We study myths like Orpheum & his girl friend because it takes place in the Greek Underground. We want to know how our civilization got that way.
Myths are everywhere. Many everyday things like thunder are based on myths. It helps increase our vocabulery in words like Volcanno and By Jove! and to gain experience for future behavior.
The reason we study it is because it shows the kind of writting they went in for in days of Yore. If this isn't the right answer well I don't know.
The Odessye I've just read helped me an awful lot in my life.
We study myths to learn what it was like to live in the golden age with all the killings.
I'm sure there are many reasons why we study these things but I missed it due to absence. I brought a note.
We study myths so we may comprehend in a superior fashion the origines of many idiocyncracies of our language throughout the decades, constant references to mythologic occurances have spawned such sparkling gems as Jumping Jupiter. By acquaintance with sundry gods and their female counterparts one might discover the birthplaces of such phrases of which we speak.
Diana ruled the moon and fell in love once with a mortal and because of its outcome she never again did so.
If it wasnt for Myths where would Shakesper be today?
Well, for students going to colledge even if they don't go to colledge everybody needs a certain amount of literature in their backround.
To me the "Odyssey" was just another Ethan Frome or Silas Marner.
It's hard to avoid reading because every wheres we go reading is there.
My own opinion is that I hated the Odessy.
I dont know why we read them but I can tell about it. Pyramid and Thisbe are next door neighbors who like Romeo and Juliette were caused to die by their parents. They saw each other thru a hole in the wall. After a while they couldnt stand it and decided not to meet by the hole any more. So they met by a tree. Thisbe runs away at the sight of a lady lion who's mouth is dripping blood. She dropped a clothe which the lady lion only picked up and thats all. Pyramid walks over and sees the clothe full of blood. He became agrieved and slewed himself. She then walks over and seeing her lover laying on the ground she couldnt stand the sight of him and likewise slewed herself. The blood of them both joined and changed the white flower to purple. How beautiful is love.
It developes our
(not finished)
We drove deeply into the Odessey to get what we can out of it. I think it's valuable to us. It's very difficult to understand the English of before.
Mythology is studied in the school system because most of us come from it.
My opinion about the Oddysey is ridiculous. I don't want to hear about some one's troubles.
The reason we study mythology is to gain tolerance for others even if they don't deserve it.
I didn't know we'd have a quizz on it so didn't study for it, but I imagine we read it to be a round person.
What you may call it felt that the people of the earth should have fire and he stole it from Ollympus and took it to earth. He was then punished by being tied to a mountain top and have his liver eaten out every day by a Vultur.
Once a person studies myth's they look on life a little different. I know I do.
Why do we study the Odyssy? Because everybody in high school at one time or another read it and now we have to read it because it's our turn. The Trojan horse was used as a spy of today. Gods were used as dictators and Penelpe still walks the streets of modern society.
If the odessy is of no value to me its probly because I didnt put myself into it to begin with.
Just about all myths are based on Love and that is why.
We read myths for learning about the gods and godesses and their affairs.
We read it because it's a classicle.
PART IV
20. Life Situation
FTG againOct. 9
Dear Ellen,
Your letter gave me the lift I needed; I was beginning to think I wasn't communicating with anyone! My students have come to me so empty-handed that I don't know where to start, or what to give them, or how to fill in the gaps.
The other day Bester popped into my SS (special-slow) class, and I gave an emergency composition to be written in class. The topic was "My Best Friend," and as I read the papers, I wondered: How do I correct them? What do I correct? Spelling? Punctuation? The inarticulate loneliness between the lines? I don't know where to start, or whether to laugh or cry. Perhaps the two are the same.
And I'm not communicating literature to them either. I saw that when I gave a quiz on mythology.
That leaves just you and me. I loved your account of the painters redecorating your bedroom. Certainly, you should stand pat on pale blue and mauve; don't let them get away with buff!
In the same mail came a letter from Mattie, telling me of a February vacancy at Willowdale. Very tempting. It's a small college where I could get an appointment even without a PhD. Trouble isI like high-school kids; I chose to teach them; I feel they need me. Especially a boy like Ferone.
I look up his PRC. That's the Permanent Record Card kept for each student throughout his years in high school; it includes marks, IQ tests, aptitude tests, personality ratings, teachers' evaluations, percentile curves, notes, letters, affidavits, interviews, truant officer's reportsthe history of a child encapsuled in a folder.
His IQ is 133; his marks last term: 65, 20, F, 94, 45. The 94 is in Social Studies. The 20 is in English. I marveclass="underline" why 20? why not 18? or 33? or 92? Is it based on his thinking, feeling, punctuation, absence, self-expression, memory, insolence? And where on the percentile curve does he fit? Or a girl like Alice? Or a boy like Eddie? What mark does Eddie get for the way the white world has treated him? Or Alicefor the fantasies the movies have fed her? Or Ior even I?
On the left of the blue line are Attitude Ratings for Citizenship, Cooperation, Cleanliness, Leadership Potentialto be marked from 1 to 5. Ferone's average is 1 1/2. Getting along with Peers=Good; Getting along with Teachers=Poor.
Next to that'Disciplined on the following dates," and a long list, ending with "Obscene language in auditorium."
On the right of the blue line are the CC'sCapsule Characterizations. At the end of each term, each teacher enters a succinct phrase for each student. "Should try harder" is the favorite.
I glance through other PRC's.
"fine boy"
"fine boy"
"should try harder"
"fine boy"
This is the defeated looking Puerto Rican boy whose name no one remembers and who signs himself: Me. (He wished himself a happy birthday in my Suggestion Box.) I make sure of his name: Jose Rodriguez.
The CC's are followed by the PPP'sPupil Personality Profilesdevised by Miss Friedenberga self-appointed Freud. These are based on her interviews with the kids, and are phrased in pseudoanalese. Ferone "should channel his libidino-aggressive impulses into socially acceptable attitudes." Vivian Paine "suffers from malfunctioning of the ego due to compulsive obesity." Lou Martin "exhibits inverted hostility in manic behavior-patterns." Eddie Williams "must curb tendency to paranoia due to socioeconomic environmental factors." Rusty, the woman-hater "shows signs of latent homosexuality induced by narcissistic mother and permissive masturbatory practices." Alice Blake "is well balanced and integrated."