Udantha Panditha, Period 8, 1/6/22

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

I find the new Norse mythology to be very interesting to say the least. I was certainly familiar with the names of Thor, Loki and Odin etc… because of the cultural titan that is Marvel comics. Obviously, I knew that the real Norse mythology would be way different than the Marvel Universe, but I was interested in learning about how the Norse actually viewed their gods.  The Norse gods seem less likable to their Greek and Iroquois counterparts, but the other mythical beings around them are even more unlikable. In Marvel, Thor is portrayed as an ultimate protector, and while he is the guardian of Asgard in real Norse mythology, he is also a very arrogant alcoholic. Some parts of Norse mythology felt weird to me, such as the implications of Loki fathering animal children. The gods are. The concept of Ragnarok reflects a fitting ending to the chaotic antics of the gods

 

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

Reading Norse mythology has contributed significantly to my understanding of how the Nordic people viewed themselves and the societies they lived in. The Nordic certainly saw the gods as more humanlike, as opposed to Greek gods. The tale of Utgard-Loki best exemplify this, where Loki was unable to defeat the incarnation of fire itself and where Thor was unable to defeat the personification of old age, which surprised me, because I thought that the gods would be immortal. I think immortal and invincible are distinct, and the Norse gods are neither, although if a god dies, they are transported into a different realm, so the concept of death is also life, which is similar to the ancient Egyptians. The Norse also seemed to have an affinity for alcohol, as mead is seen as the elixir of knowledge. The concept of hubris still applies to Norse mythology , but hubris is seen as a moment of growth rather than a follow up to hamartia. In striving for perfection, Thor inadvertently created valleys when striking Utgard-Loki’s head, indicating that the Norse followed some belief of “chasing perfection leads to great results”. 

 

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

The morals learned from the Norse myths can certainly be used in real life. The tale of Utgard-Loki concludes with “striving for perfection can lead to beautiful results” and “regardless of how powerful one can be, there are some things that no one can control. Another example of a relevant lesson comes from the death of Baldr, which is similar to the story of Achilles. Baldr gets a dream about his own death, so his mother Frigg makes him immune to everything except for mistletoe, as she thought that mistletoe would be harmless. However, Loki inadvertently created a poisoned mistletoe arrow and gave it to the blind Hodr, who ended up killing Baldr. I interpreted the moral as “You can try to prevent it as much as you can, but fate will plow through”. In this case, Frigg was too confident that mistletoe wouldn’t hurt anyone, but it killed the near invincible Baldr, and I derived a second moral, which is to not underestimate seemingly harmless issues, because they might lead to your downfall.