The Theme of Nature in Myth - Kate Bennett

 Among many other things, a central component of myth is the role of nature in the story. For The Chronicles of Narnia, the creatures of Narnia are not only described as being beautiful, but the land that encapsulated them as well. Early into the arrival of Narnia, the land is seething with magic, able to grow to fruition anything that is planted in it. There is a major shift in the book’s attitude as the White Witch condemns Narnia to perpetual snow, indicating that the quality of nature had a powerful impact on the ‘people’ of Narnia overall. Moreover, in The Space Trilogy, Lewis does an amazing job of intimately describing two planets that we’ve never even physically encountered before. Intended to be a science fiction, Lewis is careful to provide constant details of the surrounding environment and the relationship it formed to man. Finally, in Till We Have Faces, Orual is forced to endure nature as she travels up the mountain to visit her sister. Similar to The Space Trilogy, Lewis does a brilliant job of describing the beauty of the valley, so as to indicate that Psyche was truly happy in the environment she was in. Recently, Dr. Redick even attested to the power of nature as we encounter myth, as he recollected of the time that he calmed himself down from a very angry episode by submerging himself into the water and letting the natural current wash away his distaste. While not mythical by definition, Dr. Redick’s personal experience with nature only makes the relationship that comes from myth’s depiction of nature that much easier to understand. Ultimately, Lewis’ work and Dr. Redick’s personal account demonstrated that by connecting with nature ourselves, we are able to understand the power of nature inside myth, and vice versa. This has been a consistent theme throughout the entire course and it has been interesting to watch it develop across multiple literary genres.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blog #13 Dr. Weston’s Philosophy of Life

In Lewis’ Out of A Silent Planet a certain physicist, Dr. Weston kidnaps Ransom and takes him aboard his spaceship headed towards Malacandra. Once Ransom awakes from his slumber and realizes that he is in a spaceship he begins to question the estranged physicist. With little resistance Weston begins to explain his philosophy of life. Ransom responded, “ you hold all the cards, and I must make the best of it. I consider your philosophy of life to be raving lunacy. I suppose all that stuff about infinity and eternity means that you think you are justifiable in doing anything–absolutely anything–here and now, on the off chance that some creatures or other descended from man as we know him may crawl about a few centuries longer in some part of the universe.” Weston responded, “ Yes–anything whatsoever”. Weston resembles one of the great evils of mankind. That being the telos of evolution or in other words survival of the fittest. That is the basic idea the it is a means to an end and not ...
Read more

Experience vs encounter and its implications

 To experience something is notably different from encountering something. I may experience a bear at a zoo, or dangerously encounter one in a forest. One implies perceiving, and the other implies communion (which could be good or bad). Our discussion of these concepts in class got me thinking, "Does our the interconnectedness of the internet create a culture of experience but not encounter?" I know that questions includes a lot, so let me unpack it. The internet fundamentally changes the way humans being relate to one another. I myself, having being basically raised on the internet have now gotten to the age where I realize my experience of childhood, was very different from the rest of the history of the world. I believe has created a reality in which anyone can experience almost anything, although mediated. I can watch as many cute dog videos as I want, but those dogs in the video will never watch me. I think because of this, a renewed appreciation for the embodied, the sa...
Read more

3/15/2023- The Perfect Sacrifice: Questions about Psyche and Ungit

  I was struck by the scene in which the priest of Ungit describes the reason that Psyche must be sacrificed to Ungit in order to avert the various calamities which befell the nation of Glome. He waxes poetic about the nature of the gods, and that they demand nothing less than the best in order to appease their wrath. He states “That is not enough, King. And you know it. We must find the Accursed. And she (or he) must die by the rite of the Great Offering. What is a thief more than a bull or a man? This is not to be a common sacrifice. We must make the Great Offering.” This sounds a great deal like Christ’s sacrifice within Christian theology. Jesus is the perfect sacrifice- the “Great Offering” made to cleanse the sins of the world. However, the difference between the two lies in the satisfaction of the wrath of the gods. For Psyche’s tale, her supposed sacrifice is not enough to quell the wrath of the gods, however, the divine nature of Jesus’ sacrifice is sufficient to overcome ...
Read more