In Class Activity or Online Discussion: Creation and Cosmos Literary Quick Take
Overview
The literary quick takes are weekly discussions and in-class activities that I use to frame the text for the students. This is mostly formative and graded based on engagement.
Literary Quick Takes
I use this for group discussion in both online and in-class formats. It is intended to allow students to explore the meaning of the text in relation to themselves and to engage in meaningful discussion with peers.
In the creation stories for this Chapter, there are some interesting conceptions of early humanity and its demise:
In Works and Days we are presented with this allegory:
Thus, said the hawk to the nightingale with speckled neck, while he carried her high up among the clouds, gripped fast in his talons, [205] and she, pierced by his crooked talons, cried pitifully. To her he spoke disdainfully:
“Miserable thing, why do you cry out? One far stronger than you now holds you fast,
and you must go wherever I take you, songstress as you are.
And if I please, I will make my meal of you, or let you go.
[210] He is a fool who tries to withstand the stronger,
for he does not get the mastery and suffers pain besides his shame.”
We also hear from the Popol Vuh that:
To supply the deficiency the divine beings resolved to create mannikins carved out of wood. But these soon incurred the displeasure of the gods, who, irritated by their lack of reverence, resolved to destroy them…
[and that]
… They climbed to the roofs of the houses, but the houses crumbled under their feet; they tried to mount to the tops of the trees, but the trees hurled them from them; they sought refuge in the caverns, but the caverns closed before them. Thus was accomplished the ruin of this race, destined to be overthrown. And it is said that their posterity is the little monkeys who live in the woods.
So, far, however, I have not added anything new to the discussion, because you have already read these passages. In both texts, humanity was destroyed for its lack of reverence to the gods, and in both stories, there is an underlying allegory of one’s submission to fate. This source will provide us with a different, perhaps less pessimistic perspective:
I mentioned the Veil of the Maya in the analysis for this week. How would you compare the concept of Maya to our texts from this week and what it means about coping in these cultures?