PART 1:
I felt the heaviness of their eyes on me as I walked down the hallways of the school. It was as if they have never seen anyone with a body like mine. I kept thinking to myself “what do they really think of me? Do they see me as a scary giant? Or do they maybe care about my feelings and strengths?”. It was all some vague questions which I thought I will never find the answer to. It’s not easy being different from others, especially in high school where people mainly spend their times being judgemental. All these thoughts would fly away when I saw my friend Jordon, he never acted like he noticed my irregular body figure, he made me feel strong with tons of capabilities. I know the staring shouldn’t bother me but it’s hard. We were walking to our class until we saw Jackson, we never liked him as he always made fun of me and Danier as if we could never belong to this school and were abnormal. He found my gigantic body, and Jordon’s heritage and racial background unnormal, we weren’t what they believed was normal. As he approached to us in the hallway and got closer, he pushed Jordon into the lockers. It was at that moment which I felt like I could no longer take any of this. Jackson wasn’t the problem, and we weren’t the only ones being bullied. Many people with the same racial background as Jordan were also the target of people like Jackson. Even Jackson was being controlled by someone. The whole reason why everyone separated us from the rest was coming from the king of cruel acts, Evan. He has always had issues with me and the people with certain races. He is the villain behind every incident that happened at school, the one who manipulated others into being mean and crucial towards me, Jordon, and many others. He fed them with crucial thoughts and beliefs. Taught them how to make people feel horrible about themselves. I no longer could handle this amount of pressure, the pressure of not being able to express myself as who I truly am. The amount of pressure that my friend was under because his skin colour was different, because he wasn’t the same heritage as those monsters. It was time to put an end to those crucial actions. I was thinking about all of this as I was walking strongly with speed, and madness towards the cafeteria. I walked in and saw Evan and a bunch of his friends or as I like to say, followers, sitting in a corner where they always sit. I went to him and stood up for our rights. The right of my friend being free for who he is without being discriminated because of his race. The right of me being a man with strong capabilities and not being bullied by the ones who are weak and manipulative. I brought him down from his evil throne and destroyed him because he had to know that there is no room and tolerance for discrimination.
PART 2:
The myth I wrote demonstrates different aspects of life, and mythologies from Greece and Rome. There are some ancient sources I found for the myth writing above which indicates of one of the most important heroes of all, Hercules or Heracles. He was a half-god and half-human hero, with an enormous physique and level of strength. His strength was what made him Hercules. He has always been known for his strength and heroic actions, fighting many evils and villains. One of the ancient sources I discovered which were closely related to Heracles fighting off Antaeus, a giant who invited and encouraged everyone one to wrestle him and even kill them. No one was ever able to put him in his place and defeat him, until Heracles joined him in a fight and showed him the lesson of not underestimating other people (Prop, Elegies 3. 22). In the myth I wrote, the narrative is demonstrated to be Heracles and the evil character, Evan is the Antaeus. In my myth, the narrative and his close friend were being underestimated and considered unnormal by other people like Evan and his crew, they drove him to a point of frustration without considering his strong capabilities and unhuman features. He taught Evan a good lesson of how to treat others, never make them feel less of a human and unworthy, do not discriminate among people and to never underestimate the power that a person beholds. Heracles has had various and many other fights which demonstrate his strengths and unhuman powers. The main character aside from his figurine could be also considered as goddess Arete, for his bravery. Arete was known for her personified spirit, and bravery. She demonstrates the same behaviours and personalities as the main character, which was very brave to standout for his friend and the people with different racial background. The character valued people of any kind and didn’t believe in discrimination. The character held love and purity of heart within himself which is a significant characteristic of Arete. She holds a good deed for everyone in her heart and looks for the good in them (Quintus Smy, Fall of Troy 5. 50). The main character was very much influenced by Heracles though he shows similarities with other gods and goddesses too like the Arete. An important part of the myth to focus on is the event and action of racism and racial discrimination which has happened in the myth. The appearance of racial discrimination in the modern myth I wrote has surely not occurred in classical mythologies as, as far as we know the skin colour and ethnicity was not an important aspect at that time. However, we can observe some discrimination from ancient Greek mythologies among people and gods based on their beliefs. During the classical ancient Greek mythology individuals were discriminated by their analogies and beliefs. I believe that discrimination may not have been said out loud but were expressed by action of individuals at the time. The discrimination wasn’t on their biological features, but on their strengths and capabilities. It is certain that gods and goddesses were in a higher level and respect than humans, immortals, mortals, and heroes and villains. There are not much information on the topic of racial discrimination in the ancient Greek mythology, but it also can be observed through the hate that individuals from various parts of Greece and different areas feel towards each other and gather from different areas to fight or start a war. Therefore, we could obtain that discrimination was present in the Greek mythology however performed in various ways which are different from what people may experience in the modern world. The motif of my myth is the action of thinking which is repeatedly done by the main character. He thinks about what people assume of him and considers some deep thoughts about why they think the way they do, or if he is considered any different from others. He thinks everything through thoroughly, especially when he decided to stand-up to Evan and confront him about the damage he exerts on people’s mind, thought and spirit. The motif of thought and overthinking is expressed in goddess Metis, which is known for her wisdom and deep thoughts. The character demonstrates the same features as he does not seem to take action based on his impulses and is wisdom enough to know people’s worth and respect them. He is a wise person which acknowledges him and other’s feelings and believes in equality and does not agree with crucial behaviours and want everyone to be treated the same disregard of their ethnicity or beliefs. I believe that the character surely does not demonstrate various amounts of features within the Greek mythology, but he demonstrates the manhood and bravery that most of the Greek gods and heroes held within. He demonstrates the bravery characteristic and standing-out to cruelty, which is a significant character within the Greek mythologies, he felt the need to be brave and show that he is valuable and should be treated the way that he is worthy of and not be bullied or let anyone else be treated differently just because their values are not accepted by the villains in the school. It takes a lot of courage for someone to not only take their right, but to go to a battle to defend everyone which is being treated unrespectful. These characteristics of the character makes him more relevant to Heracles as they both had the same deeds within and mostly held the same intentions in heart. There are many different examples of fights which Heracles have done which demonstrate his bravery and outstanding for the right actions to be done. I find it fascinating that the character developed a great sense of similarity with one of the most known Heroes of not just Greece but around the world, for sharing the characteristic of bravery and being a man of the battle for good deeds. Every character is for sure flawed, and in the case of this character, he demonstrates his flaw within him not expressing his feelings sooner and letting them affect him to a level of affecting him deeply so that he couldn’t express his madness by just talking and discussion.
Bibliography:
Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 5. 50
Prpertius, Elegies 3.22.
Quintus Symrnaeus, Fall of Troy 6. 270
Seneca, Troades 1106
Philostratus the Elder, Imangines 2. 21