Hannah Liang, Period 7, 11/2/2022

Hannah Liang, Period 7, 11/2/2022

Modern Mythology 2023

Literacy & Learning

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

In the story of Dionysus, He was portrayed as a joy god and was said to be “mankind’s best friend.” He was worshiped with Demeter for the harvest on the earth. I found it very interesting how in the reading we read, it also talked about a different side of Dionysus than what we would have imagined since I also thought of him as the wine god and how joyful he is every time he appears in the story I read before. In the story of Demeter and Persephone, my thoughts on the story was that Demeter lost her daughter to another man and felt great pain as the mother since she is very protective of her own daughter. She is very pitiful during the time Persephone was in the underworld, but she vented her emotions on the mortal which caused the mortal to suffer along with her. 

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

I learned from Demeter’s story of how the four seasons are linked into our life stages. I never considered connecting the season into how humans develop in their life. It opened my eyes to how the seasons are so symbolic. Spring represents the rebirth which can be related to the baby and child stages since it represents the beginning of a new life. Summer is when many plants and leaves sprout and mature. This illustrates the youngsters become teens slowly maturing and starting to become independent. They also began to have their own thoughts. Fall is when leaves start to fall and plants are starting to die. It demonstrates the coming into adulthood, where they all become independent from the parent and leave their parent’s care like how leaves fall from the tree. Winter is the death of plants. This is when the adult becomes an elderly person and dies resulting in the end of their life. 

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

The Demeter story shows the pain that the mothers in the world face as their child or children grow older and independent. For example, for college students, we may think it is time for us to live independently and no longer be under our parent’s care. However the parent may not think the same and want us to continue to stay under their care for a bit longer if it is possible. In Demeter’s case, She never wanted her child to mature that fast until Hades came along. In the real world, mothers will also care a lot for their daughter since their daughter is very precious to them. In Dionysus’s story, I feel it is very similar to how people become different when they are drunk just like how Dionysus is. There are many different personalities people can have on the inside but never show on the outside, but once they get drunk, that part of the personality gets released which might be their real face.