Themes Throughout Time
Phil Cousineau once said, “Myths are lies that tell the truth.” Greek myths have been considered fictional, but they have always had true and deep morals behind them. The interesting thing about the novels read in class was that even though they were different stories or just told from different perspectives, they still had very similar themes. Two main themes were abuse of power and impulsive decisions as well as how they each still apply today.
One of the significant aspects of the novels were the consequences of having power. In the book “Circe,” they mainly talked about how power changed the character’s perspectives and morals. Circe had seen powers used in many terrible ways and she killed people with her powers as well. It caused her excessive trauma and regret. Luckily, Circe finally realized that she did more help without her powers than with them. However, Odysseus, another character in the book, used his powers to show his status to everyone by killing his wife’s suitors and everyone associated with them. While his choices didn’t affect him personally, they affected those killed and his wife. Even though he already had so much more power than everyone, he still felt the need to flaunt his status and powers all the time. Likewise, in the book “Cassandra,” Cassandra had power with consequences. She acquired the gift of prophecy as well as a curse of no one believing her. She prophesied that many people would die in the Trojan War, but no one listened to her and continued along with their initial plan. The consequence for Cassandra was the guilt of all the lost lives.
These examples may be myths of consequences of power, but it has occurred in real life too. In the novels, the power was more literal, but in real life people still strive to have power over others. When people brag about becoming someone’s boss or making more money than them, they tend to lose friends, family, and trust because of the ego they gained with their new power. It just goes to prove that the myths have truths that always apply to the real world. It was important that the authors added this theme to the novels because it made people realize that they could not abuse their powers without consequences.
Another common theme throughout the novels was the characters being impulsive and not thoughtful about their decisions or the consequences of them. The biggest example of that would be in “The Oresteia” or “The House of Names” when Agamemnon made an impulsive decision to sacrifice his daughter to the gods in hopes that they would win the war. That one decision caused a whole series of events to follow it. Clytemnestra, his wife, then decided to kill him and his “mistress” for what he had done and did not even think about how it would affect the people around her, especially their children. The killings then caused the children to get angry and they killed their mother, Clytemnestra, in return. All the needless deaths could have been avoided if they thought about the consequences of their actions.
This theme has also been used outside the novels because many people’s lives have been negatively impacted because of an impulsive decision. A real-world example would be gambling. When people impulsively bet on things without a limit, they sometimes lose their money or even their house all because they made a quick judgement that they would win. Overall, it was a good theme to add throughout the books because it made them feel more relatable since we’ve all made an impulsive decision at some point and needed to consider the results.
These novels had important morals behind them, and the authors included themes that were relatable. By writing these as myths, they were able to express their feelings towards social issues without directly stating them. All of these books had additional themes, such as feminism and sexism, which made many people uncomfortable when discussed out right. Overall, future generations can benefit from books like these by being able to read and discuss sensitive topics.
Resources:
www.worldhistory.org/article/927/women-in-ancient-greece/ - This article talks about women/feminism in ancient Greek.
www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/why-power-corrupts-37165345/ - This article explains how power can corrupt people, especially leaders.
www.talkspace.com/blog/impulsivity-train-your-brain-ignore/ This article helps explain how to help stop impulsive decisions.
Phil Cousineau once said, “Myths are lies that tell the truth.” Greek myths have been considered fictional, but they have always had true and deep morals behind them. The interesting thing about the novels read in class was that even though they were different stories or just told from different perspectives, they still had very similar themes. Two main themes were abuse of power and impulsive decisions as well as how they each still apply today.
One of the significant aspects of the novels were the consequences of having power. In the book “Circe,” they mainly talked about how power changed the character’s perspectives and morals. Circe had seen powers used in many terrible ways and she killed people with her powers as well. It caused her excessive trauma and regret. Luckily, Circe finally realized that she did more help without her powers than with them. However, Odysseus, another character in the book, used his powers to show his status to everyone by killing his wife’s suitors and everyone associated with them. While his choices didn’t affect him personally, they affected those killed and his wife. Even though he already had so much more power than everyone, he still felt the need to flaunt his status and powers all the time. Likewise, in the book “Cassandra,” Cassandra had power with consequences. She acquired the gift of prophecy as well as a curse of no one believing her. She prophesied that many people would die in the Trojan War, but no one listened to her and continued along with their initial plan. The consequence for Cassandra was the guilt of all the lost lives.
These examples may be myths of consequences of power, but it has occurred in real life too. In the novels, the power was more literal, but in real life people still strive to have power over others. When people brag about becoming someone’s boss or making more money than them, they tend to lose friends, family, and trust because of the ego they gained with their new power. It just goes to prove that the myths have truths that always apply to the real world. It was important that the authors added this theme to the novels because it made people realize that they could not abuse their powers without consequences.
Another common theme throughout the novels was the characters being impulsive and not thoughtful about their decisions or the consequences of them. The biggest example of that would be in “The Oresteia” or “The House of Names” when Agamemnon made an impulsive decision to sacrifice his daughter to the gods in hopes that they would win the war. That one decision caused a whole series of events to follow it. Clytemnestra, his wife, then decided to kill him and his “mistress” for what he had done and did not even think about how it would affect the people around her, especially their children. The killings then caused the children to get angry and they killed their mother, Clytemnestra, in return. All the needless deaths could have been avoided if they thought about the consequences of their actions.
This theme has also been used outside the novels because many people’s lives have been negatively impacted because of an impulsive decision. A real-world example would be gambling. When people impulsively bet on things without a limit, they sometimes lose their money or even their house all because they made a quick judgement that they would win. Overall, it was a good theme to add throughout the books because it made them feel more relatable since we’ve all made an impulsive decision at some point and needed to consider the results.
These novels had important morals behind them, and the authors included themes that were relatable. By writing these as myths, they were able to express their feelings towards social issues without directly stating them. All of these books had additional themes, such as feminism and sexism, which made many people uncomfortable when discussed out right. Overall, future generations can benefit from books like these by being able to read and discuss sensitive topics.
Resources:
www.worldhistory.org/article/927/women-in-ancient-greece/ - This article talks about women/feminism in ancient Greek.
www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/why-power-corrupts-37165345/ - This article explains how power can corrupt people, especially leaders.
www.talkspace.com/blog/impulsivity-train-your-brain-ignore/ This article helps explain how to help stop impulsive decisions.