Reading Notes: Arabian Nights, Part A

An image from the classic Middle Eastern collection of tales, Arabian Nights

Arabian Nights, also known as One Thousand and One Nights to others, is a collection of tales from the entirety of the Islamic Golden Age and compiled and framed into the following story setting: The sultan Shahrayar has been cheated on by his wife, and has put her to death to prevent her further betrayals. He then marries and kills a new wife every day to spite his wife and prevent betrayal by another woman. This cycles continues until Scheherazade, his vizier's daughter, marries him and begins interesting tales at night before bed, and then leaves the ending for the next night so he will not kill her because of his interest in the story. The stories covered in Reading A cover the tale of the Merchant and the Genius, a tale about a merchant that has been given one year to live by the genie and spends it doing good deeds, which then leads into many more stories about the Old Man, the Second Old Man, and Two Black Dogs that are sequential and connected to the first. In the Fisherman story, the fisherman demands a story from a genie before he kills him, which illustrates a second level of storytelling (a character telling a story about another character who tells a story), which was revolutionary at the time. The later stories of the Greek King and the Husband and the Parrot take place within the genie's story in the fisherman tale. These stories are so wonderfully woven and complex and their framing is so unique, which I really enjoy about this collection of stories. 

Bibliography: Scheherazade, Arabian Nights. http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/04/myth-folklore-unit-arabian-nights.html

Comment Wall

A dramatic depiction of a scene in the Dante's Inferno, the subject of my project.

Here is the link from my blog to the comment wall on my website!

Reading Notes: Adam and Eve, Part B

An image of Eve convincing Adam to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, leading to the Fall of Man

Following the aftermath of the events of the Fall of Man, God was very displeased with Adam and Eve for not obeying and trusting him and his judgment. God cast them away from the Garden to the west, the worst part of the Garden because it had no pleasantries to remind them of their sins and transgressions against God and the world. God sent them to a place called the Cave of Treasures for 5,500 years as penance for his transgressions. Again, God had pity on them and allowed them to stay in the cave and not be killed by the cherub with a flaming sword, and instead allowed them to serve out their sentence. After grief and sadness and torture overcame them, Adam and Eve committed suicide only to be raised by God and given comfort and assurance. Again killed by the Beasts of Creation, God again raised them from the dead and allowed them to feel life and love from Him. They were punished with heat, thirst, sorrow, and darkness as well during this time. After another suicide and raising, their atonement had been paid in the eyes of the Lord and they were granted salvation after their 5,500 years of atonement and pain, to forever feel love, warmth, and happiness. 

Bibliography: King James Version of The Bible; The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg. http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/myth-folklore-unit-adam-and-eve.html

Reading Notes: Adam and Eve, Part A

An artist's rendition of the Biblical tale of Adam and Eve, as well as the creation of Earth and sin

The story of Adam and Eve from the Bible is easily one of the best known stories in the world, let alone in the Bible itself. The story begins with God's creation of the universe itself in 6 days, with a rest on the seventh day, which is why there is a Sabbath day of rest in Jewish culture. God was lonely and created Adam, a mortal man created in his own image, from the dirt and breathed life into him. Eventually, Adam grew lonely with only the presence of the Lord in his illustrious paradise, which was called the Garden of Eden. God obliged Adam and created another being for whom to grow and love with, a woman named Eve, created from the rib of Adam himself. He began to love and follow and grow with Eve and they lived naked together, unaware of their nakedness, knowing only one another and the Lord. One day, the serpent, the craftiest and most vile animal of them all and representing the Devil, began to convince Adam and Eve to eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. This leads to an argument about what knowledge is and why God would not want them to know. Eve convinces Adam to eat the fruit, and they immediately realize that they are naked. They head to find cover in the bushes to avoid being seen, and use leaves to cover themselves. God finds them and admonishes them for disobeying him, causing The Fall of Man. This is the Christian idea of the first and original sin. This creates a rift between God and man, increasing the pain of childbirth, shortening our lifespans, and creating disease and discomfort in man. This is the idea behind evil being in our world and why God allows it, and it is because we allowed it to, since we were in paradise beforehand. 

Bibliography: King James Version of The Bible; The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg. http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/myth-folklore-unit-adam-and-eve.html

Feedback Strategies

A hilarious and classic meme I found with a twist and focus on the idea of feedback

The two articles I read this week were really eye-opening and after some pondering, I realized they had a lot of truth to them! In the article How to Give Feedback Without Sounding Like a Jerk, the biggest takeaway for me was that, sadly, a lot of positive praise and gratefulness falls on deaf ears, which I realize is true of me because I am often quick to hear negative words more loudly and clearly than I am positive news. To me, that really seems to be an issue with era of social media, that we are always on display and trying to win approval, whether we acknowledge it or not. Some strategies for feedback from the article include asking if they WANT feedback, taking yourself off a pedestal, and explain why you are giving that feedback. In 5 Reasons to Stop Saying "Good Job," the biggest takeaway for me was realizing how too much unnecessary praise (note UNNECESSARY) can create praise-junkies that constantly need validation to exist, and saying good job takes away an incentive to work hard and improve, since they feel they've done an adequate job. 

Topic Research

An illustration from Dante's Inferno, part of The Divine Comedy.

At this point in the semester, I am fairly certain that I would like to focus my semester-long project on Dante's Inferno, though I am still very interested in The Man in the Moon and Homer's Odyssey. The Divine Comedy really appeals to me as a result of my faith in Christianity, as well as the interesting moral ideas that come up specifically in Inferno. Are there levels of morality or sin, or is all sin the same in God's eyes? Why do we punish humans for crimes for severely for others? These are all such interesting concepts that people have very different ideas about, and I enjoy discussing my faith with others because the strongest believers tend to have challenged their beliefs the most, at least in my experience. The Man in the Moon is still interesting to me because I am from Oklahoma and native culture is around us constantly, and even OU is on former native land. I am also interested in the Odyssey still because of its classic status and perseverance through time. Additionally, Greek mythology is what got me into reading regularly and even taking this class!

Week 3 Story: Odysseus' Dilemma

A visual of the Greek hero Odysseus attacking the suitors who are trying to seduce his wife

Now Odysseus, having been in disguise as a strange wanderer, had found in his way into Eumaeus' hut. Eumaeus, being the hospitable man and servant of a fine person such as Odysseus, has given this fine stranger a place to stay and eat in warmth and comfort. Eumaeus has explained to the stranger the story of his master, the great hero Odysseus and his strange disappearance after the Fall of Troy, as well as the situation that his illustrious wife, Penelope, has been approached by a horde of suitors who refuse to leave their palace until she has chosen one of them to be her new husband. After all of this, Telemachus, the son of Odysseus, enters the hut of Eumaeus and greets the stranger kindly, much like how Odysseus had hoped he had been raised. After going outside to get some air, Athena reveals Odysseus' true appearance to Telemachus, a tender moment for the two. They hatch a plan to rid their palace of suitors and return Ithaca to greatness and glory. The very next morning, at the begging and persistence of the suitors, Penelope states that anyone that can string Odysseus' bow and fire a bolt through 12 axe heads can be her husband and rule Ithaca with her. They all try and inevitably fail. Simultaneously, Eumaeus and Telemachus have taken the wandering stranger to the palace to carry out their vengeful plot. As all of the men have failed, they decide to wait until tomorrow to sacrifice to Apollo, the God of Archery, in order to stand a chance of stringing it. The stranger approaches the bow and easily strings and breaks all 12 axe heads in a single motion; however, the plan has stopped there. Odysseus' true form has been revealed by Athena for all to see and the suitors are terrified. Odysseus takes a look around and realizes that violence is not the answer, and that his absence has been a great strain on his family unit, and his kingdom as a whole. Odysseus puts down the bow and says the following: "I am very sorry for what I have almost done to you. You all are just here to find love and restore Ithaca to its former glory, while I have abandoned it for 10 long years. Please do better than me, and make good on my longing promises." And with that, Odysseus literally walks away from Ithaca and sails away for the final time. 

Author's Note: I am a huge fan of Greek mythology in general, so I wanted to be able to pay homage to the original story, but then I had a funny idea that I couldn't stop chuckling about, so this story was really the result of that ridiculous idea! I hope it wasn't too horrible to read!

Bibliography: The Odyssey by Homer (translated by Tony Kline in 2000). http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/myth-folklore-unit-homers-odyssey.html