Are You Ready for Friday's Quiz?

1. What is a myth?
A myth is a story which, although it is fictionalized, has its basis in truth. It is a way to teach the values and thoughts of men, as well as social, familial, and ethical structures.

2. Why do we study mythologies?
To learn from the past, to complete the four functions.

3. How do we study mythologies?
By reading and comparing stories to each other, comparing stories to everyday life. We analyze what we read through the filter of the myths our culture is already imbued with, and see what we can find that teaches us something new about the world.

4. Compare & contrast predator/prey anxieties in Gilgamesh & Mwindo.
Gilgamesh does not seem to be so worried about food, while Mwindo steals so much food that all his friends overeat like goldfish and grow ill. One of Gilgamesh's greatest fears seems to be death and mortality, and (at least so far) Mwindo does not seem to fear death at all, as it seems not to stick.

5. Apply Campbell's stages to Mwindo.
Mwindo is a trickster, so this doesn't apply exactly...

6. Discuss the four functions of myth.
Mystical is to experience the awe of the universe, cosmological is to explain the shape of the universe, sociological is to support and validate a social order, and pedagogical is about how to live as a human.

Prompts for Week Three

Is Gilgamesh the first and archetypal superhero?

Familial Myth

We are the everyman, the mutts of a dozen countries in Europe. The strangers, only four generations off the ship on one side of the family. My mother was born Catholic, my father's mother a Mormon, her husband's father a Baptist preacher. Religions of all sorts abound, but they don't like to talk about the mythological implications. Jesus is the go-to word, luck is avoided as a sigh of unbelief. And heaven help you if you tell stories about other gods.

As is true of most myths, my dad's side of the family is the more prevalent one, despite the fact that my mom's family is three times as big. The heroes, if you want to use that word, are the men, the egotistical ones. The three generations of doctors, serving humanity. The rites of passage are incredibly basic, but deceptively hard to achieve, as you deal with the weight of an entire family trying to hold you back, keep you from growing up.

Once you reach eighteen, that protectiveness stops, and you are dropped on your head, so to speak. You'd better find out how to be a hero, and fast, or you'll end up being just another red shirt.Of course you are urged to keep in touch. What kind of hero calls his mom to let her know how he's doing? But yeah. Much as I want to create a new story, I don't know if I will be able to. After all, don't all myths just repeat after a while? Besides, there's really no such thing as a new story. Just different parts of the same tale.

Posted in response to the Week Two prompts

Myth Sighting!

The top image, a detail from Aeneas flees burning Troy, was shown in my art history class this afternoon, and it reminded me of something. So I did a bit of google searching and found the second image, from last year's royal wedding. Thought I'd include it as a myth sighting of sorts. Though the situations are very different, these two images amused me, so I thought it was worth tossing up.

Prompts for Week Two

Tell the main story of your family mythology? What is the genealogy? Origins? Who are the heroes? What are the rites of passage? What other stories or jokes support the mythology? What functions do the stories of your family mythology serve? Does your family see its "story" as myth? Do you buy into your family's mythology or do you see yourself creating a new story?

How to Access D2L Content!

I don't know if anyone else has tried to access the assignments on D2L and failed, but for those of you who need to have the assignments RIGHT NOW, I have a tip. Click the file. It should download as a .zip file. If your computer automatically unzips this folder, you will find that it is full of files your computer cannot use. In fact, you should just delete the unzipped folder, as it basically took the document apart when you unzipped it. Go back to the zip file, and change the extension from .zip to .docx without worrying about messages that you receive about changing the file type. Normally this would be a bad thing, but we are just changing the file back to the type it is supposed to be here so there is no need to worry. Once the extension has been changed to .docx you should be able to double-click it and view as a normal file. Hopefully the D2L problem will be sorted out soon but in the meantime there is a solution!

Creatures of Myth

in response to the following prompt:

AM I, OR HAVE I EVER BEEN, A MYTHIC FIGURE?

In some ways, all people are creatures of myth. We are destined to follow the paths that have been laid before us, paths that are illustrated by the telling of myth. "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." (Eccl 1:9, NIV) The myth is the classic, the common man's way of understanding and displaying the archetypes of mankind. After all, there is no such thing as a truly original story--how can we not be creatures of myth when that is our point of origin?

More specifically, yes, I do believe that I have been a mythic figure. At least that is to say that I have inhabited a number of archetypes throughout my life. Admittedly, though, I tend to think more in terms of tropes and memes than myths. I guess that means that I'm drawing from the "next set of myths" if you will. On that note, although it doesn't so much have to do with me, this article is quite interesting when thinking about the meaning that things may or may not have.

This is more of a scattered set of thoughts right now but it might get added to later...

After having completed the readings, I find that I have new insights to add. Yes, I did throw this article up before I had actually finished the readings. Shame on me. Anyways, although I like the idea of the separation of myth and legend, I will still lean on a more contemporary view when I say I most represent the mythic figure of the idiot. And who, at some point or another, has not played the role of the child, or the fool? If I play a hero, though, it must be a very boring one.

Currently I am fascinated with the seven archetype deities from A Song of Ice and Fire. Maiden, Mother, Crone, Warrior, Smith, Father, and Stranger. Although I don't currently feel that I embody any of those figures, they are very similar to the archetypes in our world. At times, they are treated much time same, but then at other times they are treated very differently. I'm not sure if this makes sense, but that is just how it is. Oh, and there are direwolves in that story, too.

The paratactic and syntactic storytelling differences are intriguing too, but that will be a subject for another post.

Welcome!

If you're in Lit 285 and looking for some help setting up your blog, you have come to the right place. As you can see, I've used this blog before for other classes where blogging was required, and I've come to acquire a fairly decent base of knowledge on how blogger works. If you're in need of any help, feel free to contact me (just click on my profile to send an email) no matter how silly the question seems to be, and I will get back to you as quickly as possible.