Introduction
This writing compares and contrasts the creation stories of the Iroquois and Navajo peoples of North America to show some of the unique cultural aspects of each tribe. These two stories will be analyzed by identifying some important themes and symbols present in them and discussing the importance of each in relation to the other. The stories certainly fulfill a purpose to educate people about their worldviews, but both also entertain and inspire with their intense sense of mystery. They are mythical narratives of the ancient sacred account of magic, fear, enchantment, wonder, and fear.
Cultural background situates the story within the historical framework of the Iroquois and Navajo tribes. Both stories were created long ago by Native American tribes in North America. They have been told countless times to the following generations and have lived in a written format for several years. To the Iroquois tribe, "The World on the Turtle's Back" is a noble tale. His mother told him the story with many symbols and significant themes found within. The Navajo account "The Navajo Origin Legend" was recorded by a female spiritual medium of the sixth ceremony. The Iroquois and the Navajo acted as a mental, moral, or spiritual understanding of their respective cultures, religious beliefs, and moral basics. Both stories are told in a cherished land, with the universe being made in the world we know. They still carry the sense of responsibility for people to remember the traditions of the past and the moral values.
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Themes and Symbols in the Iroquois Creation Story
The Iroquois, or Haudenosaunee, creation narrative is rich with many themes and symbols that extend far beyond simply the tale of the Earth’s creation. Throughout the story, multiple themes are evident, such as that of duality. With this comes the idea of balance – as in the circle of life, or being fair and just. The natural world is revered and placed at the highest importance. The Earth is created to provide sustenance and benefit future creatures. Elements are given the utmost respect and are portrayed as living beings themselves. Other relevant themes include family and nation building. These ideals are very important and reflected in urban Iroquois life. In the Iroquois creation story, many characters, animals, and elements play significant roles. The story of Sky Woman is the central theme and represents many valuable virtues, ideas, and aspects of the world, Iroquois culture, and the creation story itself.
"Then the great sea turtle came, and he said, ‘Rest on my back, and I will bear you up.’"
The creation of the Earth is vastly important because of the reverence for the environment. Its creation in such a serene place represents its significance. It is the first thing the animals – the first Haudenosaunee – are founded on to work from a platform of wild animals to a system where there is harmony and balance. The woman is saved to show the importance of women, and with her come all that she can produce, quite literally. The Earth is everything; it is a place for Iroquois and all the Nations to live, and it would reciprocate with benefit. The myths of sustainment and respect for the Earth can be found throughout the story.
"The right-handed twin created the gentle creatures of the earth, while the left-handed twin made the monsters and the beasts that would challenge them."
Themes and Symbols in the Navajo Creation Story
Emergence is a key theme in the Navajo creation story, which emphasizes that the world evolved gradually.
"They climbed through a reed into the next world, leaving behind the darkness and disorder."
Engaging in a physical journey, the Holy People lived in four successive lands, or worlds, before ultimately settling in the Wilderness area of the American Southwest. The First World was defined as narrow, covered with water, and surrounded by fog, and the Holy People discovered no light in the Second World, created by the Whirlwind. It was only in the Third World, covered with land and mountains, that the Holy People encountered the light on a moonless night and initiated the construction of the celestial bodies. The three perfect worlds, transformed out of mold and becoming defined by their respective forms and functions, were considered unsatisfactory for human purposes, leading to their abandonment. Emphasizing the interconnectedness of all existence, the earth’s dwellers were collectively led to the Fourth World. This spacious and balanced environment, representing the pinnacle of transformation, is characterized by its boundaries and directions. In the meeting place of all these cosmic components, the Navajo dwell as Holy People in the modern era.
The Navajo Holy People are central figures in the story, as it is they who created the world and the people who live in it. Waging war against them, demanding their intellect, receiving constructive answers, and subsequently copying the deities’ efforts for the sake of material and spiritual harmony, the First People consulted with the Holy People many times in moments of intellectual crisis and spiritual need. Major elements of the Navajo way of life are shaped by these historical events. The Navajo people’s religious ideals are then established, including their ethical codes and notions of prayer. Indeed, everything about the Navajo people is framed within these constellations of memorable episodes, most significantly through the origins of the Nine Holy Beings of the First World. However, the nature of human existence and the environment, or Mother Earth, considered both person and environment, are also significantly affected by the representation of the Holy People in the story. Encouraging harmony with all living creatures, the Navajo people regard all nature as creatures that live in a coffee field, respecting collective Mother Earth homes embedded within her serene bosom. This entire cosmology, from its comprehensive inception to its increasingly smaller and local conclusions, constitutes the narrative’s final crucial element.
Two other particular themes worth mentioning involve duality and the concept of balance, which emerge through their various implications. Duality is symbolized primarily by the presence of Darkness, who would try to establish his influence within the cosmos despite the Holy People’s noble efforts to exclude him.
"The Holy People taught that harmony must be maintained, for without it, chaos would return."
In contrast to the world of physical things, thought that could exist solely in the human head is believed by the Navajo to incorporate a degree of Darkness. In terms of the notion of balance, the Navajo are very literal, strong advocates. To fulfill their eco-sensitive cosmology, both the world and human history must be known beyond this world, stressing the importance of respect. This harmony, or hozho, guarantees that both natural and cultural events operate in accordance with the foundational structure of creation. Nothing should depart outside of that scheme, which includes the life famed for Mother Earth. Adhering to this concept would make Mother Earth sick because of the work’s negative results: violation of the Navajo traditions. In this sense, both physical health and cultural identity are safeguarded by the protection of Mother Earth, highlighting the significance of this maiden’s representative capacity.
Comparative Analysis
One of the elements that is generally emphasized in considering these creation stories individually is the duality expressed by the principles leading to the creation of the world: in the Iroquois stories, Sky Woman gives birth to good and evil, and her descendants subsequently pit these forces against each other, thus establishing balance. For the Navajo, the breach between the Sky and Earth People parallels the activities of Changing Woman, who kills and revives two of her children when the balance of their natures is upset. Both peoples also have an image that is both a good spirit of nature and also a being equivalent in key respects to a Christian devil: for the Iroquois, Holder of the Heavens can call frost, snow, or wintertime, but always by consent; for the Navajo, Monster Slayer is first in killing certain powers that are alive in the world of the people, and thus has aspects that are both peril and benefit. Many of the topics of both readings influence their content – they are first and foremost stories that address the work of creation, and all the events within them concern the consequences of their cosmogony.
Early in the reading of each creation story, it becomes clear that knowledge yields the wisdom to construct and understand the world. In each of these stories, the main character is a powerful figure who is responsible for the affairs of human creation and development. Although the main characters differ, they both participate in creation and bring new mankind into the world. Each of the main characters embodies qualities of the culture’s principles. A thorough analysis shows that while there are reasons to assume that a Western mind would distinguish between each hero, at a close reading it appears that the potential criticism over the characterization is also addressed: through the power of a close literary description of the work, these characters of equal quality can indeed lead to the same results. The possible reasons for both of these depictions are various. The image that the Iroquois and Navajo have of creation is in some ways reflective of their historical and geographical surroundings, and also reflects some of the values and ways of thinking that are present in the collective society. The best way to understand the two readings fully would be to look at them after analyzing all cosmological phenomena, as found in the texts. However, even after a thorough examination, the larger significance of these elements to these peoples and their way of thinking is evident.
Impact of the Creation Stories
The creation myths are important to each group because they are still told today; they help people understand the world they live in. Now, through the process of life and what they learn going through it, after students hear the creation stories, the lessons are taught from the story on how one should live their lives. The Iroquois Creation Story gives students the lesson that they are to be helpful, respect each other, and be grateful, which is the connection to being a good friend and relative. These beliefs also help form the Iroquois Ordeal. The Navajo creation story, on the other hand, is mostly dedicated to beliefs in the environment or their world. Because of their belief in the earth, it describes the land surrounding where the Navajo live. It teaches that they are part of the land, and they are to protect and worship it, and to respect and care for one another.
Mythology consists of two oral traditions. It gives our society a way of determining who we are, what our values about living are, and why we live in certain traditions. Myths have a specific way of being told through storytelling, narratives, ceremonials, drama, and dance. In the oral traditions, children were the first audiences, and everything else was directed towards the young. The myths are told to function as a teaching aid; they lead to educated answers to questions of where and why an individual lives as he does, and what will happen to the individual. In doing this, they involve the entire community in the process of education. These creation stories are told so that the identities of Native Americans can be affirmed and for the individual to be born into a belief of who they are. To be born is simply an act of biology, an event at which time the parents' hopes and dreams for a child will be interwoven with the fabric of oral tradition and myth. The tradition includes a way of living, educating the young, and a guide to the future.
Even today, they tell of certain rituals and ceremonies that are supposed to maintain harmony in our lives, ensure health and prosperity, and convey the teachings of myths.
"Creation myths serve as the foundation of cultural identity, providing a moral and spiritual framework for societies"
All members of the band, community, or tribe are expected to know them. Creation stories are told to preserve tradition, to identify, and to afford continuity. The continuation of the tradition has become difficult, if not impossible, because of the influence of the dominant culture, prevailing laws, and modern methods of transportation and communication. In the Southwest, the emergence story is of living importance and maintains continuity of time. The ceremonies are held as they were in the time of the emergence of the people. It includes the entire community, and the people were told how their status would affect one another. They are all integral parts of the creation mythology of the various groups in our culture. The continuing vitality of our mythologies should point to the direction in which distinction should come. The stories are not, unfortunately, of a 'bygone culture' that has no meaning today. They are the stories of a continuing and interwoven way of life, a way of life that is being passed from generation to generation.
Introduction
Gothic literature embraces many forms and themes, and as such presents a challenge for anyone attempting to circumscribe it. However, the genre is primarily concerned with the creepy and the macabre; Gothic literature seeks to terrify and is capacious enough to include ghosts, castles, werewolves, and unnamed terrors that lurk in the male psyche. Often obsessed by the past, it often explores the fear that gigantic, primeval forces and urges still are present and active in the human mind, and that, unchecked, they would sweep society away.
Many Gothic narratives display certain persistent themes and the presence of conventional undertakings. For instance, the supernatural impinges upon over half of Gothic novels, most often in the form of a restless ghost, frequently of a murdered man, woman, or child. Other supposedly supernatural elements such as magic, possession, vampirism, and witchcraft, as well as, in the cases of certain authors, the appearance of real ghosts, are commonly utilized in the tradition. Many traditional Gothic novels combine the terror of the supernatural with the terror of the ancient. They are often set in a dark physical or moral environment. Periods of history such as the Babylonian, Anglo-Saxon, Roman, Egyptian, and medieval, with their crumbling castles and degenerate aristocrats, are dark territories of the human mind and implicitly invite analogical connections to be made with the repression and disorientation of the present. The landscapes in Gothic narratives reflect the minds of protagonists and are symbolic of their longing both to transcend their present position and to transcend constricting social and physical reality. Nature is itself often amoral or unfriendly, for frequently characters are. Nature, in whichever form or manifestation it takes, is frequently erratic and unperturbed by the terrible things that happen to a condemned character. While nature may be symbolically calm or raging, it always presents a paradigm that is horrific. Even when nature is portrayed as beautifully sublime, when its alpine, hill, valley, and lake scenery are described, it serves to undermine tranquility of mind and concern for order, proportion, and harmony.
The Influence of Gothic Elements
“Frankenstein” is considered one of the first novels to use Gothic elements effectively. But what are those elements that prop up the story? How do they enhance the novel’s themes and atmosphere? Before I go on, the main Gothic elements in “Frankenstein” are the monstrous, the theme of excessive or uncontrollable passion, the uncanny, and the motif of the individual against a landscape. This kind of text usually associates emotions with landscapes.
Feelings resembling fear more than anything else are often the elements that qualify the supernatural in Gothic texts for the characters involved in the narrative. The fear is also induced or awakened by the remote setting of the action, which includes landscapes and closed-off cities as well as the darkness of a laboratory. This is an important part of the setting of “Frankenstein”: first the eerie, then the uncanny, but also grotesque experiments that terrify Walton before he even gets to know the man who performs them. But the narrative explains why fear is involved, which is not the purpose of more contemporary horror. The exploration of fear proper sets in and emerges as an investigation of vocalized emotion coming from the characters as indexers of the uncanny. The Gothic text shows strong references to emotion and its streaming but often finds itself showing a mix of rebellion, anger, sadness, and non-expression or boredom when it comes to speaking of feeling. There are emotive passages in which the creature finally speaks and curses his fate, but what strikes us the most, as readers, is the realization of the non-humanity, the otherness of this “monster.” Despite his passed-through feelings that are expressed, such as love for the cottagers or hatred for his creator, the fact of them being felt by him is what makes them other rather than their quality or intensity or actual referent. And this ever-present quality of being continuously and obsessively (and therefore, imaginatively evil) is the uncanny to us. But is the non-human feeling it more than the feelings themselves or their inauthenticity? Not their hypocrisy (he really feels love and compassion) but their passage through the body and soul of the outsized creature.
Themes of Isolation and Monstrosity
The dominant themes of the story include the negative effects that alienation has on both the alienated people and society's response to the extent of one's monstrosity. Isolation is found in the form of Victor Frankenstein as an encapsulation of experiences of loss, whereas his creature is alienated in his distinct being. The creature is the visual and psychological depiction of these consequences, continuing to suffer from displacement and a lack of understanding stemming from his unclassifiable being. Themes of isolation are presented in various forms where people are viewed negatively when they are alienated, and where isolation leads individuals to sadistic behavior, either consciously or unconsciously.
The concept of monstrosity is portrayed through the beastly appearance and notable ugliness of the creature; however, the narrative explores monstrosity profoundly. Although the beast conjures uneasy reactions as he is a grotesque, bald humanoid figure, many readers and characters within the narrative view him as a worthy and moral being. The narrative distances itself from superficial appearance in labeling monstrosity. If the beast possesses no animalistic or animal-like visual traits or features, why is he labeled a monster by so many beings both in the narrative and among the audience? The creature is considered monstrous because society labels him as such; the unseen demeanor people identify within him is what is actually inhuman or monstrous about this beast.
Narrative Techniques in Frankenstein
On the narrative level, Frankenstein shows the securing of multiple points of view of its characters, sometimes within the stories that develop across others. The frame starts with several letters from an Arctic captain to his sister. These letters give the first point of view of an observer of the events, as the captain reports on news received from other people. The structure of the narrative allows it to be both told and shown at the same time, so that the captain often expresses complicated and multiple sympathies for the creatures and the victims described. This often leads to deliberate ambiguity in the novel, not constituting a conventional form of suspense as it will not be resolved within the narrative. The numerous letters, if carefully read, suggest a means of constituting and reconstituting a human history given over to the ambiguities that develop from the subject. The captain is himself a reader of the narratives presented by others in his own, and the end of the novel is, therefore, something of a conundrum. For his correspondents set out, at some length, the above problems and he passes judgment on them through gestures of a damaged heroism.
A. argues that Frankenstein is a "probably unique novel in being told in strictly (if imperfectly) chronological order by a series of narrators, but also in a variety of forms with all the variety of numerous orthodox narrative methods: letters, direct speech, and different kinds of immediate first-person remembrance." As the novel progresses, the number of narrators and the focus on particular narrators diminishes so that the meeting of characters is reflected in the text. This lessening of narrators highlights the voice of the "original". Walton expresses: "The narrators who actually tell part of the story, we have seen, tend temporarily to devalue this story by situating their own, or Frankenstein's, experience in some personal or irrelevant context. But within the narrative, this bias becomes justified by a movement from telling to showing, from a story of which anything at all can be said, to an objective description, a photograph, which is so exact and complete that only spite or credulity can question it."
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