Reading Notes: Adam and Eve, Part A

In the story of the fall of Adam and Eve, a serpent asks Eve why she has not eaten from the garden of Eden, to which she replies that God has ordered her not to or she will die. The serpent tells her that God does not want her to eat the fruit because it will give her knowledge and wisdom. Eve knows the fruit looks good, and eats it with her husband, Adam. After they eat it, their eyes are opened to their surrounding and they become self aware. God returns to the garden to find Adam and Eve hiding in embarrassment of their nudity and he realized they have eaten the fruit. God curses the serpent by making it a lowly animal and creating a divide between it and humans, woman by giving her a painful pregnancy and having her husband rule over her, and man by making it difficult for him to live from the land until his death.

The serpent and the forbidden fruit have become popular symbols. The serpent has come to represent deception, evil, etc. The fruit has come to represent sin, desire, etc. In my retelling of this story, I would like to replace these objects with others symbols that have similar connotations.

Eve is characterized as naive for listening to the serpent, rebellious for eating the fruit when God has told her not to, and submissive once God has decided his punishment for her. Adam is characterized as weak for going along with what his wife has told him to do, but later God says he will rule over his wife. The serpent is sneaky, deceptive, evil, and sinful for persuading Eve to eat the fruit and lying to her about God's intention.

The story takes place in a garden and I imagine there is fruit everywhere. It is stated that there are other trees with fruit that Adam and Eve can eat; they are only banned from eating the fruit of the middle tree. Since the fruit of the center tree is special, I picture it is radiant, perfect fruit. This would be more tempting to Eve and would make it easier for the serpent to persuade her to eat it.

Story Source: King James Bible (1611): Genesis 3

The Fall of Man by Titian. Source: Wikipedia

Comments

Reading Notes: Nursery Rhymes, Part B

In the "Jingles" section of the Nursery Rhymes unit, there are several well-known tales. The first is "Hey Diddle Diddle." HEY! diddle, diddle, The cat and the fiddle, The cow jumped over the moon; The little dog laugh'd To see the sport, While the dish ran after the spoon. The next is "Tweedledum and Tweedledee." TWEEDLE-DUM and Tweedle-dee Resolved to have a battle For Tweedle-dum said Tweedle-dee Had spoiled his nice new rattle. Just then flew by a monstrous crow As big as a tar-barrel, Which frightened both the heroes so They quite forgot their quarrel. Another is "Rub-a-dub-dub." RUB a dub dub, Three men in a tub: And who do you think they be? The butcher, the baker, The candlestick-maker; Turn 'em out, knaves all three! As I said in the other reading post about the Nursery Rhymes unit, I think it would be difficult to write my own jingles inspired by these. They are all fairly short and follow a similar rhyme scheme. Th...

Story Lab: TED Talk Videos

For this Story Lab, I watched Ted Talks about stories and storytelling . The first video is the TED Talk of a woman named Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie from Nigeria. From a young age, she has been a storyteller. She read foreign books for much of her childhood and based the stories she wrote based on what she read in these books. She eventually discovered books and she learned that writers could look like her. When she came to university in the United States, her roommate was surprised to learn Nigeria has English as an official language and that she was familiar with many of the comforts of American life. She believes people like her roommate have a view of Africans because of writing that portrays them as living in a dark place. When Chimamanda wrote a book, her professor told her the book was not "African enough" because the characters were similar to him, a middle-class man, and they drove cars. When she visited Mexico, she realized she saw the people there as poor immigran...

Reading Notes: Ancient Egypt, Part A

In the story " The Death of Osiris ," Osiris's brother, Set, creates an ornate chest that match Osiris's exact dimensions. During a large feast, Set tells everyone that whoever's dimensions are a perfect match for the chest will be gifted the chest. All the guests tried fitting in the chest, but none fit. Finally, Osiris tries laying in it and fits perfectly. Before he can get out, however, the "evil followers" of Set nail Osiris into the chest, killing him. The party quickly becomes filled with sorrow rather than joy, and Osiris and his coffin are put in the Nile, which they float down until they set sail in the ocean. I think it would be interesting to tell a similar story to this one, in which people thought someone was doing a good deed for society, but it is secretly a sinister act. I could use the same basic premise by having someone create an object that is unknowably created for one specific person, people trying to win this object, and ...

Shea's Myth-Folk Blog

Search This Blog