A metamorphoses for myself.

     For my last blog I am going to tell you about about my own personal metamorphoses. It all started back on the first week of school. I came into this semester taking calculus two, physics with calculus, U.S. seminar, and finally mythology. I had to choose mythology to fill in my requirement for one of my core classes. I had no idea what I had just gotten myself into.
     I will give you a quick background on myself. I am an engineering major who has always thrived in math and science classes. I have struggled in English and a little bit in reading. I was hoping that I could take this class and pass with little effort. Boy oh boy was I wrong. I was told that I have to read this book that is more than one thousand pages and worse yet, I could barely understand the verse it is written in.(I still have to read some of Ovid's stories twice just to know who is in the story). I was so intimidated by the books, students, and this genius professor, who seemed to know everything about everything. To be perfectly honest, I would have dropped the class if it was possible without losing my scholarship.
     Now at the end of the semester I can truthfully say that I am glad that I was forced to finish this class. I enjoyed all of the discussion that we had in class. Dr. Sexson made mythology fun and more importantly relevant for me. This was a story that could be in the book The Metamorphoses of Ovid. I have had an amazing metamorphoses. I would like to thank everyone in class for this experience. I would like to give a special thanks to Dr. Sexson. He was the one who brought it together, the students and the literature. Thanks again to everyone for a great class experience.

This is my term paper that I did on Henderson the Rain King.

Henderson the Rain King

            I chose to do my term paper on Henderson the Rain King by Saul Bellow. The one part that fascinated me throughout the entire book was the voice inside his heart that kept telling him "I want, I want..." While reading the book I thought that this voice was a part of his selfish subconscious. I felt that no matter what Henderson did he would not satisfy this thirst for  greed. After thinking it over and hearing what other students had to say I eventually came to a very different conclusion about the voice. At first I had thought that the voice was telling him that it wants a material object; money, land, or other possessions. Then after careful consideration I believe that the voice was expressing a want to help. Instead of saying "I want possessions," it was trying to say "I want to help." This is what I will try to demonstrate in my paper.

            Very early in the book we find out that Henderson is a very wealthy man. He can be a hard worker when he wants to be but he seldom has motivation to do much of anything. We are told Henderson his worth three million dollars, which by rough estimation, is around twenty two million dollars in today's world.(www.measuringworth.com) To put this in prospective the president of the United States, Barrack Obama, is currently worth ten million dollars. While professional football coach of the Washington Redskins, Mike Shannahan, has a net worth of twenty five million dollars.(www.celebritynetworth.com) It is hard for most people who are not this wealthy to understand how somebody who is wealthy can also be selfish. This is how I felt at first. Not only can this man not find peace of mind, he becomes so distraught that he leaves his family and goes to Africa. When talking to his friend Charlie, he is asked " Where do you want to go?" Henderson replies "All I know is that this isn't the place for me." (Rain King p. 43) Henderson is middle aged and has plenty of money and he has travelled half way across the world to try and heal himself of his distressed state of mind.

            The first people that he meets are the Arnewi. They have a problem with their water source. When Henderson first hears of the Arnewi's problem, he becomes very excited. He thinks that he can use his knowledge to help save the Arnewi's water supply. This is the first time we can see that Henderson truly wants to help this tribe. What I believe tells you more about his good will for this tribe is his reaction when he fails. After blowing up the dam that holds the Arnewi's water, Henderson is devastated. He had come all the way from America and his only wish was to do one good dead and he puts the Arnewi people into a drought. After committing this act Henderson cannot stand to be around the tribe any longer.

            He embarks on a new journey to try and do something right. He and his guide, Romilayu, travel deep into the African jungle to find the Warri people. He was told about this tribe from the group of people he had just left. Henderson is driven to make amends for his actions. He desperately hopes that he will not screw up with the second tribe like he did the first. Henderson will become more important to the Warri people than he could ever hope for.

            After a peculiar entry into the tribe, Henderson and the king of the Warri, King Dahfu, become very close friends. One day the king invites Henderson to a special ceremony, designed to bring rain to the Warri. At this ceremony an important statue cannot be moved, since the statue is not moved there will be no rain. Henderson knows he can move the statue and he asks the king if he can try. Dahfu allows this to happen and once Henderson moves the statue of Mammuh, rain begins to fall. This is when Henderson officially becomes the rain king. He has finally done something to help. After this occasion Henderson never hears the voice in his heart again. I believe that this is because he satisfied his need to help.  Soon after this Henderson leaves to return home. On the trip back to the United States he realizes that he loves his family. Not to say that he did not love them before but now he cannot wait to get home and see them. Also, even though he is middle-aged, he has found motivation to go back to school to become a doctor.

            Thinking back to when Henderson first hears that voice in his heart, it now becomes clear that the "I want" was never a selfish act of the subconscious. Yet a benevolent want to help people in any way that he could. Once he got over his distress he was then able to live his life. It is assumed that he goes back to his family and becomes a better father and husband. He also wants to become a more functional member of society by becoming a doctor. A profession that is all about helping others.

The greatest trick ever pulled

    I decided on doing my next blog on the which story or myth was the worst (gruesome/most evil). After trying to find a certain story I quickly realized that this was nearly an impossible task. There are so many stories in Ovid's book it is too difficult to pick one over any other story.
    Then in my Seminar class my professor Ben Luebner asked us if we had seen the movie The Usual Suspects. Almost none of my classmates, me included, had not seen it. After this he told us we should all watch it ASAP. So that night I found myself with a little extra time so I pulled the movie up on the internet. After watching this movie one of the characters, Keyser Soze, had shown me what my blog was gong to be about.
    First watch this clip  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgkBpWc8ngI. After seeing this I recognized that not one particular event could be singled out but one type of crime was the worst. Many of the stories in Ovid's book had are surrounded by deceit and disguise. This is what I have found to be the most evil thing of all. As we are told "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he didn't exist."  This raises the question, how can you be scared of something that doesn't exist? And if you don't believe in the devil (I am not advocating one way or another) then there is nothing to worry about.....or is there?

Anemonemeonomemneoem...?

Last week when we were preparing for the test, someone brought up the story of Venus and Adonis. As the myth goes (simplified) Venus took the blood from Adonis and turned it into an Anemone flower. Immediately after the question was posed three or four people where trying to get their two cents in about how to pronounce the word. In class people argued for several minutes over which pronunciation was more correct. To this day I am not sure how to say the word, I will probably never know. This reminded me of a movie I had seen where a certain character couldn't figure out the pronunciation of a similar word. Watch this and you will understand http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ1KDf3O-qU.
Now the word the that Nemo was trying to say was Sea Anemone, which is more of a jellyfish than a flower even though it is classified as a flower. Although they are describing different plants/animals the word still gives man and animal alike a hard time with pronunciation.

Book XV

Myscelus- A mortal man favored by the gods and great Hercules built the city on Italian soil.Pythagoras- He gives use many reasons not to be carnivores and he maybe the first to be a vegetarian. Egeria and Hippolytus- Drug and scattered was his body all over the ground, so much so that he was recognizable as just one giant wound.Cipus- The once feared horns that sprouted on his brow had brought him to be the ruler of the city of Rome.Aesculapius- The god needed to find a place for his shrine and for this he went to the ground.

Book XIV

Glaucus, Circe, Scylla- Even someone on as great and powerful as a god can fall under the emotions of jealous and envy, this Circe proves.The Sibyl- A mortal was given great power and yet she was not specific with her wish and now will die an old old woman.Aeolus, Ulysses, Circe- After they found their lost (and almost forgotten) Greek, they retold their gruesome adventures.The Fountain of Janus- This story shows that even help form the "hand" of a god does not ensure victory.Hersila- Love can be so great that it is in life, death, and even immortality. 

Book XIII

Ulysses and Achilles' Armour- The mind will always prove to avail over the body, even in times of war.Ajax- After his first defeat he could not stand to lose so he took his own life. Can you say sore loser? Polyxena- The Shade of Achilles' demanded a gruesome sacrifice, the life of poor Polyxena.Hecuba, Polydorus, Polmestor- The grief of Hecuba was so great that even the gods pitied her. The Daughters of Anius- The four daughters were graced with the power to turn anything into wine, wheat, or oil.