the story, whose retrospective of life is illustrated by swimming through the neighbor's pools. The plot of the story concerns the time passage and the main character's unawareness of the very same. At the begging of the story he is described as a happy, family man who lives the “American dream” but he ends up alone because he disregarded the
In “Swimmers” by John Cheever, the negative changes in the narrator’s surroundings as he journeyed along the river allowed him to leave his façade and reconnect with reality. For example, when Neddy leaves the gazebo at the Levy’s house and analyzes his surroundings, he says, “The force of the wind had stripped a maple of its red and yellow leaves and scattered them over the grass and the water” (Cheever 730). The description of falling leaves compared to the description of a bright, summer day presented at the beginning of the story shows that a significant amount of time has passed since then. This reveals to the reader that Neddy is not truly aware of his surroundings because from his perspective, it seems as if only a few hours have passed
Kaduna: Baraka Press, 2004. Magesa, Laurenti. A. African Religion: The Moral Tradition of Abundant Life. Nairobi: Pauline Pub., Africa, 1998. Mbiti, John S. Introduction to African Religion.
As historians, anthropologists, and archeologists descended upon the continent of Africa where no in depth written history applied to the Sub-Sahara vastness new approaches were employed out of necessity—observing religious rituals and festivals along with taking into account millions of myriad oral histories to gleam a mere thread of the truth of a particular event or personage became the order of the day. As J. O. Awolalu wrote in his article, What is African Traditional Religion? : “RELIGION is a fundamental, perhaps the most important, influence in the life of most Africans; yet its essential principles are too often unknown to foreigners who thus make themselves constantly liable to misunderstand the African worldview and beliefs. Religion ente...