Ritual And Symbols: The Story Of Jumping Mouse

Symbols are a way that humans apply meaning to ritualize settings and objects, which without the complex brain of Homo sapiens, would be nothing. The Story of Jumping Mouse uses ritual and symbolic meaning that shows representations add depth to the text and helps people make connections between two wildly different concepts, also this story explains how man uses those representations for new meaning that provides what the reader should remember when the story is over.
The jumping mouse comes to the river, which can be represented as a lifetime being lived. The rushing waters coming from the mountains show how life is continually flowing down, at the beginning very fast then starting to slow down closer to the end. Where it eventually feeds

into the ocean; the vastness and unknown depths represents death and the confusion of the afterlife. This is one of the many symbols in the jumping mouse, these symbols add more meaning to the story and connect the river and life in a way that could not be compared if humans did not ritualize how they see the way symbols work. This can also be applied to the medicine lake at the top of the mountain, where the world and everything in it is reflected. This represents the rebirth of the jumping mouse to a new soul, shown by how Jumping Mouse changes form into the eagle and flies off. It gives deeper meaning of what is simply a lake into a complex changing from a blind and sad mouse into an all knowing, sharp eyed eagle who is powerful and intelligent. Being able to make connections is a part of what causes humans to have the advantage and not be animals. The way we ritualize biological imperatives separates us and this is caused by how we can think about our own thought. In doing all these unusual functions, story telling is transformed into symbols and the jumping mouse can be translated in many different ways because of how symbols can convey opposing ideas but no one idea is more right than the other.
As the river is used for a symbol of life it can leave the impression that life is just a motion gone through by nature and all organic matter is serving a purpose for the better of mother earth. Another person could interpret the river as a totally different symbol and take away a different lesson from jumping mouse, but dislike thought processes result in varying conclusions. This shows how powerful the use of symbols are, when a geographical point is being transformed into an extravagant idea used to base life choices off of. The medicine lake, a symbol for rebirth, has the secrets that the earth holds in creation and the cycles of life. There is a renewing of the heart in Jumping Mouse when he looks into the lake. This causes a realization of knowing what is the reality of living and what is ones individual purpose for life. When the meaning of stories is hidden in the symbols put in the story, like in the jumping mouse, it shows a man’s ability to comprehend why we as humans ritualize all the instinctual behaviors people have. An example of this is dining instead of just eating. The Story of Jumping Mouse leaves a specific takeaway for the reader to pick up on, which when remembering the story the details are forgotten but the universal truth is not lost which is the most important part when writing a story.
By looking at The Story of Jumping Mouse symbols become clear and those symbols take the piece to a new level by letting simplistic geography be represented by complex ideals and philosophies. It can also provoke thought about deeper meanings in universal takeaways that the reader will not forget whether it be lived out in their life or be a taboo that must be avoided. It changes the meaning of ritualizing and brings it to the point where it is no longer something to do it is a habit that cannot be broken.