Veronica Royzen, Period 7, 01/13/2022

 Modern Mythology 2022

Literacy & Learning

Write about your thoughts regarding any of the fiction or nonfiction covered in class. Reflect on any new information you have learned in English class by considering how that learning influences your critical perception. How is what you’re learning applied to any other classes/the world around you?

For the conclusion of the mythology unit, the class dove into Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology and analyzed the stories through different lenses and perspectives. The book starts off with a description of Odin, Thor, and Loki and then segways to the creation story. From there, all the stories are read in chronological sequence all the way to the story of what will happen during Ragnarok. 

Morals in Norse culture are completely different from morals being taught today. They strongly believe in dying an honorable death rather than dying of old age. In our society, the average person doesn’t go around killing people or fights in a war. The concept of “dying an honorable death” more so relates to soldiers who died in combat while serving the Army, Navy, Marines, etc. Those soldiers saved people from meeting a disastrous end, which allowed them to earn some kind of recognition, such as the Purple Heart. People today want to die of old age because it means they were able to or tried to live their life to the fullest. Death for us means the end and people now are looking for ways to prolong their life. The Norse, however, wanted to die with a sword in hand. That death guaranteed them a seat at Valhalla along with preparation for Ragnarok.

I can definitely say that reading about the Norse and studying their values as a culture expanded my ever-evolving ideologies on what makes life what it is and how I should live my own life. The Norse do value hospitality and that idea is what I’ve been always taught to respect and appreciate. Reading the stories changed how I viewed Norse culture in a positive way. I was always told how barbaric the Norse were without knowing what the culture itself was like. I was able to connect with the Norse about hospitality, which allowed for a mark on the list of what makes life what it is. Another value in Norse culture is honor. They fed off of honor and everything connected to it, such as taking revenge/vengeance, dying with a sword in hand, etc. Nowadays, taking revenge upon someone by killing them lands you in jail for years or death row, depending on state laws. If the situation is serious, the legal way would be to file a police report. If the situation is not serious, the “civilized” way to take revenge would be to confront the person and talk to them about whatever happened. 

Aside from the main themes of honor, hospitality, revenge, and so on, the Norse were more queer-accepting than most cultures. They didn’t tolerate homophobia and many polytheistic cultures were very similar but not as fully accepting. The Ancient Greeks were accepting of queer female relationships, but it varied for queer male relationships across the Greek Islands. The Hawaiians believed that there were 3 genders to begin with, male, female, and mahu (dual male-female spirit). Queer relationships, called moe aikāne, were viewed as natural and cherished by ali’i nui (chiefs). With the influence of Christianity, queer relationships were seen as a sin and that caused a change in belief systems. As a queer person, learning that cultures that weren’t initially influenced by Christianity would have viewed me just the same as anyone else. The Norse were also more feministic than most cultures, too. Men and women had the same rights and women were never forced into doing things they didn’t want to. Both fought together on the battlefield and both tried to die honorably. In Freya’s Unusual Wedding, Freya’s hand was forced into a marriage with Thrym and she declined. The other gods didn’t push her into marrying the lord of the ogres so Thor dressed up as Freya to make it seem like it was her. This story also ties into cross-dressing which was looked down upon for centuries.