Rae Ann's English 212 BLOG

My Final Paper

2005-12-12T22:43:00.000-07:00

I now know a lot a more about the bible and classical literature than I did four months ago. In this class I learned about authors that specialize in dissecting myth and the bible. These authors, Northrop Frye and Robert Calasso, taught me how simple stories can be interpreted with sophistication and logic. I learned to think beyond what these stories say and find the deeper meaning behind the story. Not just bedtime stories, both sides of this literature have a point to make, they were used to teach the people of their respective societies morals, ethics and right from wrong.
The classical literature or mythic stories are important to the ancient world as a way of explaining the world around them. They were unable to use science to see why flowers grow or how the body works, but they could use the gods and their stories to explain how these things work. The story of Diameter and Persephone is a good example. This myth of the gods is used to explain a simple thing, the changing of the seasons. I also found it interesting how the myths of the gods involve mortals challenging the gods, like the story of Prometheus, who gave man fire. The consequence was that he was chained to a rock and had his liver eaten everyday by an eagle. Stories like these influence modern times.
In comparison, biblical stories tell how mortals have reverence for God. The people in the bible stories listen to God and submit to Him. They understand that God has their best interests in mind and must follow His will. Men like Job, have their faith tested and tested repeatedly, and in the end Job never turns from God, and in fact his faith is strengthened by the experience. Other stories like the Creation story, tell how people and the Earth came about, this story even illustrates how the people of God should obey Him and His wishes. Adam and Eve would still be in the Garden of Eden, if Eve had stayed true to God and believed in Him. Moses would never have been able to leave Egypt, if he had not had great faith in God. Without the help of God the Red Sea would never have parted, and the plagues of Egypt would not have come to pass. Many of the stories in the Old Testament are about testing faith in God and how, with enough faith, those being tested will win out in the end.
The commonality between the two different literatures not only involves cultural differences, but a basic difference between men and women. There is a tension that is present between all things, like ying and yang. The tension must be present in order to keep life interesting. Without stories like, Athena and Dionysus, the ultimate battle between men and women would make stories like theirs meaningless. The passion Dionysus had for Athena is part of the tension, and Athena’s desire to have nothing to do with men in general, is what pushed Dionysus to have her at any cost. The story of Leda and the Swan is just as important when we talk about how the tension between men and women is needed in a good story. If Zeus had come to Leda as himself and then they had had sex, the story would be boring and no one would care about it. Zeus making himself a swan and then seducing her in order to lay with Leda is what makes this story intriguing and worth knowing. It’s the tension in the myth that makes them readable, which keeps generations of students of literature coming back for more.
Even Jesus’ story is worth looking at, not just as a religious story, but as a piece of great literature. This is a story that is being told over and over again, that affects the lives of every person who hears it. Even if you are not a Christian, just listening to the story one either believes that the things Jesus did are miracles or they see His story as a great work of fiction. In the end, the fact that the bible is still around today and a book that people read everyday in one form or another is what makes it a great piece of literature. The stories in the bible reflect the thoughts and morals of a people living over two thousand years ago and the bible provides us with an unusual look into history. The bible even gives us examples of tension between the sexes. The marriage of Jacob to Leah, and the fourteen years that he had to work in order to marry Rachael, the one he was promised in the first place. The tension in that story leads to deceit by Rachael; she lies, steals, and even gives her maid to her husband. Other stories like these come and go in the bible. The struggle between men and women through out the bible explain why women were treated as second class citizens.
The way women are treated on both sides show how far back the struggle for equality of the sexes has been going on. Both the classical story and the biblical story tell how each society functioned and how they treated not only women, but slaves and animals. Sometimes women were treated worse then slaves and animals. Yet the tension present in each story told involves women and in the end how important they are to that story and every story. The tension is what makes the difference. The tension is what drives both sexes of anytime and that drive is what makes a difference. That is why it is important to listen to these stories, because no matter who is telling the story or in what time that story is being told, mankind will always need the tension to make the story come alive.

War of the Theaters

2005-12-07T22:49:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago, I was just minding my own business when I ended up flat on my back. I was on an alter that was being used for a sacrifice. I just happened to be that sacrifice and my father the “great” Anon was the one doing the sacrifice.
My name is Gina and I was sacrificed so that my father, Anon, would win the battle of which theater would get the next Harry Potter movie. We live in a small town and in this town there are only two movie theaters. These two theaters compete for the new movies and in the case of Harry Potter; the theater that would show the movie would put the other theater out of business. My father went to a seer, who told him that if he sacrificed me, that his theater would be able to show Harry Potter.
So after sacrificing me, Dad went home to tell Mom, Chloe, the good news. Mom was already aware of my death, and she told Dad as much. She also told him that she didn’t like the fact that he had been sleeping with the competing theaters daughter, Sandy. The more that Mom said to Dad the angrier Mom became, and in a fit of rage she stabbed Dad three times.
Once Mom realized what she had done, she called Charles, her lover, and told him what happened. Charles told her to call the cops and explain that when she got home she found him like that. The cops believed her story and Dad was buried in a “peaceful” ceremony.

Ten years later my brother Rusty came home from being in exile, only to discover that Mom had killed Dad and inherited the theater. Mom has been running the theater with Charles, and been doing alright. Our theater won Harry Potter and became the only movie house in town. Still, Rusty was very upset, so he decided that he needed to avenge Dad’s death. So, with the help of my sister, Trea, they plotted to kill Mom and Charles. They decided that they wanted to be cunning and kill them without warning.
Rusty, being the smart one, decided that Trea would go home and make believe that nothing had changed. Meanwhile, Rusty and his friend, Phil, were to come to the door and tell Mom that Rusty had been killed in a car accident. Since Mom didn’t know what Rusty looked like she believed him. Mom was so distraught that she didn’t know she was being killed until it was too late. She had no idea that Charles had been killed before her. In the end I know that my brother and sister were happy to have her out of the way.
After my brother had killed Mom, things were going well for Rusty and Trea. They were running the theater and it was making money for them. They had pretty much moved on with life, but Mom was not taking death with grace or easy. You see when death occurs unnaturally the dead spirit is able to haunt the living. In this case, Mom was able to enlist help from other spirits. These spirits would make things fall over; they would emit strange sounds and even appear before my brother. Slowly my brother started to go crazy; eventually Trea had to put him in an insane asylum.
It was there, that my brother was put on trial by these spirits, Mother included. They decided that Rusty needed to die. They condemned him to die and so Rusty started to pray, to anyone, for help. One night in the dead of sleep Rusty heard a voice saying, “I am here to help you”, over and over again. The voice belonged to the spirit of Apollo. Now, I know that must people won’t believe this part of the story, but trust me it’s true. Meanwhile, the spirits Mom enlisted started talking and they figured out the best way to kill Rusty. They were going to slowly torture him with memories of Mom.
Apollo, on the other hand, went to seek out Athena, and asked that she give Rusty a trail to see if his crimes were worth the punishment that he was to receive. Athena agreed to hear his case, so the next morning the Spirits, Apollo, Rusty and even Mom, came together in the Courtroom on Mount Olympics. A very cool trick if you ask me. The trial proceed with the Spirits tell Athena how Rusty had cruelly and masterfully had killed Mom, that he derived pleasure from her death and in the end how killing a blood relative deserved the punishment of death by torture.
Athena began to agree with the Spirits, but Apollo brought her up short and told her that she had to listen to his side of the story. Athena begrudgingly agreed with Apollo and told to be quick, because she didn’t have any patients for Mother Killers. Apollo with his eloquent voice and soft speech tell Athena that he had told Rusty to kill his Mother, she needed to pay for the death of his father and what better way than to be killed by the son. Athena sat and thought about this news, she was curious to know why no one had mentioned the fact that Cleo had killed Anon, and with this news, Athena declared that Rusty had done nothing wrong. With those words spoken, Athena sent Rusty free and he lived happily, ever after.

The Book of Job

2005-11-17T20:47:00.000-07:00

I have found that the book of Job is one that made me angry. How can "God" allow the Devil to treat his followers that way? God wants his people to learn the lesson of faith, but what I don't understand is how allowing the Devil to treat Job like he is an expendable being. I know that Job was being tested and that in the end he got everything back and more, but how can that compensate for the things that were taken from him in the beginning? Maybe I missed how this story helped the Early Christians, but I don't think that this story is very flattering to God and he is a good and wonderful entity.

Eschatology is the branch of theology that deals with end of the world or humankind. It also has to do with destiny. I think that in the world of religion destiny is a fluid concept. I happen to believe that destiny involves a little bit of self-help and outside influence. For the Christian religion, the bible tells of a end game. A time when the world will end and only the good will go to heaven and the evil shall live in hell with the devil. I hope that if there is a heaven that it will be a lot like earth. That life goes on is a form much like it does now, only that there is no fear, criminals and the like. That would be heaven to me, also no more money worries.

A new question

2005-11-01T22:40:00.000-07:00

I want to know why Orestes and Electra don't feel any anger over the of their sister. They are ready and willing to avenge the death of the father but they have any anger towards him in response to him killing their sister. Personally I would have been beside my mom and killed my dad too. That is just a thought I had as I read the Liberation Bearer. Does any one agree with me?

Zeus

2005-10-30T21:17:00.000-07:00

As I am reading this wonderful play, I am noticing a pattern of words in the story like we were asked. Zeus, is one word that pops up numerous times. In fact I counted a total of 32 times in Agamemnon alone. I find it interesting how many times they refer to him specifically. I would have thought Apollo would have been a more sought after God for these Greeks.

My Question

2005-10-30T21:06:00.000-07:00

Dr. Sexton asked us to write a question about Oresteia. Here's mine: Why would the people of ancient Greece be okay with revenge by a father or a man, but not by a mother or a women? Any thoughts?

Oresteia

2005-10-24T00:09:00.000-06:00

This weeks classes are dealing with Aeschylus' The Oresteia. As I was reading the introduction, I realized who confused I became even after having spent the last few weeks talking about the Greeks. So I thought that perhaps some of you out in cyber land might be having the same issues. With that thought in mind, I made a little family tree for the Tantalus Family. This family tree is in accordance of Robert Fagles.

Tantalus is the head of the clan. He offends the god's by letting them eat his sons flesh.
Pelops marries Hippodameia. Pelops is the son of Tantalus and Hippodameia kills her father.
Pelops has two sons Atreus and Thyestes
Thyestes seduces Atreus' wife and is then banished by Atreus, then Thyestes eats his son's because Atreus feeds them to him.
Atreus has two son's Agamemnon and Menelaus.
Menelaus marries Helen. Helen is then taken by Paris to Troy.
Agamemnon marries Clytaemnestra and has two important kids. One is Iphigeneia whom he sacrificed to win the war, the other is Orestes who kills his mom to enact revenge on her for the death of Agamemnon.
Clytaemnestra kills Agamemnon because he sacrifices Iphigeneia, then she takes up with Aegisthus.
Aegisthus is the only son to survive the eating of the his brothers by his father.

Hopefully I got this right, if anyone finds a mistake, please let me know.

Experiences

2005-10-21T19:11:00.000-06:00

In today's class, we were asked to write in our journals about an experience that seems to take of ever. And granted lately it seems like my Brit Lit. class is it, but one I was thinking of in class was this: About twice a year I drive home to Washington State. I usually take along two bottles of Sobe to help me stay awake. On one of my most recent drives I had drank both bottles before I got to the Idaho border. And if you have driven to Lookout Pass at all you know that there isn't a restroom for about 80 miles on either side of the pass. Let me just say that driving the pass seemed to take about a week. That was really hell for me.

Today's Class

2005-10-19T23:51:00.000-06:00

I had a great time in class today. All the presenters were awesome. I learned a lot about food from the Cave group. I never thought about the relationship between food and the circle of life. I think that it is an interesting that everything is in a circle, not just linear. Food grows from the earth and everything that dies become apart of the earth again. This cycle is repeating everyday and in every way. Most people don't take the time to think about this cycle. The concept is not just biblical but comes from the classical and pagan religions also.
The Garden group was hilarious. I enjoyed the style of the play as well as the funny takes on the bible stories. The reference to the garden was very enlightening, and I think that it is interesting the two groups of the cave and the garden have things in common. They over lap in some of the points that Frye is trying to make. The Cave deals in rebirth and circles, as well as, the garden with the cycle of life and death. The women being the creator of the fall and the women delivering the end of the fall. This parallel strike me as interesting.
The sock puppets of the furnace was great. I never though of Jesus going down and visiting and kind of hell. I like the idea that he tries to go to hell to get people to repent and come home to god. I think that it was a very well done presentation.

The newest news

2005-10-17T01:17:00.000-06:00

So it's been awhile since I have written in my blog. I must say that I enjoyed our test on Wednesday. It was pretty fair. I really am surprised by how much I remembered for the test.
The more I read about the bible and Frye, the more I am certain that I am not sure what is going on. I have a hard time understanding what he is saying and the more confused I get. Hopefully the more I read (and reread) the more it will start to make sense.
The group project is coming a long nicely and I know that every one in class will enjoy our presentation. This is a very cool picture of Mt. Sinai, through in my research I have discovered that new archeology studies have suggested Mt. Sinai of the bible is in Saudi Arabia, not Egypt. Cool huh!!

Valerie's BLOG

2005-09-20T20:49:00.000-06:00

I would like to reply to Valerie's Blog from Thursday. First, I hope that I am interperting her meaning correctly. As such, I agree with her, when she says that the bible has some great stories. It has value as a great book, and a wonderful piece of history. I believe that it is one of the first documents that is a written form of history.

On that note, I would also like to say that I don't really remember a lot from my years in bible study classes. I only thing I took from chruch was that I didn't like it. But I diagress. I would like to say, that I believe that the bible should be a document that has historial and even literary value.

These stories should be looked at as just that. There is no physcial proof that the bible stories are more than that. Archeologist have not found the Noah's Ark or for that matter the Ark of the Covenant. Objects like the Ark of the Covenant would be a very important find in proving that the bible is more than just a book or collection of stories. I use the Ark of the Covenant because Noah's Ark could be just a boat, but the Ark of the Covenant has a special place in the bible.

Perhaps this tangent is just that and an inapporiate one at that, but I feel that in view of the fact that we are talking about the bible perhaps it is a good idea to look at it without the religious views that coem with it.

On a completely different note, I am reading the Marriage of Cadamus and Harmony. For me this "story" is confusing. I am having trouble with the continuity of the story. The author seems to be saying the same thing and retelling the same stories and in random directions also. If anyone happens to have an idea on how best to read this story, I would be very grateful.

PS. Sorry about any spelling mistakes. The spell check isn't working.

Biblical Literalism

2005-09-16T02:38:00.000-06:00

During Wendnesday's class, Dr. Sexson talked about Conrad Hyers and Biblical Literalism. So I "googled" those terms and I came up with the article by Dr. Hyers. As I was reading this article (at least I think it was an article, it may be an essay) I realized that I believe a few of the things that he says. Mostly how our society has become literal in everything from the media to our personal lives. This society must be politcally correct with everything that we say.
Then, as I read futher on, I realized that he has started to say things about Genesis 1 that I have never thought about. He talks about how the writers may not have used the numbers in terms of days, but in order of how important those events are. The people who are interperting the bible are being to literal in those interpations. He talks about symbolizism and these numbers.
As Dr. Hyers continues on, he discusses metaphors and how the creation story relates to polytheism and monotheism. He compares the story to the other religions being practiced at the time of the writing of the bible. He explains some of the history and how the believers of monotheism were being persucted at that time for their beliefs. (Does that sound familar to anyone?)
He talks a lot about how the people of our society have lost the real meaning behind the bible and how they use certain parts to support their opinions, and completely ignore others that contradict themselves. I must admit that he is right, may people (either with intent or not) do this. I think that this article is a must read if you want a opinion that has some meat to it.
Here is the site that I read the article on: www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=1332

2005-09-14T00:25:00.000-06:00

I know that I am a little behind with this blog. I am not used to doing these things and I have trouble remembering to write something.
So, I am going to start this log off with a passage of Frye that clicked with me as I was reading. In the second chapter, he talks about myth. Naturally, I was taught that myth is just stories of the Greek and Roman Gods. I never thought beyond those teaching. As Frye talks about myth as not only stories, but as ways for the people of that society to know about there customs and history, as well as know about their origins and class structure, I realized that our society uses media like TV and movies in much the same way.
We see images about life in this society and our culture uses them in much the same way. We either want our lives to be good like some characters or we think "thank God that is not me". There are of course other ways to use the media, but the similarities of cultures makes me wonder if we have really evolved as far as we think we have

My first blog

2005-09-01T17:46:00.000-06:00

So, this is my first attempt at anything like this. I hope it works.

I will agree that Northrop Fye is confusing and long-winded, and if I understand him right, he has some very interesting points that he has made.

Since this is my first try, I will leave my opinion at that. More to come.