In the Modoc, Onondaga, and Adam and Eve creation story, the female characters are perceived as curious, disobedient, and their titles made them dependent on their male counterparts, which made them disposable. In the Modoc creation story, the “youngest daughter” of the Chief of the Sky Spirits gets pulled out of the volcano by the wind, while doing a task for her father. However, her father never goes out looking for her. This shows that the Chief of the Sky Spirits doesn’t value his daughter, and views her as disposable. In the Onondaga myth, the “young wife” of the Ancient Chief fell through a hole in Skyland. Her husband never goes looking for her, which means that the Ancient Chief didn’t value his wife. The muskrat in the Onondaga myth …show more content…
was responsible for pulling up the earth, even though when she did it, none of the other animals thanked her or offered to help her. The muskrat was only important because she pulled up the earth, after she did it the other animals didn’t care about her, which made her superfluous. In the Adam and Eve creation story, God casts Eve out of the garden for eating from the forbidden tree, and curses her. God doesn’t care about his creations, they are insignificant to him. However, in these stories, women are also seen as curious. In the Modoc creation myth, the daughter of the Chief of the Sky Spirits was told not to stick her head out of the mountain, but did so anyways because she wanted to see the ocean. In the Onondaga creation myth, the wife of the Ancient Chief is looking through a hole in the skyworld and fall through. The wife’s curiosity was endangering for her, which portrayed her negatively. In these creation myths, women are also seen as disobedient. The daughter in the Modoc story disobeys her father and sticks her head out of the mountain, even when she knew she would be pulled out. This shows that she has poor decision making skills. In the Adam and Eve creation myth, Eve disobeys God and eats from the tree. Eve is portrayed negatively with this trait. In these creation myths, the women’s titles are also dependent on their male counterparts. For example, in the Modoc story, when the girl is given the title “youngest daughter”, she is dependent on a father. The Onondaga woman is called “young wife” which makes her dependent on her husband. In the Adam and Eve creation story, God refers to Eve as “companion” or “Adam’s Wife” which makes her dependent on Adam. These creation myths are also used to explain natural phenomena, such as volcanoes, the earth, the marks on a turtle shell, and women's extra rib.
In the Modoc creation story "When Grizzlies walked upright" the Chief of the Sky Spirits " made a big fire in the center of the mountain and a hole in the tops so smoke and sparks could fly out... sparks would fly out and the earth would tremble". The Modoc didn't understand what volcanoes were or how they work, so they incorporated it into their creation story to explain it. Similarly in the Onondaga creation myth, they used a story to explain how the earth was made and why the turtle has markings on its shell. In "The earth on Turtle's Back", the muskrat swim to the bottom of the ocean and pulled the earth up then placed it on the turtle's back. The use the story to explain this because they didn't have the technology to understand it. This is also shown in the Adam and Eve creation myth. God said, " it's not good for man to be alone; I'll make him a helper." God then put Adam into a deep sleep, and removed one of his ribs, and "replaced it with flesh" creating Eve, or "woman". During biblical times, and now, we don't understand why women have an extra rib so we included with our creation myths help us make sense of
it. In the creation of animals play significant roles, such as creating the earth, creating humans, and tricking a female character into eating from a forbidden tree. In the Onondaga creation myth, when the woman fell from the sky, the muskrat swim down to the bottom of the ocean to grab the earth and pull it back up for her to live on. This shows that the Natives have a deep respect for the animals that live there. In the Onondaga story, the grizzly and the goddess had children, and created man. Since the natives believed this myth, they had a deep respect for grizzlies because they believed that they came from them. They wouldn't kill grizzlies and if a Native was ever killed by a grizzly, they would bury him and put rocks on top of his grave. But, in the Adam and Eve story that animal is portrayed negatively. The snake in the story "seduced" Eve into eating from the forbidden tree, getting them kicked out of the Garden of Eden. This shows that we don't have a deep respect for animals as the Natives did.
In the book Between Shades of Gray Ona is a character who is placed in the book to create emotion and a demonstration of motherly grace. One very important way they create These things with her in this book is by using her baby in the equation. As soon as her baby was born she had soviet soldiers stuff her and her baby into a cattle car full of people to take them to who knows where. On this trip in the cattle car no one expected the baby to live and right they were. Once the baby had died Ona was grieving over the child's death by “ Being very quite and not celebrating when they find out the germans were in lithuania!” (Sepetys 69). This adds great emotion and shows great motherly grace in the book by connecting with the people who are reading
Although the myths share many similar ideas, the myths are created differently with contrasting ideas and parts. For example, one difference between the two myths is in Genesis, God created the Earth, while in The World on Turtle’s Back, a woman created the Earth. Regarding creators, there is only one God and creator in Genesis, while there are multiple in The World on Turtle’s
Creation myths are made to explain how the Earth was created and to introduce information on the relationship a group has with their creator. In both Iroquois and Babylonian creation myths, the gods do not find the Earth below as their first priority. In the Iroquois myth, the gods only help out the Earth when they are needed, but in the Babylonian myth, humans have more of a relationship with gods as the god that created Earth is willing to go beyond what is needed to help better the human experience on Earth.
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.
Genesis reads that “In the beginning, God created the heavens and earth,” then “God’s spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.” Another characteristic is how, after the water, came land. How the World Was Made, describes how the “soft mud,” from under the water “began to grow and to spread out on every side until it became the island we call the earth.” In The Sky Tree, the soil was “placed...until they made an island of great size.” A final similarity, is how after land came animals and how the animals helped to take care of the people on the earth. In How the World Was Made, the world the animals lived in was called Galun’lati. Galun’lati “was very much crowded,” and “the animals wanted more room;” Water Beetle left to find land so that the animals could have more space. While Water Beetle helped find land for the animals, in The Sky Tree a turtle sees a woman falling from the sky after she had jumped after a sacred tree. Turtle told his friends what he had seen and had them “bring up pawfuls of wet soil,” and place it on his back which created a “new earth,” for the woman to “settle gently on.” In Genesis, God created the animals
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.
Finally, she experiences destiny for the first time once the fortune teller tells her of her future lover awaiting her. For the first time, she finds passion and learns how to feel again. She now sees a future that she thought she would never have. However, Macabéa’s future suddenly disappears as her future lover, Hans, hits her by car. Macabea’s true destiny was her death as she gained more attention in that moment than she did in her whole entire life. Lispector displays her feelings through her voice and Macabéa’s process reflects in the male character, even though he has a wealthier status than Macabéa. He stands in the opposite social position of her, however, he still feels nonetheless, loneliness, and as invisible to others as her. “I
Women have given birth to new generations for centuries and have the common stereotype of being caring and gentle. But in the creation myth, women were given to man as a punishment. In the book of collected Greek tales, " Mythology Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes", by Edith Hamilton, women take up important roles that shape each story. Although women are usually characterized as being helpful and motherly, Greek mythology, on the other hand, portrays them to cause distress, fear, and anxiety to numerous men. Women’s actions are shown to be influenced with jealousy and vengeance which gives them an evil nature.
A creation myth is an explanation of how the world began and how people first came to inhabit it. Every creation myth is different, but there is similarity in most of them. Motifs are recurring ideas that help develop a theme and these motifs are common in many creation myths. Three similar motifs are the idea of a supreme being, the idea of people being created from organic material, and the idea of rulers being overthrown. These concepts appear in the Inuit, Greek, Hindu, Chinese, Norse, and many more myths. These three motifs connect to one another and are common in many creation myths.
In addition, women were depicted as symbols of lust, seduction, and evil who bring destruction to men, undermining the true values of women. Furthermore, women were expected to remain loyal to men while men have no expectation for themselves, which promoted gender inequality. Exemplified by these three elements, it is evident that The Odyssey is a misogynistic text depicting a society where women occupy subservient and inferior positions. The Odyssey exemplifies a society organized and controlled by men where males consistently treated women unequally, depriving them of true freedom. Homer’s male characters often saw women as second-hand citizens who had no true voice in society.
In considering the relationship between the meanings of myths and their representation of women, we learned that the major role in shaping the narratives was played by men.
Elizabeth A. Johnson draws attention to how, despite being considered equal in Genesis, women had their worth ignored “Consistently subordinated and demeaned in the theories, symbols, rituals,
Every ancient society and civilization has creation myths that were passed down and keep alive throughout the passing of time by word of mouth. These myths are the world’s oldest stories and are vital to these cultures because they explain their beginnings and give purpose to their existence. By analyzing and interpreting different creation myths it becomes easier to understand different cultures and their connections and relationships with heir beliefs and god(s).
The root of all gender issues which presently exist in society may be traced back to The Creation Story in Genesis. This crucial chapter of the Bible provides evidence supporting that God intended for man and woman to exist as equals, yet he assigned gender roles once Adam and Eve disobeyed him by eating the fruit from the forbidden tree of good and evil. Thus, men have been characterized as the “breadwinners” and women as “child bearers and housekeepers” since the beginning of humanity. The story of Lilith as Adam’s supposed first wife suggests Adam took on a patriarchal role from the beginning, yet Lilith refused to accept his assumed superiority. She initially challenges him, and then leaves him; she represents a rebellious, yet independent woman. Although these two stories on the first man and woman are significantly different, the two convey that men and women have been trapped in certain roles since the beginning of time, and have always had a power struggle between them. Gender issues have not evolved over time; they have always existed.
Throughout all Greek myths, the gods were always created in the image of man. This shows how Greeks viewed men in a positive way and thought that they were more powerful and superior to women. In addition, they thought men and women are unequal and that men were given jobs that required more physical strength. Although women played a role in Greek myths, they were not as important as men. Women had a more easier and feminine jobs than men. In the Greek creation myth, we see Hades as the god of underworld and Aphrodite as the goddess of love. The difference between th...