A close examination of the way Zora Neal, the author of “How the Snake got its Poison,and “How the World was made” by Katharine Berry Judson. Both inflict the same style of writing as well as genre. In this case being Myths,this allows the author to go beyond the extremities and in both these excerpts they do it so swiftly.These two stories both use similar concepts of talking to a higher power being God in this case. The facts are clear that both these excerpts have similar idea. For instance both of these excerpts use animals as the main characters in “How the Snake got its poison” a snake is asking a higher power being god if he could give him something to fight off all of the varmints. Which is similar to “How the World was made” how
David, Adams Leening., ed. The World of Myths: An Anthology. New York: Oxford UP, 1990.
Creation texts and most early pieces of literature all share many of the same themes, mythology, and to an extent, the same characters. In the days that early texts like The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Bible, and Popol Vuh, epistemology was of high interest to many philosophers and writers. To answer the questions of “How did we get here,” “Why are we here,” “What do we do here,” and other ontological ponderings, texts like these were written to give some reason. One consistent theme from early literature and creation texts is that early people had the tragic flaw of a thirst for knowledge and a lack of willpower, which is shown in The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Bible, and Popol Vuh.
From before the dawn of civilization as we know it, humanity has formed myths and legends to explain the natural world around them. Whether it is of Zeus and Hera or Izanami-no-Mikoto and Izanagi-no-mikoto, every civilization and culture upon this world has its own mythos. However, the age of myth is waning as it is overshadowed in this modern era by fundamental religion and empirical science. The word myth has come to connote blatant falsehood; however, it was not always so. Our myths have reflected both the society and values of the culture they are from. We have also reflected our inner psyche, conscious and unconscious, unto the fabric of our myths. This reflection allows us to understand ourselves and other cultures better. Throughout the eons of humanity’s existence, the myths explain natural phenomena and the cultural legends of the epic hero have reflected the foundations and the inner turmoil of the human psyche.
Though the two Creation stories are supposedly intended to be connected - even interchangeable - the only similarity they share is the presence of the omnipotent God and His role in the creation of the earth. Where the first creation describes a detailed, six-day process in which God first delineates day and night, establishes the physical world, and then finally creates man, the second creation is a much simpler process, one almost contradictory to the first story's strict schedule.
Sproul, Barbara C.. Primal myths: creation myths around the world. New York: HarperCollins, 1991. Print.
Zipes, Jack. Fairy Tale as Myth/myth as Fairy Tale. Lexington: University of Kentucky, 1994. Print.
In ancient times nature surrounded everything. The Iroquois Indians only knew nature, it is what they were taught. Their storytellers used myths or traditional stories explaining a phenomenon and fables or stories using animals to convey a moral. In the Iroquois nation’s creation myth “The World on the Turtle’s Back” and the fable “ Coyote and Buffalo” by Mourning Dove, both use cultural beliefs, a series of supernatural events, and colorful archetypes to prove to origin of the earth.
Just look at two creation stories side-by-side and you should easily see their similarities. Perhaps the easiest way to do this would be to take one unknown creation story and compare it to one from one’s own culture. Below is an example of a Mongolian creation myth:
The clash between good and evil has been a prominent theme in literature. The Bible presents the conflict between good and evil in the story of Adam and Eve. Many authors use the scene in the Bible in which the snake taunts and tempts Adam and Eve to take a bite of the apple of knowledge to demonstrate the frailty of humankind. John Gardner provides these same biblical allusions of good and evil in his novel, Grendel.
This essay will compare and contrast Greek mythology’s The Theogony by Hesiod and the Babylonian creation story found in the Enuma Elish. Both creation myths start off with an empty universe in a formless state. Two chief god entities materialize from this state of nothingness, one represented as a male and the other as a female.
Through studies such as comparative mythology, researchers and philosophers have discover hundreds of parallels between the myths that make up every culture, including their creation myths. As most are deeply rooted in religion, comparisons based on geographic area, themes, and similar story lines emerge as religions form and migrate. Campbell recognized these similarities an...
As human beings, we are designed to belive in something. Although the belief in a higher power or religion is diverse, many theologies share common themes. “The Epic of Gilgamesh” and the Hebrew book of “Genesis” are seemingly polar opposites. Christianity, demonstrated in Genesis, is monotheistic, and the Hebrews base their faith on their relationship with God. On the other hand, Sumerian philosophy, found in Gilgamesh, is polytheistic, and the Sumerian people base their theology on fear. Ancient polytheistic literature forms an archetypical pattern of the mortals trying desperately to please the gods. A mortal’s entire existence rests in the hands of the sometimes childish gods. In spite of this, these two stories
Myths and Origins also known as creation is “A story describing or explaining the creation of the world”(“creation story”). Stories like these are mainly told by American Indians and aboriginal Australians. “ What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the intertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset” (Blackfoot Proverb). This quote, to me, shows how these stories come across to different people and how simple they can be. Everything stated in this quote is very simple to imagine, just like creation stories. Another type of myth is a trickster tale. A trickster tale is a story is “a story featuring a protagonist (often an anthropomorphized
Throughout the world there are various cultures with varying religions and creation stories to explain the creation of the Earth and it’s inhabitants. Of these creation stories two with similar and also different characteristics is the Creation story in the book of Genesis which is a part of the 1st Testament in the Hebrew Bible and explains the creation of Earth and humans, and the Theogony which is the greek creation story that describes the origins of the Earth and the Greek Gods. Both the Theogony and the Creation in Genesis show nature as a blessing for humans but it can also affect them negatively, However the myths differ in the ways that the Earth and humans were created and how humans interact with the deities of the creation stories.
“A myth is a way of making sense in a senseless world. Myths are narrative patterns that give significance to our existence.” ― Rollo May