"Spirited Away" and Pantheon character comparisons

Several characters in Spirited Away stood out to me. The first one was Haku, who was one of the few people who wanted to help the young girl Chihiro find her family and warns her to go back across the bridge to get out of the spirit world along with her parents. He reminds me of Prometheus in spirit, because he was willing to be looked down upon by the others in order to help the humans. He, just like Prometheus was not liked by his peers when his name was mentioned. Prometheus of course stole fire for the humans and was punished by Zeus for doing so. Chibaba, the woman that gave Chichiro her job in the beginning of the movie and runs the place, reminds me of Hades. Just like Hades, she runs her world and has a way to get to and from it only using a ticket(she has a floating train, Hades has a boat and they both go across a river). She assigned Chichiro a job and a new name when she got her and stole her old one, just like how Hades calls the shots in the underworld and tells everyone what their place is in it.

Borge's Asterion

In writing Asterion, Jorge Louis Borges achieves several different things. First, it shows us small origins of how myth worked during those times. Just like today, rumors and hearsay were big in the social parts of society but the only difference was that there were no social media outlets or ways to communicate besides talking in person. This would allow people more time to ponder on these passed on stories and even on purpose or by accident add a part to the legend that was not true at all. For example, Asterion stated that many people thought he was a prisoner in his own house and that all his doors were locked up so he couldn’t get out. This along with many other accusations would go on to be false, as he would go on to state and debunk each part of the myth that became him, collected stories and gossip that somehow made it to his doorstep. The second thing this story did indirectly was paint a picture of the culture from the time so we could see it. It was clear that things like writing each other letters and mingling with friends were common because Asterion was stating that he wasn’t a normal man because he didn’t do any of those things, he found hobbies like reading and writing meaningless. He even at times seems to entertain some of these myths, laughing at some of the gossip complied about him in front of the public. It probably was a brave thing to do at the time, for Asterion to come out and clear the air and admit himself being almost a cog in their system.

Favorite Mythology God

I would have to say that after reading the Pantheon readings that my favorite mythology God has to be Apollo. His motto of "know thyself" and links to beauty and order were something that rang very important to the culture at the time and even now. He helped bring reason to Greece along with Athena, which would go on to be the building blocks of many laws, setting the standards for social customs and the arts in Greek society. I also find it very interesting with his origins being possibly from Asia that he was so well respected in the culture as he was. You would never expect a culture so proud and almost arrogant as the Greeks to allow an outside to come in and set the tone for their culture in the way that Apollo did through their mythology, which at the time was along the lines of truth.

Introduction

Hello all! My name is Kevon Brown and I am a senior at Rutgers University graduating with a bachelors in History with a minor in Political Science. Along with being an author of two fiction novels(HERO-The Manipulated Perception, Sticks Stones and a Broken Heart), I am also the strength coach for the Rutgers Newark Track and field team, and a building manager of the Paul Robeson campus center. My love for story and it being passed down through generations has pulled me to this class, wanting to learn more about mythology and the impact it has on not only us as individuals but also the world as a whole. I hope like many of the other classes that I have taken in this University that this class will help add another dimension to my ability to write and tell stories and I am very excited to learn more and compare different mythologies to one another.