Jessica Zhou, Period 6, 11/4/22

Jessica Zhou, Period 6, 11/4/22

Modern Mythology 2023

 I think of myself as someone very knowledgeable in Greek mythology. This is not an empty boast; no, it was not because I read the entire Percy Jackson series. I've been reading about Greek mythology since elementary school, and I had thought I already knew the meaning and purpose of each story, so going into Mythology class, I thought there wouldn't really be anything new to learn about in terms of Greek mythology. However, more often than not, I find that by the end of myth class, I walk away with a new understanding of a myth on which I thought I already knew all there was to know.

The most surprising information I learned was about what the pomegranate seeds in Demeter and Hades' story really represented. While reading this story as a child, as a tween, and even recently, it never dawned on me that Hades might have had intercourse with Persephone or, even worse, raped her. I was painfully aware of the kidnapping and the lack of perspective or opinion from Persephone herself. Still, I had always thought that the pomegranate seeds were from the fruit itself, and it was just another way to add magic to the story. I believe that this plays the story from a feminist perspective as it portrays Persephone as stripped of free will and as a woman who now belongs to Hades for half a year because she lost her virginity to him. In Greek mythology, I have yet to read a myth where a man loses his virginity to a woman and then belongs to that woman by default. After learning about the true representation of pomegranate seeds and applying it to the possibility that Hades might have "deceived" Persephone into eating the seeds, it takes away any kind of autonomy Persephone had in the story. In the different variations of the myth, she doesn't choose whether or not to go with Hades, she doesn't get to choose if she wants the pomegranate, she doesn't get to choose if she wants to go back to her mother, and readers have no idea of what she's feeling or thinking throughout the story. This story places females as objects that can be taken and kept, not as beings with free will and their own wants. 

Something less surprising, but still new to me, was the story of Icarus and the surrounding poems/artworks inspired by the myth. At my first glance of the tale, it was nothing but a story warning against flying too high to the sun (following your ambitions blindly). I now realize that this may have been only the surface of something much more significant. The story of Icarus follows a boy and his father preparing to escape from a maze. The father makes wings for both of them but warns the boy against flying too high lest his wings start to deteriorate. The boy doesn't listen, and he falls to his death. This story is a clear warning to the youth listening to this story to heed their father's or elders' advice. The realization of what the story could have meant and other interpretations of the event truly hit when I saw the painting "The fall of Icarus." In the image, Icarus drowning only takes up a small portion and could be easily mistaken for someone else. The poems and the paintings inspired by this myth both convey how meaningless Icarus' death was, especially to the rest of Greece, implying that no matter how significant something feels currently, or who you are, the world would keep turning without you.  

Mythology is so interesting in the way that there's always another meaning concealed behind the first in their stories. I have learned from both of these myths that "If it's explicitly about sex, it's about sex. If it doesn't explicitly state sex, its about sex". My teacher taught our class this. While some of us laughed or stared at her awkwardly, I agree. She stated that humans' core values don't change: all humans want power, money, sex, and food, which drives much mythology, such as Persephone and Icarus's stories. Mythology class has taught me to look deeper than what's on the surface by opening my eyes to countless other lessons, perspectives, and meanings. Sure, this story might say one thing, but have we considered all characters' experiences? We cannot tell the whole story without analyzing all the parts of it.