Questions about Myths

Myths

Hebrew Bible, Genesis (page 98)

1.       What is the nature of Adam’s relationship to God? Of Adam’s relationship to Eve? How do these conflict?

Adam is the son of God and made in the image of him. Eve is Adam’s companion. Adam gets in trouble with God for listening to his wife and partaking of the fruit.

2.       How does God behave toward Man?

God behaves angrily toward Man because of their disobedience. He is very protective and specifically states his commandments.

3.       What economic group does the Hebrew story privilege? Why do you think this might be the case?

The Hebrew story may privilege the Jewish population because they are the most prominent religion in the bible.

Klamath Indian Myth (page 124)

1.       What differences exist between the human and divine worlds?

It seems to me that the Divine worlds seem to be noticed and mentioned in the past, and the human worlds are what are the product of what the Gods do.

2.       What differences do you notice between the stories regarding where the gods live? Again, can you explain this?

This story explains the two different opposite gods live. The difference between the god of the underworld and the god of the skies is always a big difference in many stories we read about. These are explained by representation of the opposites of “good and evil”.

3.       In all these stories, how do the gods behave?

The Gods in this story behave negative toward each other, because of the conflict with the God’s daughter not going with him. This started the war that supposedly created the Crater Lake.

Bering Strait Eskimo Creation Myth (page 118)

1.       What might account for the differences between the original material used to create human beings in all these stories?

In this story there are different ways that humans and animals are created. At the beginning of this myth the first human came out of a peapod and his companion was made of a clay or mud by a lake. The God has different ways of creating everything. He has ultimate power to create. 

2.       What is the significance of ‘naming’ in these stories?

In this story the naming is very simple and straight to the point. Although I’m sure that that is how words begin. What if the first human’s name was Human and that’s where the word came from?

3.       How might the movement from an oral version of the story to a written version of the story affect what we take from it?

I think if I were to hear these stories told by people who are a part of the cultures that believe these myths and have had them go down through their generations, it would be a lot more interesting because of the depth that they would put in their voices while they tell the story the way they learned it from their family. I think more people are moved to believe these stories when they are told the story orally first hand.