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Persephone story
Persephone story
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In the words of author Thomas Foster, “There’s only one story.” Most, if not all authors will draw inspiration from other works of literature to illustrate their story. Even if one is not an expert on Greek Mythology, one must take notice and appreciate the striking resemblance between The Garden Party and The Myth of Persephone. Laura is Katherine Mansfield’s depiction of Persephone as the former loses her innocence by witnessing death. On the surface, both tales begin in a natural, ideal setting that implies a tragedy will come along to spoil it. Essentially, the short story and the myth both portray a character finding their niche and a deeper meaning of life by having to adapt in foreign surroundings. Inevitably, the resemblances between both stories are concealed within symbols that a reader may easily disregard, such as a character’s relationship with her mother.
The parallels between the protagonists, Laura and Persephone, are quite evident. First and foremost, Laura’s mother, Mrs. Sheridan, stands as a counterpart for Demeter, Persephone’s mother. Mrs. Sheridan chose to pass down her black hat to Laura, the youngest of all of her children (Masfield 251). Laura and her mother share an intimate relationship that mirrors that of Persephone and Demeter. This display of affection expresses how comfortable mother and daughter are around each other. Mrs. Sheridan thinks highly of Laura, she sees her as a mature young lady. In comparison, when Persephone is whisked away to the Underworld without her consent, Demeter is overcome with grief and depression. Demeter’s life was centered on Persephone; she had the sensation that something was the matter. When he daughter vanished, Demeter lost her sense of direction. In addition, bot...
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...arity as the former parallels the latter in several aspects. Laura and Persephone are essentially the same person, with their resemblances being present in their close relationships with their mothers and their desires to break free from confinement. The setting in both stories is embellished as too perfect, almost unreal, which is evidence that a dreadful event will occur later on. In The Myth of Persephone, a young girl discovers her calling and transforms into a stunning, admirable Goddess, while in The Garden Party, Laura transitions into adulthood, both by witnessing death. Over time, stories have developed a connection to each other – they are all inspired by the story of humanity. If one author was able to interpret and borrow so many aspects from one myth to enrich the reader’s experience, the list of other writers that have taken the same path is endless.
Sometimes adversity can be the key to success, as Walt Disney once said:“The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare, and the most beautiful of all”. As seen in Marjane Satrapi’s The Complete Persepolis, James Baldwin’s If Beale Street Could Talk, and Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street, protagonists face and conquer different types of adversity. As seen in Marjane’s education in Persepolis, Fonny’s sculpting in If Beale Street Could Talk, and Esperanza’s writing in The House on Mango Street, all reflect
...his adventures. Both of them give Perseus something to help him in his adventure; from Athena the shield and from Hermes, the sandals and sickle. The god Dionysus ends up being the one to kill Perseus.
In the poem Perseus the character is Medusa's victims. That is the only one that is different from the other story. The setting isn’t as different as the other story but it is the only setting it is Medusa's cave. The events are that Perseus sees Medusa's victims then Perseus wanted to kill or destroy Medusa. Finally, the conflict of the story is that Perseus has a thirst to kill, its a problem because he wants to kill innocent people.
‘Demeter’ is a poem about the story of Demeter. "Demeter was the goddess of harvest and Persephone was the goddess of springtime. Hades, the lord of the underworld, kidnapped Persephone. Hades fell in love with Persephone and asked Zeus to help him kidnap her so she could become his bride. The crops started to wilt and humans couldn't grow crops anymore. However Zeus told Hermes to bring back Persephone and to make sure she didn't eat any food from the Underworld. Hermes fetched Persephone. But before she left, Hades convinced her to eat 6 pomegranate seeds. Hermes made a compromise and said Persephone had to stay in the Underworld as Hades wife for six months. That's why there are seasons. In the fall and winter, Persephone goes down into the Underworld and Demeter mourns. In the summer and spring, she comes back and Demeter rejoices. " (1)
Briefly speaking, the Hymn to Demeter is similar in playing out the theme of separation and isolation by depicting Persephone picking flowers in and isolated space. In Ovid's version, the empowerment of women plays an important role by the story being told by a woman, Venus being the mastermind, and Ceres being a strong confident woman and taking swift action. Also, the roles of the gods are switched with the nymphs, and the symbolist use of the environment is seen in the abduction of Proserpine.
Sophocles’ Antigone and Toni Morrison’s Pilate Dead share similar characteristics: an intense and almost strange sense of family, a general disregard for written law and courage in the face of death. To compare Antigone and Pilate, however, one cannot lose sight of the inner drive in these women. Antigone fears the power and wrath of the gods, while Pilate only fears disappointing her dead father’s ghost.
Place the Persephone candle back on the altar and pick up the Demeter candle and while holding it say:
Has there ever been a time where you have experienced true love, but everything was not what you expected? You thought everything was at the forefront but there was a deeper meaning to things. Well in the poem “First Love: A Quiz”, A.E. Stallings introduces you to the deeper side of things. This poem doesn’t consist of many literary devices, but Stallings uses her choice of words to make the reader give thought to the text, and to the story being told of Persephone and Hades. The structure of the poem also helps to better understand the actual meaning of the poem. As you read this “quiz” everything gets very abstract and your options become harder and harder to choose from.
In The Odyssey and Hymn to Demeter, both Penelope and Demeter love and miss their family members. When Demeter hears her daughter Persephone’s cry, “a sharp grief took hold of Demeter in
A ritual is usually a ceremony that includes a series of actions that are performed according to a certain order. Most of the time rituals originate from myths. In Athens, several people participated in a group of events known as The Eleusinian Mysteries, hoping for a fulfilling and great afterlife. The Eleusinian Mysteries, a cult centered on a myth of Persephone's journey to and from the underworld, were celebrated from the eighth century B.C to the Hellenistic period. To the ancient Greeks, myths had a purpose and that was to basically explain the world around them. The myth and the mysteries itself were a symbol of life, death, and rebirth. The mysteries were created from the story and it was their way of demonstrating their honor and belief of the two goddesses. Events that occurred during the Eleusinian Mysteries symbolized a part of the myth of Demeter and Persephone, which is proof that the rituals practiced are associated with the myth.
“Everyone is kneaded out of the same dough but not baked in the same oven”(Yiddish Proverb). These words apply to Katherine Mansfield’s short story, “Garden Party” as she touches on some very controversial points about the social inequality of the Sheridan family with its surrounding neighbors. A great internal and external quarrel over social class rises in the Sheridan family as Laura Sheridan, the daughter, sympathises with the less-fortunate neighbors while her mother, Mrs. Sheridan is the opposite. Mansfield illustrates to her readers the conflict within Laura in various ways, namely, using foil characters between Mrs. Sheridan and Laura, using multiple symbols and appealing to emotion to emphasize her main message of social equality.
...by and The Garden Party the themes are apparent throughout the introduction. In Araby the setting begins in a state of darkness introducing the main theme of light and darkness. Similarly, the beautiful setting described at the beginning of The Garden Party establishes the upper-class ranking of the Sheridan family, demonstrating class distinction. Although the two main characters are from different classes, the family backgrounds of each provide information which helps to further develop their themes respectively. The struggles which both characters face demonstrate character development and contribute to the themes of the stories. Both short stories prove to be literally effective in that they disclose the main themes at the outset of each story. Although the themes may alter over the course of the stories, they are clearly defined in their respective introductions.
... not as they conceptualized. As adulthood is commonly linked with age, the shift from adolescence to maturity arises with experience. In Joyce’s “Araby”, the emotional journey for the narrator, begins with the infatuation with his best friend’s sister, and ends with his disillusionment for love. In Mansfield’s “The Garden-Party”, Laura acts as a tie between the brightness and wealth of the Sheridan’s contrasted with the darkness and sorrow of the Scotts. While struggling with inner confusion, she attempts to build a unique identity for herself. Her emotional journey culminates with the viewing of the deceased man, and her powerful realization of life, where her life is put into perspective of life on a universal level. Both main characters experience major changes in their personality, as well as their psychology, and these insights change both of them incredibly.
Katherine Mansfield explores profoundly the world of death and its impact on a person in her short story, "The Garden Party."
In the movie, Perseus, the mortal son of Zeus, fights the monsters of the underworld to stop them from taking over the heavens and earth. The story according to the Greeks, Perseus, the mortal son of Zeus, goes on an adventure to recieve the head of Medusa to save his mom from marrying King Polydectes and along the way falls in love Princess Andromeda. Between the two stories there are similarities and differences in each version.