Unending Mythology

When I first registered Dr.Sexon's Lit 285 Mythology class and started telling people about it, more than two people said the same thing to me, "You're lucky." One of these guys was from the writing center, and one was my college writing teacher. Yes, we are lucky. I am very glad I got to take this class with a knowledgeable professor, and I regret the classes I have skipped. This class has really opened my eyes to the mythology world, moreover, it led me into a brand new literature world. I never knew too much depths about the English literature, and as much as I want to be fluent at English, there are still many common things even elementary school students know and I don't. My English writing is still a weak point, and I constantly struggle with public speaking. This class required it all. Reading, writing, and public speaking. I don't think I have ever done so much public speech in my entire life, and I was amazed to see how great our classmates could writ. But I am thankful because now I at least know SOME stories I can cite in my other writings assignments, and most importantly, now I am more interested in reading mythologies

Anyways, this class is coming to an end, but mythology is international and everlasting. Thank you Dr.Sexon.  

My favorite Mythology, a story about revenge

Revenge is the eternal topic in both the mythology and reality world. Hamlet and The Count of Monte Cristo are two of the greatest revenge stories in history. In my childhood, I was once startled by this story I am about to tell, but as I read it today I find it rather fascinating.

In ancient times, there was a child whose face was considered peculiar because his eye brows were as far apart as a foot wide. People in town called him Meijianchi, which is a translation of "One foot wide between eye brows."

Meijianchi was the son of a famous swordsmith named Ganjiang. Due to the King's demand, Ganjiang spent three years to make a sword that was so sharp that it could cut steel into pieces. Ganjiang knew the ruthless King would kill him after to avoid such powerful weapon fall into the hands of his enemies. Thus Ganjiang secretly made another strong sword, and told his wife to leave it to his unborn child. As expected, the King executed Ganjiang after he has minted the matchless sword.

After Ganjiang died, Meijianchi was born and raised to be a young adult. He was filled with rage and hate when his mother told him about the truth about his father's death, he wanted to revenge. He took the powerful sword his father left for him, and said farewell to his mother because he must travel to the capital to chase after his foe.

On the other hand, with a guilty conscience, the King had a dream about Meijianchi coming to kill him. To avoid this dream becoming true, he quickly drew a picture of Meijianchi and offered a reward for whoever could catch him. To keep this assassin away, he ordered the soldiers to post this picture everywhere in the capital city.

Meijianchi immediately escape to hide in the woods after he heard about the situation in town. He was extremely sadden by just thinking about he couldn't complete his reprisal. Suddenly, a man showed up. This mysterious man was covered in black clothes, and his face was not revealed. "Give me your head and your sword and I will revenge for you." Even though Meijianchi was scared, he thought this was the only way to accomplish his avenge. He quickly drew his sword and cut off his own head. Standing with his head on both of his hands, Meijianchi handed his cranial to this man. The mysterious person said, "Don't worry, I won't disappoint you." Maybe comforted by his words, Meijianchi's dead body finally fell down.


The man brought Meijianchi's head to see the King. While the King was pleased and wanted to celebrate, this man spoke, "My dear King, you may want to place this cranial into a hot soup pot until it's completely rotten, otherwise the bad spirit might still cause trouble." The King agreed. He mandated his guards to bring him a pot with boiling water, then put the head in it. Three days have past, although the pot has been boiling, the cranial still hasn't showed a sign of rotting. The mysterious man suggested the King to take a closer look, so that his prestige can scare the bad spirit away. But as the King turned and walked closer to the big pot, the man in black pulled out his sword and cut down the King's head.

Meijianchi's head bit the King's ear right away, all of a sudden, the two heads started bashing and biting each other, it was difficult to determine which one would win. The man in black was so worried that he eagerly cut off his own head to help Meijianchi with the fight. Seven days later, Meijianchi and his help finally won. But at this time, the three skulls were already cooked pulpy, and no one could tell which one was who. Later, people separated what was left into three sets, and buried them in the same place. Today, it became a well-known tourist attraction called "The Three King Mausoleums."

What I Learned Presentation

That, Anyways, is What I Have Learned

This class has opened my eyes to the mythology world and helped me realize that all mythologies are real. For the first time, I knew not all gods are flawless. Most Greek gods have dispositions just like human beings; they have sexual desires; they battle with family for power like people do in the Downton Abbey, and they can be just as selfish as humans. Our everyday life is a myth, and everything that happens to us is a displaced myth. For me, all we have learned in this class fall into three categories: life, death, and love.

At this point of life, no one is really short of stories to tell. The difference is some more than the others, and some are more interesting than the others. Or, should I say, they are all as interesting as a red wheelbarrow, we are just too numb to see the fun. The reason why I think mythology is all about death, life, and love, is because I think the theme of suffering is already included in life. One does not simply talk about life without mentioning about suffering, because the most memorable things are the awful ones, and life is the assemble of memories. In fact, in my opinion, life is all about suffering and we live somewhere in between life and hell. We are able to enjoy peaceful moments because we understand the pain wars bring; if there were no comparison, there would be no pain, but also no joy. For instance, writing five papers in my final’s week is a huge misery, and getting up this morning was some impressive suffering. But they are a part of college life that I can’t avoid.

Isn't that why we did presentations on the topic of initiation? Life is a painful process, and it is precious and worth fighting for because it has an end. We know the fear of death and that’s why we treasure every minute we breath; we know that honor will follow after pain and that’s why we accept challenges courageously. “The gods get bored with men who have no stories,” Calasso said. Indeed, imagine living an immortal life and there is nothing that can hurt you physically or mentally, would you still call that living? If we can’t get hurt, what is the point of fighting? And without the efforts made for survival, what is the point of living? Even the gods would cast aside those who with no stories. There must be something great after every agony; it is so great that driven by this thought, students can get up every morning and go to school.

One thought I was inspired by this class is that true love is worth waiting for. When the time isn't ripe, the more you want to capture the one you like, the more likely you are going to harm that person. Greek gods and legends make great examples for this: Zeus’s affection for Io turn her into a gadfly and Apollo’s passion transformed Daphne into a laurel tree. If they could repress their lust and just wait for the right timing maybe none of that would happen. Love is, after all, wanting all the best for that person instead of controlling and possessing this person for selfish reasons. Sometimes we just have to wait for the right moment to express feelings and to make the decision of being in a relationship. Now, I may act like I know what love is, but actually I don’t. Because there is no such thing as love, it is just a fantasy. Because just like empathy, love is only an expression of our imagination.

Death may not be the end, and life is enriched by each individual’s reflection of death. No one knows what is waiting for us behind the door of death and what we will become in the after life. Maybe there is reincarnation, perhaps there will be a judge to determine if we are going to Heaven or Hell.  But the unknown is what makes us better people, if we are sure about where we are going after death, some may just lose the motivation to live or fight for anything. And because we begin at the same starting lines and we are kind of sure we are all going to the same place after we die, we have the urge to compete with others.

After all, I think what I’m trying to say is that, we are who we decide to be, and there are only three things we have no control of: life, death, and the love for someone. Of course, by life I mean suffering, and by love I mean an unrealistic dream. Only death is true. As Persephone goes back to the underworld, it is time to leave this class. But it is only the first part of mythology: separation. We will encounter other myths as we step out of the classroom; we will suffer, and we will return. Because somewhere in our brain, there contains memories about Lit 285, and whenever we recall this memory, we will travel back to room 1122. When I first moved to this country, I felt absolutely no belonging. No matter how cheerful the crowd is, I always feel like living in another world. It was like everyone around me was writing about their own stories, and I was not even a little dot in their literature. But I’m glad I got to take this class, and learned that I am not in the worst place, which is outside of the story. I am more than a dot, because I am the main character of my own story.

Thanksgiving

I wish everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I think all holidays are mythological and I just realized that the most common themes of holidays are either to thank for what we receive, or about rejoice for survival.

Without a turkey, my Thanksgiving meal was not that traditional. During the weekend, the American side of my family decided to come down to Laurel and celebrate Thanksgiving with some stir fry. Even though there was no turkey, we had mash potatoes, salad, and a pumpkin pie. I am sure we are not the only family who has "different" food. It is impossible all families cook or celebrate a holiday in the exact same way, but the spirit and the meaning of this holiday don't change.  

Bart Simpson once said his prayer, "Dear God, we paid for all this stuff ourselves, so thanks for nothing." This kind of humor is accepted by people because unfortunately that's a popular attitude when it comes to giving thanks. However, it doesn't mean we are not grateful. Many of us are thankful for what we have, but still often stutter when we have to express it in a formal way.

Distraction and Procrastination, My Biggest Enemies

I understand that we all have the same amount of time in one day and it is just the matter of priorities, but it is still hard to fight laziness and procrastination. 

I think in the modern society today, one of the reasons why procrastination exist is that many of us live a rewarding style of life. We reward ourselves by ignoring the idea of diligence and taking actions quickly right after a hedonistic thought across our minds. For example, I have a six-page paper due tomorrow afternoon, but deep down there is a voice keeps saying "I don't want to do it, I don't want to do it and I won't do it until the last minute..." This thought gives me a painful image of writing this paper, so I resist the reasoning part of my brain, and choose to sit and wait for my mind to offer me a better deal. When my brain tells me, "Hey, let's get on Youtube and check out the best Vines of this month!" I immediately get delighted by this suggestion, and before I know it, my body already acted to make this idea come true. Here I am, my hand is on the mouse, and my eyes are on the computer screen, watching Youtube videos. 

Yeah, even though it is hard but I am trying to fight procrastination...it is going to be another long night. 

Displaced Myth （Revised）

The story takes place in a modern high school of America called Cawdor. Mary was an ordinary teenage girl who was enrolled in honor classes and was involved in all sorts of activities. Mary's cute face and kindness have won her some popularity at school. However, she could never be as popular as Tia, the cheerleading captain whose mother was the mayor and father was the richest man in the city. She was so pretty that boys from other schools came in crowds to see her sight. Even though sometimes Tia was too haughty, everyone in school still treated her like a queen.


Mary was one of the few people who Tia actually trusted. Although Mary never wanted to hurt Tia, she was secretly in love with Tommy, Tia's boyfriend.

One day, three girls stopped Mary as she was walking out of her chemistry class. Mary looked up and recognized they were the quiet emo girls from her English class. What do these emo girls have to say to me? She thought.

"You are going to become the formal queen this winter." One of the emo girls said.

"No way!" Mary laughed, "Tia is the formal queen every year, no doubt!" It would be nice to give other girls some chances, but there is no way Tia won't be selected as the queen, Mary thought to herself.

"And after that, you will replace Tia and become the cheer team caption." Another girl sounded.

"What?" Mary did not hesitate to hide her confusion.

Three girls looked at each other, and finally the third girl said, "At that time, everyone in school will love you more than ever, and all the boys will turn to you, all boys including Tommy."

"Stop kidding me." Mary waved her hands to state she is leaving this absurd conversation, but the blush on her face betrayed her action. At the moment, Mary felt like she can do anything to have Tommy, if that anything will help her to reach this goal."Well, the winter formal is in two days," Mary said to herself, "we will find out if that bull crap was true."




Two days later in the prom night, Mary almost couldn't help her desire to scream when the host announced her as the formal queen. But she did cry out loud deep inside: they were right! I CAN replace Tia! I am pretty and smart, just as much as her! I WILL become the new cheerleading caption and I WILL get Tommy!

She felt as if her chest is fulfilled by courage and ambition.




The next day, Mary challenged Tia for her position. In order to win with a hundred percent probability, Mary drugged Tia's drinks so she couldn't come to this competition. Mary's dirty tricks caused Tia to stay home for a week, and naturally helped Mary to become the new team leader.




Tia's confidence was crashed and she never showed up again. On the other hand, Mary became the student president and started dating Tommy. She was not so good of a cheerleading captain, though. She was overly strict and always yelled at her team members. In fact, she was so afraid of being overthrown like Tia that she became very rude to the girls around her.




Soon, all the cheerleaders decided to leave the team because they couldn't bear how mean Mary has become. Looking at the empty gym, Mary still couldn't realize what she did wrong. She noticed that even after she has been selected as the formal queen and become the new cheer team captain, people did not begin to love her more. No one talked to her anymore, and now she has no friend at all.

Startled: Another Version of the Oedipus Story

Story Oedipus the King is complicated enough without throwing homosexuality into the mix of patricide and incest. Indeed, this tragedy reveals the flaw in human nature and the helplessness when someone has to face his destiny, but perhaps this myth has a more profound significance in human history from the sexual orientation perspective. While most of the other ancient literature talk about the initiation of homosexual orientation, King Laius of Thebes has been viewed as the originator of homosexuality by many people.

I have found another story version of Oedipus’s birth: when the Theban power was taken away by its enemy, Laius had to escape to the court of Pelop’s in Pisa to seek for refuge. Pelop and many of his sons took care of Laius, and this is when Laius fell in love with Pelop’s favorite, the youngest, and the most beautiful son, Chrysippus. He was so incorrigibly in love with Chrysippus that driven by Eros, he abducted this youth and raped him. Chrysippus killed himself because he couldn't bear living with the shame. Pelop was extremely furious and grieved about losing his favorite son, hence he set a curse for Laius to be killed by his own son. Laius became the King when he returned to Thebe and married Jocasta. To evade fulfilling the oracle, he avoided copulation with his wife. One night, Laius was drunk and accidentally had sexual intercourse with Jocasta, which led to Oedipus’s birth. And we all know the rest of the story.

In this version of the story, Jocasta’s pregnancy wasn't a product of a romantic relationship. Laius obviously didn't care about his wife or his son. In fact, this version of the story reflected the taboo in homosexual relationships, as well as men’s misogyny (hate toward women) from living in a system built by males. To me, this version is more tragic and maybe it explains Oedipus’s love and hatred for his parents better.




From this site you can find the connection between modern psychology and ancient mythology. It also concludes Freud's theory of  the Oedipus Complex.

http://www.glbtq.com/literature/classical_myth.html

Initiation: What Have We Gained and What Have We Lost?

We went through various types of initiation in class. Luckily, girls don't have to be locked up in a dark room to be acknowledged as a woman, and a boy doesn't have to get raped to prove be a real man. The world has evolved by civilization. However, people today are gradually losing the tenaciousness to fight for themselves in adversity.  

Even though people in the ancient times had to go through a series of pain for approval, the honor and pride they received after the pain were priceless. People nowadays are taking the technology and all the conveniences for granted because they are born with them. We are so used to having norm materials just provided for us that we lose the morale to battle.

Think about giving birth, as an example. Has anyone ever wonder why it is so nature for mothers to love their children? Since the ancient times, women have always had this fear of someone may steal away their children. This is why when babies burst out crying at night the mothers are always awakened, while the fathers are deep asleep. In my opinion, one of the reasons why women treasure their babies so much is because they had to go through the pain of giving birth.  

Also, the society does not expect much from the young generation any more. Teachers praise their students so easily they even say “Good job!”when the kid gets a C. The educators try to make every child feel confident by giving them the same prizes. Children who actually work hard don’t see the need of trying, and students who are lazy just stay the way they are.

I am glad that males not longer have to go through humiliation and unbearable torment in order to get married, but because we can marry someone so easily today, many look at marriage as a trifling matter. The divorce rate is incredibly high in every culture, and I wish people can start concerning marriages more seriously.

The Hero Pattern

I looked up the 22 patterns of mythological heroes and found this site. Incidents that often happen in heroic myths including No.1 hero's mother is a royal virgin; 2. his father is a king...etc.
http://department.monm.edu/classics/courses/clas230/mythdocuments/heropattern/

The Storyteller

People judge others by their physical appearances, everyone does. Some do it purposely and some do it without even knowing. Admit it or not, almost everyone judges people by the first impression. We certainly know nothing about someone when we first encounter this person. Thus, we use all the imagination, to frame a background, a story, or an assumption upon this pure figure. We often cast the scenes from the movies on someone we don't know. This is what happened to Saul and the Machiguengas culture he loved.

"But I was really thinking about his birthmark. Why had he suddenly alluded to it while explaining to me his feelings about the Amazonian Indians? (Llosa 29)"

Many can't really understand Saul's act of leaving a good job to be a professional "Storyteller". Maybe as his father says, one of the reasons is the fact he is Jewish. Maybe he understands the importance of a non-mainstream culture; a culture that has been doubted and unaccepted in history. He could connect with the Machiguengas. Maybe deep down, Saul pities himself for being born the way he is. Saul is a kind-hearted person who never gets angry at anyone or anything, yet always being misunderstood because of his ugliness. And the Amazonians are often misunderstood because of the clothes they wear, their beliefs, and their rituals. People in the "real world" only recognizes that the Machiguengas are different, but don't realize they are just normal people like them.

"A picture sque horro, an aberration that other people ridiculed or pitied without granting is the respect and dignity deserved only by those whose physical appearence, customs, and beliefs were 'normal.' (Llosa 30)"

Even though Saul himself denies it, but I suppose that is why Saul wants to help these people who are being misunderstood as monsters like him. By doing so, maybe he hopes the society and history doesn't repeat their mistakes.

However, in my opinion, culture is a complicated thing mixed with good and bad. There are various dimensions to each culture. A custom doesn't have to lose its purity to civilization, and traditions are not necessarily burdens to the modern world. There has to be a compromise in order to keep a culture a live and  to keep up with the progress of the times.

(Sorry if I misunderstood anything, this book was way hard for me to read...)

American Horror Story Season 03 Witches and History

So I started watching American Horror Story season three yesterday, and I have to say boy this is my favorite season of all! It connects the figure of Delphine Lalaurie, known as Madame Lalaurie, with America's witch history. She was a socialite, and also a serial killer who tortured her African slaves to death. In the very beginning of the episode, she tortured an African slave by transforming him into a half man half bull because of her obsession of Minotaur. She put on a bull head on him and stitched it as a part of his body. Her torment to this guy also led to her own death. The reason why I like this show is that there is a series of initiation, but they are all volt lines, and at the end you'll realize, they are all somehow connected.

    

Calasso Page 8

      Calasso began the book by telling Europa's story, and traces back to many other stories which most of them are about abductions. This relates to the three levels of relationships with the gods. Violence and rape are wrong, but without abduction and rape there would be no story, however, question is, why are these mythologies led by abductions instead of other forms of violence, or couldn't these mythologies be more romantic? In other words, why couldn't people make these stories sound like the women fall in love with their kidnappers and willingly have their children, then become gods?

      In fact, I think these women actually more or less fell in love with their kidnappers, either consciously or unconsciously. In page 8 of "The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony," Herodotus noted: "To abduct women is considered the action of scoundrels, but to worry about abducted women is the reaction of fools." He stated that, any man who is smart wouldn't give a thought about the women who were abducted, because clearly if they didn't want to be abducted, they wouldn't have been.

      I certainly agree with this idea, because I think back then, women cherish their virginity so much(at least in Asian culture) that they would even kill themselves if they get raped. I believe in the ancient time, many women would rather be paragons of chastity than to live with a corrupted body. However,despite anyone who is mortal would have the fear of death, Greek stories often focus on revealing the ugly side of human beings, thus the gods were portrayed human-like. Rape, abductions, and violence are the essential elements to make these mythologies special and eternal.

      I think what Herodotus was also trying to say was, men who were concern about those abducted women could cause troubles. For example, the abduction of Helen led to the Trojan War, and the abduction of Persephone caused the season of winder, darn winter!    " “

Trees--The Connection Between Heaven and Earth

Today, my roommate was playing a Chinese video game called Legend of the Ancient Sword. I asked her what the story plot was. She said:"in the ancient world, Tianzhu collapsed and caused this big chaos, so everyone had to move..."
"Wait wait, what is Tianzhu?"
She rolled and eyes, "Well, tian means sky...and zhu means pillars..."
"No! I don't need you to teach me Chinese! I know Tianzhu means a pillar to the heaven, but what does it mean in specific?" I cut her off.
"Trees! A heaven pillar stands for trees, you know? Those ones we have in front of our aparment?"
Even though my roommate treated me like a three year old, I did all of a sudden realize that the concept of "trees are the connection between heaven and Earth" isn't only used in Greek or western mythologies.
And I also realized I forgot to post something...

And the legend of the Ancient Sword ↓

Happy MoonCake Festival

Today, Chinese people all over the world are celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival, AKA the MoonCake Festival. This is a holiday which people get together with their families, enjoy the moon shine, and share their mooncakes.

 ←This is a picture shot at my hometown. People gathered with their loved ones by the riverside to appreciate the moon.It is a holiday to thank, appreciate, and pray.

  

       ↓And this is what mooncakes look like.

The Chinese have been celebrating this holiday since Shang Dynasty, which is 16th to 10th Century BCE. I feel like there is always a story behind every holiday, such as Christmas and Thanksgiving. So of course there also is a myth behind this Mid-Autumn Festival.

There were originally ten suns in the sky. The lands were very dry thus people hardly had anything to eat. There was a strong man called Houyi, he was so strong that he took aim and shot nine of the suns. He left only one sun so there was enough light for everyone. The gods were happy, so they rewarded Houyi with an elixir so he could have an immortal life. Which means if he took the elixir, he would fly to the heaven and become a god. 

Houyi did not want to become a god, though. He had a beautiful wife and he just wanted an ordinary life. However, the emperor heard about the immortal pill and wanted it badly, so he sent assassins to Houyi's house. When the assassin arrived, only Chang'e, Houyi's wife was home. She fought with the killer but she was too weak;among confusion and panic she swallowed the exlixir. That was when Houyi came home, and helplessly saw his wife flying off to the moon. Chang'e flew further and further until her husband could no longer see her. 

Ever since then, Chang'e, the beautiful goddess had been living in the cold palace of the moon. Every August 15th, Houyi always brought flowers and cakes to his wife, but he had no where to go. He always talked to the moon and hoped that one day his wife would return.

 

What happen after the World was created?--Pan Gu and Nv Wa

I know I didn't explain this story in class clear enough, so here it is..

In the beginning, there was nothing but a mysterious chaos. And a giant person named Pan Gu lived in the egg-shaped cosmic. There was one more person before Pan Gu, but he did not know what to think, and he enjoyed living in the dark. But Pan Gu was different; he was lonely and he wanted to create lives, so he took out an ax around to split this chaotic world into two.

He was afraid that the two parts might composite, so he reached his hands to heaven, and propped his feet against the ground to make sure they stay separated. Heaven and earth became more and more apart as he kept growing taller and bigger. When the distance between heaven and earth is 36,000 kilometers, Pan Gu could finally take a break to look down to earth. He realized his blood turned into water; the water gave birth to a million insects, and a lot of other creatures were produced.

So that’s the Chinese mythological explanation of how the world was created. But where do humans come from?

A half human half snake goddess named Nv Wa lived in the world Pan Gu had created. She enjoyed the nature and hanging out with the animals, yet she was lonely. One day, she saw her beautiful shadow in the Yellow River, so she decided to create herself some company. She used her dexterous hands to mix mud and water from the yellow river.

        Soon, several little figures were created. They didn't look exactly like Nv Wa, because they had legs instead of tails, and they were also divided into male and female anatomy. Nv Wa was so happy she wanted to create more humans. However, It was impossible to create millions of humans one by one. She came up with an idea to stir up the mud onto bottom of the river bed with a rope and  throw the rope in the air. Amazingly, the small mud dots all dropped on the ground and became humans. 

A video about these two story is provided: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecwkIvinb2k