The Myth Phaëthon In Our World Today

In our culture today, many aspects of ancient literature can be found within it. One such example of this can be found in the Greek myth Phaëthon. The myth details the story of a boy who is trying to learn the truth of who his father is and eventually is killed. Many questions, truths, and messages that can be found in the story of Phaëthon are present and relevant in our world today. The myth touches on subjects such as, the power of answering questions, the love of parents, the positive and negative consequences of courage, proving one’s self to another person, keeping promises, and being careful what you say.

One thing that we as people like is to know everything. When we have a question(s), we often will stop at nothing to answer it. In the myth, Phaëthon wants to learn if the stories that his mother told him were true, that the sun god was his father. This drove him to make the journey to ask the sun god personally. This shows how he was drive to go and get the truth. In today’s culture, answering questions are also important. Most recently, for instance, Malaysia Airlines flight 370. MH 370 went missing during a flight between Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Beijing, China. With a Boeing 777-200er missing for close to three weeks, it is obvious that many people will be asking questions. Millions of dollars, and hundreds of ships and aircraft have been thrown at the problem in the hope that answers will come. Though we have small piece of evidence here and there, the full answer to the question of, “What happened?” is still in the works. Movie and book plots are also perfect examples of how answering questions are a powerful motive. Any good movie or book includes problems into the plot that the main character is trying to answe...

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...hem or someone else. The myth also contains a perfect of example of being care of what you wish for. Phaëthon’s wish to take his father’s place for a day gets him killed because he did not understand what he had asked for. We also sometimes put ourselves into situations where we have no clue what to do. For instance, we may sign up for a sport or something of a similar nature but join completely in the dark and we may become overwhelmed by it.

To conclude, Greek literature has many connections to the modern world. The myth of Phaëthon holds many truths, messages, ideas, and themes which are relevant today was they were then. Answering questions, the love, protection, and care parents have for their children, courage, proving yourself, keeping promises, and being careful of what you ask for all play important role in the myth as well as in the the real world today.