Let’s say that you come home late from a long day at the library, you open the door to your room and your roommate is drunk beyond compare, he gets up, forces you to drink a lot of alcohol, then your RA comes in and starts to get mad, so your roommate turns you into a goat… Weird right? This is the simple basis to which some of the stories in Ovid’s Metamorphoses were written, most time people were attacked by a god or a higher being, and then for punishment they were changed into an animal or a tree or sometimes the opposite sex. Not really relatable to modern society, mostly because there is no person powerful enough to turn you into an animal or inanimate thing. However, Ovid’s Metamorphoses creates an image of bodily integrity where any
This relates to modern society where a body modification is taboo, any stray of body identity is consider wrong, and where people form social groups based on how we look. That is to say body identity is an important part of society today and back when metamorphoses was written.
The thought of body modifications are impious to society, any change to the body makes it un-pure and therefore taboo in modern American culture. Body modifications can include body piercing, tattoos, implants and others, these acts are viewed a defiance of culture in America. The modifications of the body makes it impious and the body identity is ruined because there is little relation to those who don’t have modifications and those who do. The body modification is most times feared in the public because these modifications can relate to social groups that a certain social identity that is often stereotyped as a “bad” group. Nonetheless, an individual who has body modifications cannot fit the social identity of the “normal” social group. This fear of modification relates to the story of Arachne in Ovid’s “Metamorphoses”. Arachne was a mortal woman was gifted the talent of weaving, she gives a challenge to Minerva, the god of weaving and one day, Minerva goes to Arachne in disguise
Group identity is the identity of a body, but the body is the group of people. Many examples in modern society exemplifies the example of group identity, however the U.S. military is one that exemplifies it the most. When you join the U.S. military they tend to get rid of your personal identity and who you are. First, they shave off all your hair, making it hard to express yourself with that, the take away your clothes and make the same and each individual is trained like all the others. This mostly happens during boot camp, most times after boot camp after an individual gets out of boot camp they are an image of military identity and keep this identity and therefore join the military group. If anybody tries taking away this group identity of an individual there is a chance that they will respond with a wild response, because after the military, they feel if they change anything about them they are kicked out of the military social group. This relates to the story of Hermaphroditus in Ovid, the story is about a man who finds himself in a forest and a nymph finds him and is attractive to him, but he is not attracted to her so he pushes her away but once he starts to bath in a spring, the nymph seizes him and prays to the gods that they would together and the gods grant the wish but actually combine her and the man together make them half-woman and half man and then
The inherent desire to belong to a group is one that is fundamental to human nature. In his article “Evolution and Our Inner Conflict,” Edward O. Wilson writes, “A person’s membership in his group – his tribe – is a large part of his identity.” Wilson explores multilevel group selection and the proclivity for people to define themselves based on their belonging to the group. He goes on to say that people often form these groups with those who look like them and belong to the same culture or ethnic group. In the novels Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko and The Puttermesser Papers by Cynthia Ozick, the identities of the protagonist are predominantly shaped by the ethnicities and heritages that they identify with.
The reading assigned titled “The Socially Constructed Body” by Judith Lorber and Yancey Martin dives into the sociology of gender with a specific focus on how the male and female body is compromised by social ideals in the Western culture. She introduces the phenomenon of body ideals pressed on men and women by introducing the shift in cosmetic surgery toward body modifications.
We all are unique in a different way; our body is different just like our face color. Thin, fat, thick, or over weight each one of us is different from everyone else, this is what make us individual. By changing your body it’s like taking away your identity and personality. The author suggest that plastic surgery is being done from one women pulled from exactly the same face structure and mostly they all look the same. Most people think when they get cosmetic surgery done they’re becoming in with their own ideas on what they wanted to look like, but if you really think about most people undergo surgery hoping to look better and to look way different that they use to. It is unfortunate because one shouldn’t feel the need or necessary to alter their face or body to look more beautiful or perfect. People should have a surgery to change their inside instead of outside. Most of the things we do are to feel included and to feel like someone is paying some attention to us. Society don’t really pay attention or care about that one fat girl who sits in the cafeteria by her self with a big nose and an ugly face, but that girl with a long hair, a perfect smile, and face structure is one that everyone remember. It is just so unfair and sad that society have to tell us what beautiful and what
The epic poems of Gilgamesh and Ovid’s Metamorphoses contain an almost uncanny resemblance in terms of certain events that take place within both works of literature. Within the poems, one may compare both interpretations of the flood in such a way that could make it difficult to discern their differences. However, despite how comparable the poems may seem, they do pose specific differences that separate them from one another. Although these poems are extremely similar in context, they share differences in terms of cause and effect. Along with this, one must take into account that these poems are separated by two millenniums, which could potentially be a factor. Regardless, the depictions of the flood in these works points to the historical
Franz Kafka 's The Metamorphosis revolves around Gregor Samsa, a businessman who one day turned into a beetle. While this whole novel seems purely a work of fiction, it has a realistic feel to it as well. Apart from the metamorphosis of the main character, everything else is set in the contemporary world. While the book focuses on Gregor’s metamorphosis, each character in the family experiences their own metamorphosis, and realistically shows how metamorphoses happens in each of our lives.
If you have ever had a conversation with someone whose first language is not the same as your own, you are probably familiar with the idea that there are certain words and phrases that do not translate perfectly from one language to another. This conflict is usually a matter of one language having a single word or succinct phrase for a concept which another language might need an entire sentence to capture.
Shaving, applying makeup, and curling hair are a few practices that if a female does not partake in, society, and the social norm are stunned. Those are just a few disciplinary body practices in today’s society. Disciplinary body practices “Are practices because they involve taken-for-granted routinized behaviors and they are disciplinary because they involve social control in the sense that we spend time, money, and effort, and imbue meaning in these practices that regulate our lives” (Shaw 193). These practices can extend way beyond the basic beauty routine of a female as well. Plastic surgery plays a huge role in these body practices. Even men have practices that they are expected to partake in. They are less extreme in terms of price and just simpler in general. But for example, men are expected to have shaved necks, large muscles, and a broad upper body. These standards are causing body and beauty shaming around the world. Disciplinary body practices relate to the adamant consumer culture, constant media advertisements, widespread globalization, persuasive colonialism, and powerful imperialism.
“Body Art as Visual Language” by Enid Schildkrout talks about the different forms of body modifications, and their meanings within different cultures. For example, Schildkrout says “Head shaping may be a sign of high status in one culture and low status in another, but to a total outsider, these practices may appear to be simply mutilation.” In this quote, the author talks about how one body
In the novel Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka and Barbara Gowdy’s short story “Flesh of My Flesh” a metamorphosis occurs where Sam, in Gowdy’s story, was born in the wrong body just as Gregor, in Metamorphosis, wakes up in the wrong body. However, the perception of the theme of harmony between the body and identity are distinguishable between the two stories. They differentiate between who establishes the separation between the body and identity, the evolution of the perception of the separation of identity and body and how the character that establishes the separation comes to accept the division.
Body Image is “the psychological construct of body image includes cognitive , attitudinal , and affective components as well as kinetic and sensory input.” (Rosenblum, Lewis). Gianine D. Rosenblum is a psychologist in Lawrence Township and Michael Lewis is an American non-fiction author and financial journalist. They rely on statistics and facts to show the strong correlation between body image and and physical appearance, and furthermore establish body image as an important self -perspective of self-worth and mental health across the world. Though a historical and futuristic lens, body image has been a topic that’s ignored because this has been differents stands from college students , women, and teenagers. Body Image has create the
Body modification, a thing that is becoming more and more popular in our world today. It may harm or help a person in some ways. Some people are unaware that it could stop people from things in life but get it anyway. Body modification may look good but could affect a person's life in the future.
Everything on the planet, be it dead or alive, will go through changes. The changes that each being must make or undergo could be good, bad, or somewhere in between the two. An ancient Roman author known as Ovid wrote an epic called Metamorphoses that consists of small stories linked together by a larger narrative and all of the stories deal with change in one way or another. In Ovid’s stories, the changes that the characters undertake are often detrimental because the characters are usually changed against their will, the change is commonly done as a punishment, and the changes typically force the characters away from their homeland and all the people they love.
Divine Pallas challenges the natural order and imposes her power to leave Arachne stuck in time as a spider while also leaving her in a timeless state through her new physical form and its progeny. Pallas, being the embodiment of weaving through the divine, is an extension of the natural element of craft and constructs Arachne’s identity through metamorphosis into a spider during an unnatural transformation. Her humble origin and status create a tension with Arachne’s pride since through her craft she becomes distinguished to an elevated status. From her craft there is a tension between same and other in that the natural element of weaving is preserved through her unnatural physical and psychic transformation. The change from human to spider represents the magnitude of impact to such an unnatural event. Ovid’s
When was the last time you saw a body modification that didn't have a meaning? Body modification has been around for centuries and has helped lift spirits, has helped lift self esteem, and has helped lift physical appearance. Discriminating people for their own personal modifications to their bodies is not acceptable for 3 main reasons: it’s part of people’s culture, religion, and everyday life.
Transformations from one shape or form into another are the central theme in Ovid's Metamorphoses. The popularity and timelessness of this work stems from the manner of story telling. Ovid takes stories relevant to his culture and time period, and weaves them together into one work with a connecting theme of transformation throughout. The thread of humor that runs through Metamorphoses is consistent with the satire and commentary of the work. The theme is presented in the opening lines of Metamorphoses, where the poet invokes the gods, who are responsible for the changes, to look favorably on his efforts to compose. The changes are of many kinds: from human to animal, animal to human, thing to human, human to thing. Some changes are reversed: human to animal to human. Sometimes the transformations are partial, and physical features and personal qualities of the earlier being are preserved in mutated form.