Stella Vayner, Period 7, 1/20/22

Stella Vayner

Period 7

1/19/22

Modern Mythology 2022


Literacy & Learning


Write about your thoughts regarding any of the fiction or non-fiction covered in class.

I loved and enjoyed the stories we’ve read in Ms. Fusaro’s Mythology class, ranging from Greek to Norse mythology with an equal measure of Medieval Fairytales mixed throughout. Every story and culture we covered has been its own treat, but it is Neil Gaiman’s article/ speech on the importance of reading that begs to be read over and over again. Gaiman writes a compelling nonfiction article about the invaluable worth of literacy and libraries in modern times. Though most people believe, because we are moving further into the digital age, that books are antiquated, it is simply not true. Books are more crucial than ever. In this new world of email, text message, and social media posts, Gaiman remarks that, “we need to read and write, we need global citizens who can read comfortably, comprehend what they are reading, understand nuance, and make themselves understood.” This makes literacy more important than we previously thought, and urges us to encourage the next generation of readers to pick up books and visit the library. I am particularly passionate about this issue because I adore reading and strolling through my local library. Books have helped me through my darkest times. I have laughed, cried, swooned, and smiled all while holding those precious pages. One of my favorite aspects of reading is one which Gaiman describes perfectly, “it forces you to learn new words, to think new thoughts, to keep going.” Reading is its own out of body experience, one in which you can visit different worlds and meet different people. “Prose fiction is something you build up from 26 letters and a handful of punctuation marks, and you, and you alone, using your imagination, create a world and people it and look out through other eyes. You get to feel things, visit places and worlds you would never otherwise know. You learn that everyone else out there is a me, as well. You’re being someone else, and when you return to your own world, you’re going to be slightly changed.” Reading creates a strong sense of empathy, second only to hearing first hand experiences from others. Reading is the closest we will ever get to inhabiting the life of another person, of understanding their challenges and celebrating their triumphs with them. It allows us all to be more understanding and compassionate, the first steps to creating a new, better world. I could write for years about the joys and importance of reading and libraries, but Gaiman puts it best in this article.


Reflect on any new information you have learned in English class by considering how that learning influences your critical perception.

Though I already knew and experienced the importance of reading firsthand, Gaiman includes several interesting points that I had not thought of before. In one section he pointed out that, “There are no bad authors for children, that children like and want to read and seek out, because every child is different.” I agree with him absolutely on this. Though I understand a parents desire to “help” their child and “improve their reading skills” by handing them a 400 page classic, a child should be allowed to read whatever they want. By overwhelming them with such challenging novels at too young of an age, they will lose confidence in themselves and their reading ability. The most important part of reading is to find joy in it. When joy is found in one book, a child will be more inclined to pick up another. And thus, they become educated and well-read before their parents' very own eyes. Another thing I found shocking was the correlation between literacy rates and prison population. “I was once in New York, and I listened to a talk about the building of private prisons – a huge growth industry in America…And they found they could predict it very easily, using a pretty simple algorithm, based on asking what percentage of 10 and 11-year-olds couldn’t read. And certainly couldn’t read for pleasure.” This unearths more socio-economic problems and becomes much more than just a literacy issue. After doing some research on my own, I found that 3.4 million adult New Yorkers are functionally illiterate. This is a very serious issue because simply learning how to read could raise them out of poverty and provide social mobility. These statistics opened my eyes to the gaps in the education system which stem to other, larger societal problems.


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

In class, I created a presentation about two Norse mythology stories: The Death of Balder and The Last Days of Loki. After reading these stories, I reflected on the themes of family, fate, and revenge in our modern culture and in Norse culture. Fate played a strong role in these stories as they were the prelude to Ragnarok, the Norse apocalypse, and forced me to question whether Loki was acting of his own volition or if there were larger forces at play. It made me question the probability of fate and the role it played in our everyday lives - a question I propositioned to the class. This changed my perception of fate and made me see the parallels between Ragnarok and the Judeo-Chrisitan version of the Apocalypse. Understanding these parallels allowed me to tap into the greater, deeper similarities between cultures throughout all of time. It reminded me how Europeans traveled to Nordic countries in an attempt to christianize their culture, and succeeded in many ways. Many stories and characters were wiped away from Norse culture in order to appease the monotheistic religions and most records were either lost completely or edited to be more “appropriate”. For example, although Sigyn, Loki’s wife, is a prominent Aesir goddess, all records of her were destroyed and lost to time. The last physical representation of her is a carving on the Gosford Cross which depicts her holding a bowl over Loki’s head to prevent snake venom from dripping onto his face. It is sad to see such an intelligent, brave goddess (thought to be the Nordic equivalent of Athena) reduced to a simple scene of domestic responsibility. It is equally unfortunate to consider that this erasure of culture, literature, and religion is common throughout history. We can see similar instances of conquering societies destroying historical and intellectual documents in the burning of the Library of Alexandria and siege of Baghdad's House of Wisdom. These stories allowed me to reflect on my idea of fate and connect to my overall understanding of world history.