http://te301w2011.wordpress.com/
Traditional Literature: Myths
Greetings friends and family of Ms. Swartz’s 5th grade literature class!
As I’m sure you remember from my previous blog postings that we are discussing traditional literature this month. This week’s post will focus onmyths. Like all traditional literature, myths do not have a known original author because they were originally told orally and passed down through many generations (Stoodt-Hill and Amspaugh-Corson 93). Today, these stories are written by retellers or adapters. In Children’s Literature: Discovery for a Lifetime, Stoodt-Hill and Amspaugh-Corson explain that “[M]yths are stories about gods and supernatural being; myths explain human origins and natural events and tie together relationships between humans and the supernatural” (102). This post will take a look at two myths, both originally from India: “Hunuman’s Adventures” retold by Shenaaz Nanji and illustrated by Christopher Corr and “Durga, the Warrior Goddess: A Hindu Deity” retold by Katrin Hyman Tchana and illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman. If you are interested in reading either of these books or stories, they are available to be checked out from the school library.
Indian Tales: A Barefoot Collection
“Hunuman’s Adventures”
retold by Shenaaz Nanji and illustrated by Christopher Corr
cover image from http://store.barefootbooks.com/indian-tales.html
Nanji, Shenaaz, reteller. Indian Tales: A Barefoot Collection. Illus. Christopher Corr. Cambridge: Barefoot Books, 2007. Print.
Summary:
As I mentioned above, this book is considered traditional literature that originated out of India. We know that it is traditional literature because it has a reteller (not an author) and the original story was told orally for many generations before it was written down (Stoodt-Hill and Amspaugh-Corson 93).Furthermore, Nanji says in her introduction to the story that it “has been passed down through the generations in many forms – epic poems, folk tales, dance music, puppet shows, [and] paintings” (Nanji). Most traditional literature is passed on through multiple mediums like this (Stoodt-Hill and Amspaugh-Corson 94). Also there are only a few characters in this brief story (97-98). More specifically, it is a myth because it is about Hindu gods and supernatural beings and explains their relationships with humans (102). “Hanuman’s Adventures” is about a giant supernatural monkey-boy. Hanuman is sent to help the people when they are being tormented by Ravana, a demon. He uses his supernatural abilities to help a man named Rama find his wife Sita, rescue her from Ravana, and destroy the demon. After Hanuman saves Sita, Rama reveals that he is Vishnu, the Hindu god of creation (Nanji). As is the case with many myths and other traditional literature, good things happen to the good character but bad characters have bad things happen to them (Stoodt-Hill and Amspaugh-Corson 97).
Teacher Opinion:
As you know, I am always looking for good literature to share with our students that will not only get them interested and motivated, but also enhance their learning in other content areas. This is one of those quality books that covers all of those bases. One of the first things to draw a reader in is the bright, colorful illustrations which help the reader make visual connections to the stories. The stories themselves are ones that most students have never heard before and teach mythology in a way other than repeating Greek Myths, such as Hercules, which most students have probably heard before. It also gives insight into Indian culture and shows a form of diversity that many of our students may not have been exposed to before. As I’ve discussed before, showing our students many different forms of diversity is important to help them be well-rounded students and citizens. On herwebsite <http://www.snanji.com/tenreasonswhy.html>, reteller Shenaaz Nanji also gives a list of reason why readers should read Indian Tales and it’s stories like “Hunuman’s Adventures.” . Although we are using this book for our 5th grade literature lesson, this book would be great to read to or with friends or siblings anywhere from about 2nd grade on up.
Changing Woman and Her Sisters: Stories of Goddesses from Around the World
“Durga, the Warrior Goddess: A Hindu Diety”
retold by Katrin Hyman Tchana and illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman
cover image from http://www.holidayhouse.com/title_display.php?ISBN=9780823419999
Hyman Tchana, Katrina, reteller. Changing Woman and Her Sisters: Stories of Goddesses from Around the World. Illus. Trina Schart Hyman. New York: Holiday House, 2006. Print.
Summary:
This story is also considered an Indian myth because it is a traditional literature story with a reteller that involves Hindu gods, demons, and supernatural beings, explaining their relationships with humans (Stoodt-Hill and Amspaugh-Corson 93, 102). Durga is a lion-riding warrior goddess who can create other goddesses, called the Mothers, from herself during battle to help her defeat her enemies (Tchana 64). Sumbha, a demon who was at war with the other Hindu gods, wants to marry Durga because she is very beautiful (64). However, Durga says she cam only marry him if he defeats her in battle (66). So, he sends his whole army after her, but she and the Mothers, especially the most famous Mother Kali, defeat Sumbha and his entire army, bringing peace to the world (66-71). Like most traditional literature, this story is brief, told with just a few characters, and the “good characters are rewarded and the bad characters are punished (Stoodt-Hill and Amspaugh-Corson 97-98).
Teacher Opinion:
Just as I said above, I also found Changing Woman and Her Sisters to be a book that would be very interesting, informative, and educational for our class to read and discuss while examining myths. The story above mentioned, “Durga, the Warrior Goddess: A Hindu Diety” is also an Indian story about Hindu mythology from which our students can learn a great deal about Indian culture and Hindu religion. In addition, other stories collected in this book represent goddesses, all of whom are strong female role models, from many different regions and cultures. These stories are an easy way to begin to introduce our students to these cultures and gain an appreciation for them. This book could also be read by students from about third grade on up BUT I suggest previewing this book before they read it as it touches on a few topics such as war, violence, and incest that may not be suitable for all audiences.
Comparison
So, how do these two books, or specifically these two stories, stack up against each other? I’m going to briefly compare ”Hanuman’s Adventures” and “Durga, the Warrior Goddess: A Hindu Deity” based on their illustrations and the information they convey about the culture they represent, stating which story I think does a better job.
Illustrations: Both Christopher Corr and Trina Schart Hyman did a marvelous job illustrating these two stories. Although illustrations are only used minimally in both stories, the illustrations that are there tell a lot about the story that they accompany. Corr’s Illustrations in “Hanuman’s Adventures” are very bright, colorful, and inviting. They are almost childlike and therefore would probably appeal to children, especially younger readers. However, Hyman’s illustrations in “Durga, the Warrior Goddess: A Hindu Deity” are much more realistic. The reader can definitely tell that both of of the figures in the image are supernatural beings; one being a goddess and the other being a spirit (Tchana 64). This indicates right off the bat that this story is a myth (Stoodt-Hill and Amspaugh-Corson 102). In Corr’s illustrations, however, the reader cannot tell right away that this story is a myth because none of the characters are obviously gods or supernatural beings because they just look like colorful people and animals (Nanji). In addition, myths and traditional literature typically only have a few characters (Stoodt-Hill and Amspaugh-Corson 97). The illustrations in “Hanuman’s Adventures” make it appear as though there is a large cast of characters because it shows of all of his monkey friends, Hanuman appears in several forms, and Corr illustrates every character mentioned, even the minor ones such as the guards (Nanji). Hyman’s illustration of Durga and Kali shows only the two most important character while still giving an incredible amount of information about these character through what they wearing, holding, and riding (Tchana 65). In addition, what they are wearing and holding in this depiction says a lot about the culture – Indian Hindu culture – that this myth comes from (65). The reader cannot tell from Hanuman, Rama, or Lakshama’s clothes or setting which culture they are representing (Nanji).
Culture: This brings me to the next point of comparison between the two stories. That is, of course, which story does a better job of identifying and transmitting the culture from which they were taken? Again, both of these books and stories do an exemplary job of portraying the culture they are representing. These myths both discuss the relationship that Hindu gods, spirits, and demons have with each other and with humans in India (Stoodt-Hill and Amspaugh-Corson 102). As I stated in the previous paragraph, “Durga, the Warrior Goddess: A Hindu Deity” does a better job of portraying a Hindu goddess and her Indian culture through its illustrations whereas the illustrations in “Hanuman’s Adventures” does not adequately convey its culture. Let’s look at the actual stories themselves, though. “Hanuman’s Adventures” illustrates relationships between gods, demons, and supernatural beings (Nanji). This interaction helps shape Hindu religion and mythology, which is a large part of culture (Stoodt-Hill and Amspaugh-Corson 102). However, it does not really explain how this story relates to day-to-day Indian life apart from religion. “Durga, the Warrior Goddess” also primarily focuses on the relationship between supernatural beings, demons and gods, but it does go a slight step past this to say that Durga’s victory brought peace and restored order to the world, which would obviously impact the god’s relationships with humans (Tchana 70-71). Finally, although Hanuman is a supernatural monkey-boy from Indian culture and mythology, I felt apart from this fact that this story could have taken place in almost any culture or setting just by changing one or two minor details (Nanji). On the other hand, Durga, Kali, the Mothers, and the other demons and spirits in “Durga, the Warrior Goddess” are very culturally specific to India and the Hindu religion (Tchana 64-71). You could not pull them out and put them in another culture and still have the same story and keep these characters the same. Therefore, I felt that “Durga, the Warrior Goddess” fromThe Changing Woman and Her Sisters did a slightly better job of portraying the Indian culture and Hindu religion and mythology than “Hanuman’s Adventures” from Indian Tales did.
* * * * *
Some helpful websites!
Encyclopedia Mythica http://www.pantheon.org/
This website is a very handy tool for anyone who is looking to learn a little more about mythology from any region or culture. You can search by geographic region, culture, or religion to find the mythology you are looking for. Then, it allows you to search with in that mythology for more information on the characters or places involved. Below is the link to this website’s Hindu Mythology page.
- Hindu Mythologyhttp://www.pantheon.org/areas/mythology/asia/hindu/articles.html
On this website’s Hindu Mythology page, you will be able to find links to Hunuman, Kali, Durga, Ravana, and Rama if you would like to learn more about the characters from the stories above.
image of Hunuman fromhttp://www.pantheon.org/areas/mythology/asia/hindu/articles.html
Minneapolis Institute of Art http://www.artsmia.org/world-myths/
This is a fascinating website that contains images of artwork and artifacts that relate to myths from various regions, cultures, and religions. In addition to helping to explain what a myth is, it lists important information about each artifact, such as where is from, approximately how old it is, its significance, and how it relates to a particular myth. Students can search for art according to culture or theme. There is also a very handy tool to use for drafting an essay comparing and contrasting artifacts. This website links myths to real, tangible artifacts that they students will find incredibly interesting.
image from http://www.artsmia.org/world-myths/artbyculture/thoth_keyideas.html
Scholastic: Myth Brainstorminghttp://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/mff/mythmachine.htm
These two links are from Scholastic’s website for teachers and students. These are tools for the students to use if they would like to use their knowledge of myths to try their hand at writing their own. *However, as I will tell them in class, it is important to stress that they can copy the form of a myth but it will not be a true myth because real myths were are very old, have been passed down orally for generations, and don’t have a known author (Stoodt-Hill and Amspaugh-Corson 93). I do encourage students to experiment with these online activities to use their creativity and information they have been learning about myths to come up with a story of their own or rewrite an existing myth.
image from http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/mff/mythmachine.htm
* * * * *
Works Cited
Encyclopedia Mythica. 1 March 2011. 13 March 2011http://www.pantheon.org/. Web.
Hyman Tchana, Katrina, reteller. Changing Woman and Her Sisters: Stories of Goddesses from Around the World. Illus. Trina Schart Hyman. New York: Holiday House, 2006. Print.
Minneapolis Institute of Art. World Myths and Ledends in Art. 15 March 2011http://www.artsmia.org/world-myths/ Web.
Nanji, Shenaaz. 10 Reasons To Read Indian Tales. 15 March 2011http://www.snanji.com/tenreasonswhy.html. Web.
Nanji, Shenaaz, reteller. Indian Tales: A Barefoot Collection. Illus. Christopher Corr. Cambridge: Barefoot Books, 2007. Print.
Scholastic. Myth Brainstorming Machine. 2011. 16 March 2011http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/mff/mythmachine.htm. Web.
Stoodt-Hill, Barbara D. and Linda B. Amspaugh-Corson. Children’s Literature: Discovery for a Lifetime. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2009. Print.
Yolen, Jane. Myths Writing Workshop. 2011. 16 March 2011http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/mff/mythswshop_index.htm.
Web.
Works Consulted
Davis, A.Vicki. Cool Cat Teacher Blog. 2006 August 5. 2011 March 12 <http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2006/08/how-to-comment-like-king-or-queen.html>. Web.
Gunelius, Susan. 5 Tips to Write Blog Posts. 2011. 2011 March 12 <http://weblogs.about.com/od/bloggingtips/tp/TipsWriteBlogPosts.htm>. Web.
—. Top Ten Tips for Beginner Bloggers. 2011. 2011 March 12 <http://weblogs.about.com/od/bloggingtips/tp/TipsBeginnerBloggers.htm>. Web.
Munroe, Lee. How to Blog Effectively. 2009 August. 2011 March 12 <http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/08/how-to-blog-effectively/>. Web.
Rowse, Darren. Nine Signs of an Effective Blogger. 2008 July 10. 2011 March 12 <http://www.problogger.net/archives/2008/07/10/nine-signs-of-an-effective-blog-post/>. Web.
Thanks for Reading!
