Greek Mythology

In the myth of Achilles (specifically gotten from the Iliad of Homer by Richmond Lattimore) Achilles is a war hero who has to decide between kleos, the Greek version of ultimate glory, and leading a normal life. The problem is, is that if Achilles goes out into battle he will cause his side a great victory but will in return be killed. Achilles at one point runs away from the fighting in fear for his life. By running away his side of the battle started losing and would continue to be defeated until Achilles would re-enter the war. Many readers and critics despise Achilles for his choice to leave the battle but I on the other hand empathize with him fully. One can learn two morals from this myth; 1) Running away is the never the answer when many lives are at stake 2) Even someone who is powerful has fears and weaknesses. I believe that the second is the moral I recognize more in my daily life. We all want to please people and make life as comfortable for others (at least I do). But what Achilles expresses when he turned his back on his country was a human emotion most of us feel time and time again, submission. Giving up was the only way he could have re-evaluated his wants and his own needs. I learn that backing away isn't always the worst strategy and can ever help one keep out of a bad situation. At the end of the story Achilles does re-enter the war fulfilling the prophecy that he all along had to conform to.  This can also show that Achilles had re-evaluated his choices and with a clear head he decided that his country needed him at this time and his sacrifice was his choice. 

The Woman Worrier by Maxine Hong

In the Maxine article, The Woman Worrier woman are described to be overall useless to society. One girl who had searched the mountains found two elders to help her on her journey to defend and protect her village. After completing many tough and tedious tasks this now young woman goes back to her home town on a mission to get rid of the bandits of the land. She dresses as a man and recruits many soldiers to fight with her against the towns enemies. Throughout the article the protagonist is all powerful when she in in-feminine but at the end when she admit so to speak to her femininity she loses that powerful touch. The end of the article explains that this one Chinese woman felt like she and this protagonist had a lot in common. Although I did not see any such similarities the author explains that the common bound between her and the hero is that fact that both of them have revenge of their backs. To me personally this article was a bit challenging to understand because of the many foreign concepts involved. I actually didn't understand the meaning of the writing until the very end when the author explains her circumstance as a Chinese immigrant. I have a lot of questions concerning this piece; Why does the hero of the story leave her family in the first place? Whats her inspiration? And do Chinese woman (of that time) look up to characters who literally strip away their femininity in order to gain power? In that society can a woman not be a powerful figure in society? I know such stories usually have a moral and I feel as thought the moral is some what confusing because of the ending.  The moral to me is that, woman in any society have to change there sexuality almost to be able to do extraordinary things, although I don't agree I do feel that this is the moral.

Trickster Tales Ed. by Matt Dembicki

 In the story of Raven the Trickster by John Active the raven was a cynical trickster who enjoyed to cause mischief when ever he may. When we see the Raven finally getting what he truly dissevered (getting eaten by the whale) he some how escapes from his demise. After this I really thought the Raven had learned his lesson but surprisingly he yet again caused more mischief. He managed to formulate a compelling story on how the whale meat was 'evil' in a sense. Because of this the butcher's fled the scene, leaving all the blubber for Raven. The ending on the story surprised me because usually folktales like these (even if its a graphic novel) contain a respectable moral but this one has something else entirely! I did not enjoy the ending because of this fact and feel like a moral so untrue and misleading should not be spread through any means especially to children. In the second folktale The Wolf and the Mink  by Elaine Grinnell the moral is actually one that I feel is valuable to any and all age groups all of the world. A Mink works hard to get fish for a meal and ends up boasting about this. His friend the Wolf stops by and in Native American tradition one must give half of what he/she is eating to his/her guest. Not wanting to share the Mink did not eat his food. the mink fell asleep and the Wolf ate the fish. The Wolf, who was very wise, created evidence that showed that the Mink ate the fish and not the Wolf. The Mink woke up believing he had eaten the fish. This shows that trickery, haughtiness, and not wanting to share will only back fire. It teaches us that the only to gain is to give.  

American born Chinese by Gene luen Yang & Graphic Memoirs of Age by William Bradley

In the graphic novel American born Chinese by Gene luen Yang a monkey gains power and soon becomes king. He believes he is equal to all the other gods and goes to join their party. When he goes to the party he is kicked out for the mere fact that he is a monkey. He goes back home and for forty days he creates a better self. He then tries to show everyone he is just like him. He creates havoc and even the gods fear him so they get his creator to stop him. The moral of this graphic novel to me is that you shouldn't try to fit in with people, you need to be yourself and not try to be someone else. In the Graphic Memoirs of Age by William Bradley he explains different types of 'definitions' of graphic novels. One definition is autobio. An autobio is a graphic novel that is written about the author writing it. After listing the different definitions and interpretations of what a graphic novel is the author goes into two literary works he found particularly interesting. Both of these literary works discussed how simple concepts are made complex and elaborate but shouldn't they? Don't we, as a society, believe that we can learn from anything even the simplest of stories? The author continues to say that when someone writes a autobio (or any sort of memoir for that fact) the hardest part is that there is no linear path. Life isn't linear so the book isn't either and that exactly is the problem. The author of any memoir must know what to omit and what to elaborate on. In conclusion both readings were speculating a theme o what makes a good graphic novel. Illustrations, words, and a moral seem to always be apart of a graphic novel and thats what these two authors seem to be showing.

The Sandman by Neil Gaiman & The Sand/wo/man:The Unstable Worlds of Gender in Neil Gaimans Series by Ally Brisbin and Pual Booth

When I first finished the comic, The Sandman by Neil Gaiman, I was utterly confused. The reason, I believe, for my confusion was mainly because this was actually the very first comic book I have ever read! It as surprisingly amusing but yet, I felt, lacked a purpose. Later when I read the article, The Sand/wo/man: The unstable Worlds of Gender in Neil Gaimans Series by Ally Brisbin and Pual Booth, I understood what the purpose of the comic really was. The authors made it clear, through much analysis and research, that the comic had a great message for its readers. The message was one involving gender and sex and how society influences out perception of the gender roles. The authors explain further that Neil Gaiman had intertwined his comic book series with concepts of the Peer Theory. This theory explains that some individuals do not obey the social norms of gender roles. A way in which the Gaiman shows this to us is when he uses the illustrations as a role defying tool. The pictures in the comics are unclear or "abstract" as Brisbin and Booth say and because of this we don't identify the characters as strictly playing female or male roles. Although the article was quite fascinating I do have a bit of critiquing on the piece as well. The title of the article clearly alludes to us that we will be reading the ins and outs of Gaiman's comic book but instead we get some chucks here and there that are surrounded by a pollution of other writers and authors. My second issue was that the authors seemed to be contradicting themselves by saying that a certain author does not believe in gender roles but by backing this claim up with a stereotypically gender example. My third and final complaint is that the article was extremely detailed and probably aimed to a specific audience (that I am clearly not apart of). Because of this fact some of references were vague and incomprehensible. What I want to know after reading both articles is how specifically our comic book section relates to the "Worlds of Genders" and, of course, did you to have trouble with this reading because of the lack of knowledge in the area? 

American Indian Myths and Legends

At the very beginning of the article the editors, Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz, discuss how

American Indian Legend is literally everywhere. He takes the time to mention that Indian mythology

is unlike many other mythologies because it doesn't follow certain norms we would expect when

 hearing (or reading) a story. My interest reached its peek when the author wrote about the Sioux

doctor or medicine man. This "doctor" explains that if Indian tales die out than this will cause the old

language to die out as well. When the language dies the legends soon follow. Another important

aspect of Indian Mythology and language is explained in this article.  The editors explain that

language is a tool for ones thoughts to get across and myths is the soul or essence of thought.

The editors later show us that geography also plays a great role in the types of stories told. Depending

on where the storyteller lives he/ or her will tell the stories pertaining to their geography. For

example if someone lives near a river they can tell stories of sea-monsters while people living in the

forest would more likely tell stories of animals like grizzlies.Because Indians lived in tribes the

the stories varied depending on the tribe you were in. When tribes intermingled culture and stories

overlapped creating new stories from previous ones. I enjoyed reading all the stories even though I

wasn't understanding the point or moral all the time. The one story I really had trouble understanding

was the very last one, The snake brothers. I was confused about its ending, did the older brothers at

the end help him? Did they even know that there younger brother was in front of them? And why did

the other snakes come out? Were they going to hurt the brother?

Three Wishes by Ricardo E. Alegria And Juan Bobo: A Folkloric informational system by Sarai Lastra

When first reading these three tales I was surprised by the uniqueness of the morals within them. Before getting to these morals I would like to discuss how these tales, unlike the ones we have read in the past, are different because they have a hidden moral that one must search out in order to find. The first fable, Juan Bobo, the sow, and the chickens, was indeed an interesting one that caught my eye for its humor. The moral or message was unclear to me at first but after reading Juan Bobo: A Folkloric informational system  by Sarai Lastra I understood the story as a whole more clearly. The character of, Juan Bobo, at first glance seems foolish beyond compare to the point where the reader may be confused of the purpose of the story but by reading the second reading for this week I understood the purpose instantly. The moral, to me, was that someone that seems so straight up incomprehension can indeed be smart enough to have a deeper motive and understanding. The other two stories were far less complex for me. In the second tale titled The Ant in Search of Her Leg the moral was easily found unlike the other two tales. The moral of the tale was that above all the powers of the world is God and even the most insignificant creature, like an ant, is in need of God. The third tale was very confusing to me for the moral was seen but I don't know what its significance is. The last stories moral, I believe, was that one can not hide their true self for long before they are discovered and stripped of their mask. I don't know if this is the true message or if there is another (which there probably is) but what I really would like to know is what you think the moral of the story is? Do you agree with me or is there another message entirely? 

Living Folklore by Martha Sims

In this essay Martha Sims begins with a introduction that seemed to shock not only myself but other students in our English 1012 class. From reading some of your blogs I can assume that a handful of you (including myself) were a bit surprised by Sims opening paragraph for it was both defensive and angry sounding. Continuing through the chapters I learn why the author feels this way about Folklore and its misconception. The author feels that Folklore, as a form of spreading ones ideas to a group, is not informal or untrue but on the contrary does not have anything to do with the legitimacy of it all. Fast forward after a couple of pages of rants I see more clearly why the author feels the need to explain the “definition” of the word Folklore. Folklore definition, while generally important, is not what Martha Sims seems to feel the need to focus on. The author chooses to pinpoint how Folklore, even if interpreted otherwise, is of extreme importance to people and to society in general. Sims brings a great amount of importance to the role of Folklore but to understand this complex role she first explains how we can identify what is and isn't indeed Folklore. By definition Folklore is a form of transmitting “unofficial” knowledge to people of a group. Sims tells us that Folklore is important mainly because it has such a great impact on our society. In everyday life we use Folklore for simple tasks. To my dismay all this, although informative, was not fully helpful to what Folklore has to do with me in my life and how it not only affects me but how it can also help me grow and as person and college student. I don't know if you'll agree with me, but, in reading this essay I feel as if I have more questions now than ever before that I feel should be answered.

Fables and their importance

Upon first glance fables look like a short story with animals, usually, as the main characters. With a more purposeful eye one can look into each fable (or in this case at the end of each story) and find a moral that may pertain to his/or her life. To me personally one fable stood out more than the rest. The story titled "The boy and the filberts" struck of great importance to me. In this short story a boy digs his hand into some sort of jar filling up his hands completely. To his dismay his hand can not get out of the jar for it is to filled. A bystander tells the boy that with a hand that is halfway full you can get your hand and what you desire out. This taught me a powerful message: in life we might think we can handle a certain amount of challenges but to our surprise we can not. Life teaches us not to take too much upon ourselves even if we may believe we can cope. In  "Aesop, Aristotle, and Animals, The role of fable in human life" by Edward Clayton he explains that fables are not only stories for our amusement or even for a moral but they have an entirely different purpose. In this writing the author starts by telling us three fables. In each of these fables we can clearly see that the message or moral of the story is that evil will prevail and that at the end strength is stronger than the power of knowledge and good in general. The author explains that these fables are not just for us to read and admire but to understand its true message. With many descriptive details the author comes up with evidence pointing to the fact that fables are in a sense the crossroad between humans and animals. The stories portray animals with a humans characteristics but on the contrary the fable is there to show us the profound differences between the two. A fable, as Clayton describes it, is a way to show humankind what we can be and what we should become. In the stories the animals don't take, for example, voice into account but in our world the human voice is a rather powerful tool of restoration and/or destruction. From fables we can see that humans, although more "fair" and political than animals, do have room to become even greater. From both readings I have learnt the power of short to the point fable stories and I strongly agree with Edward Clayton in many ways.