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Sarah Ann's picture

Creation Comparisons

There's a lot to think about with all these different stories and our classroom discussions. There are a lot of common themes or items throughout the bunch, such as beginning in nothingness/darkness/water. There are some subgroups, like stories that have one all-powerful creator, and stories in which creation is a group effort. One thing I kind of noticed and pondered while perusing the myths was the role of gender. If a story had a central creator, it was usually specified as male. If, as in the story of Genesis and an African myth posted by christinequeho, disobedience by one of the humans brought about a downfall, it was typically the woman. Does this have a significance? If, as King says in his book, all we are is stories, did that contribute to the idea of women being lower than men? Or is it a chicken and the egg scenario - did the stories make us, or did we make the stories? Like I said, a lot to think about...

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