Lauren Peysakhova, Period 8, 10/28/2021

Lauren Peysakhova

PD 8

10/28/2021

Modern Mythology 2022

Literacy & Learning

1. Write about your thoughts regarding any of the fiction or nonfiction covered in class.

    As a mythology enthusiast, I have always loved reading different stories about the past and how

different cultures thought the world was created or formed. Specifically, in middle school, I

focused a lot on Greek and Roman mythology, to understand the creation of Rick Riordan’s book

series. With this said, I really enjoy the pieces that we are reading in class right now. My favorite

work so far has been the story of Prometheus and how he gave fire to the humans, regardless of

what Zeus told him. I think that the titan is an interesting character because he rebelled against

Cronus to get justice for the Gods, but then Prometheus also rebelled against Zeus to get justice

for the humans. Prometheus has been repeatedly punished for his actions, however he continues

to hold his head high and is known for following his morals. Because of his high morals, it is

evident that Prometheus will do what needs to be done in order to ensure justice. Looking back at

a class discussion that we had, most would agree that it is better to be remembered for something

important or not at all than to be remembered for something bad. Prometheus is a great example

of a hero who is well remembered for his honorary actions with both the Gods and the humans,

although he did suffer a lot.

2. Reflect on any new information you have learned in English class by considering how

that learning influences your critical perception.

    In this class, we talked a lot about the feminist perspective. In olden days, most stories were

written by men, who often looked down upon women. Thus, when we review fairytales or

mythological passages, the audience can notice how the females in the story are villainized or

deemed irrelevant. For instance, in the Cinderella fairy tales we looked at, we saw that the

Cinderella in the story was always described as beautiful and had a lot of chores to complete

around the house. In addition to that, in the Greek myths that we have discussed, women such as

Io or Europa are taken advantage of by Zeus, because although he is superior to them in terms of

hierarchy, he does not treat them as equal or respectable women. Zeus strings the women along

and as soon as his wife finds out that he is cheating on her with other women, the other women's

lives are ruined. They are then condemned to being turned into animals or hiding away.

Furthermore, Hera is also villainized in the stories. She is portrayed as a controlling wife who is

unreasonable for getting angry at Zeus for cheating on her, whereas in reality, we know that it is

practical for Hera to be upset and to lash out.

3. How is what you’re learning applied to any other classes/the world around you?

    Looking at what we learned in class, I have learned to delve deeper into other texts and movies

to look at anti-heroes and how our perception of a hero can evolve with a culture. One real world

connection I made with this idea is the day of Italian-American heritage day. In previous years,

the community celebrated this day instead as Columbus day because we honored Christopher

Columbus as a hero for discovering America. But, as we learned more about how he treated the

Native Americans and his true part in the discovery of America, society stopped recognizing him

as a hero and instead recognized the Native Americans. In addition to the evolution of cultures,

looking at movies I watch, I applied what I learned to characterize the actors as anti-heroes or

tragic heroes. In Frozen, Elsa is initially seen as the antagonist, the queen who cannot control her

powers and will ruin the kingdom. But as time progresses, we see that Elsa is really just worried

for everyone and she ends up saving the kingdom, making her an anti-hero. In The Godfather,

Michael Corleone is also portrayed as an anti-hero because he makes some bad choices to protect

the family. Michael had the ability to escape the family business and live life lavishly, but after

taking some risks to protect the Don, Michael gets involved in the illegal and dangerous

business, but he does what he does to protect those who he loves.