Jessica Poplawski, Period 6, 10/19/22

 Jessica Poplawski, Period 6, 10/19/22

Modern Mythology 2023 

Literacy & Learning 

I used to go about reading like I was sailing on an icy sea, each text an iceberg. During my voyage, I would stay comfortable and warm, observing only the very tips of the icebergs. The surface-level sights were breathtaking, but I never ventured underwater, never seeing the magnificence of what lay beyond my reach. Learning about different critical theories in this course has enhanced my understanding of my reading material, both in and out of the classroom. Each critical theory allows me to dive deeper into the ocean of literature and look at the “undersides of the icebergs.”

My first experience with critical theories was analyzing Cinderella stories from around the world. In our group, we focused on two stories: Yeh-hsien and Donkeyskin. We looked at Yeh-hsien, a Cinderella story from China, through the New Historicism perspective. When considering how Chinese culture from the Tang Dynasty affected this story, we concluded that the ideal of the “perfect, small foot” was present due to the Tang Dynasty’s ancient practice of foot binding. We also discussed how the symbol of the fish was significant. Those who treated it well were rewarded, and those who did not were punished. We also explored Donkeyskin through the Gender/Queer lens, first looking at the traditional female roles expected of Donkeyskin, and next looking at how Donkeyskin’s efforts to conceal her identity mirror the efforts of queer people to conceal theirs. 

After this lesson, the critical theories did not leave my headspace. They traveled all the way to our next unit, the Greek Mythology unit. The stories of Demeter, Persephone, and Dionysus were just begging to be analyzed through a feminist lens. In the first story, Hades steals Persephone away from her mother Demeter to the Underworld and she is forced to eat the forbidden fruit of the dead. This only allows her to come back to the Overworld for a couple months each year. Essentially, Hades takes advantage of Persephone, rapes her, and doesn’t let her return to her previous life. Yet, Hades is never punished for his actions, getting exactly what he wants. It is Persephone and Demeter who suffer, having to be separated from each other. In Dionysus’ story, Dionysus is born of a mortal mother, Princess Semele. As this is one of Zeus’ affairs, Hera is jealous and destroys Semele, leaving Dionysus motherless. However, Zeus is not punished for the affair, it is Semele who dies as a result of it. Hera is painted as unnecessarily jealous despite the fact her husband had an affair with another woman. In both these stories, the men are never the ones reaping the consequences of their actions. This analysis led me to uncover a main theme through Greek Mythology–the plight of women. How even in a culture with wise, strong female goddesses, women can be continuously put down and punished. 

However, I haven't just taken this perspective to academic reading. In my free time, I do a lot of reading for enjoyment, mostly fiction. I was never one to analyze my literature, but these specific lenses have changed the way I look at the books I read regularly. For example, I recently read a book called Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata. It is about a woman named Keiko who, for eighteen years, has had a part-time job in a convenience store called the Smile Mart. She is considered strange because she doesn’t adhere to social norms, as she doesn’t have a “real job” and doesn’t have a desire to get married and start a family. Throughout the book, she struggles with the push to conform, but in the end, she settles at the convenience store, happy where she is. 

Normally I would have just read the book, absorbed the story at surface level, and been done with it. But the critical theories helped me look into it on a deeper level. The first theory I looked at was the New Historicism lens. This book was written in Japan by a Japanese author, and as a result, Japanese culture permeates it. This explains the social hierarchy present, where some jobs are valued over others. It also explains the pressure for Keiko to find a husband and have children, because of the traditional gender roles that still exist in the culture. Murata was making a statement about the conformity of Japanese culture and how “conforming” isn’t necessary to be happy–the secret to being happy is to be unapologetically yourself. I also saw this book through the Marxist critical theory. The entire book is a critique of Capitalism. In this economic system, success is defined as gaining wealth and moving up the socioeconomic ladder. Keiko had a low-paying part-time job that she loved, and she had no desire to move up in class, thereby rejecting the capitalist ideals that pervade society. The message is that it isn’t necessary to follow the capitalist notions of success, and each person should strive to do what brings them joy, not what society thinks is valuable.