(Myth/Narrative)
A long time ago in a place far away there was a young woman by the name of Shelby; Shelby is a chinese american currently researching climate change and is extremely close to finding a method to reverse the effects quicker. Due to Shelby being both American and Chinese, the governments from either country have been attempting to woo her with beautiful research facilities in hopes she brings her research to their facilities. The race to beat climate change is on and the chance of winning has never been better. Shelby was comfortable in America and the Americans were quick to draw up bureaucratic red tape to keep Shelby from leaving for the competition. The Chinese attempted to gain access to Shelby’s research and this scared Shelby because she was now being targeted for the knowledge which she possesses. This pressure caused a major drop in the performance of Shelby and the quality of her research.With the two world powers bickering back and forth regarding who has rights to Shelby and her research they failed to realize the effect this had on Shelby and her research as well. Climate change is nearing the legitimate point of no return and if Shelby does not continue her research then the world as it is currently known will end, the weather will change and the glaciers will melt, cities will flood and millions will be displaced. All these horrible risk factors seem to come secondary to both America and China. American and China were both so obsessed with being the country that solved climate change they did not even give Shelby the stress free environment to save the world. The constant harassment from China and the hoops she had to jump through in America was too much for Shelby and caused her to be out of focus and shut down so to speak. It was decided that due to this stress being endured by Shelby she would spend six months working in America and six months working in China. The only condition is the Americans and Chinese need to work together on climate change using Shelby’s knowledge and research as a resource, rather than a weapon to aim against the other.
(Analysis)
The myth I have chosen to compare my narrative to is The Story of Demeter and Persephone. The myth takes place with a mother and daughter duo Demeter and Persephone who are hanging out and relaxing, Persephone is beautiful and all the Gods ask her mother for her hand in marriage and she says no. One day Hades comes and attempts to be a suitor for Persephone; when Demeter says no, Hades waits until Persephone is separated from her mother and he steals her and brings her to the underworld to be his queen (Madeleine, 1). When Demeter realized that her daughter had been taken by Hades she lost it and began the process of getting her daughter back. Zeus explained to both Hades and Demeter that if Persephone wanted to stay in the underworld she could but it would have to be of her own will. Hades slipped Persephone pomegranate seeds which when ingested in the underworld causes one to want to stay there. When Zeus asked Persephone if she wanted to stay in the underworld or return to earth she chose to stay in the underworld. Demeter was outraged and did not believe this to be true so she fought to have the time split. Demeter demanded that if Hades have her daughter for ⅓ of the year she should get her daughter for ⅔ of the year. The ⅓ of the year when Persephone is in the underworld nothing grows and the earth is barren, this is winter (Madeleine, 1). When Persephone is with Demeter, things grow like in summer and spring. Global warming is caused by Demeter’s anger of not having her daughter, we are the ones who are punished with wildfires and hurricanes and tsunamis plus lack of food (Madeleine, 1).Persephone was a beautiful goddess who was heavily sought after for her beauty, Shelby in the narrative is also heavily sought out, but for the reason of her having research that is the best bet in fixing climate change. Persephone is currently in Demeter’s ward and being sought after by Hades to be his wife. Demeter is America, who is trying to protect Persephone or Shelby from Hades or China who are attempting to steal Shelby-Persephone for their own reasons. This was included to show the correlation and relation between Demeter, Persephone and Hades and how they relate to the narrative of climate change. Persephone being stolen by Hades is like China trying to hack Shelby’s computer for the research that it holds, they are trying to go about the wrong way of getting something they wanted. Hades asked for what he wanted and could not have it so he took it, in this narrative China follows the demenior and action style of Hades. When Shelby suffers her drop in research performance because of pressure, this is based of when Demeter, Hades, Zeus and Persephone are in the underworld and Persephone is asked if she wants to stay and be Hades wife, note Hades slipped her pomegranate seeds that when consumed in the underworld cause one to want to stay there. Considering Hades and Demeter as China and America, the stress of this event of Persehone choosing and being drugged so her own answer is not her own portrays a similar powerlessness endured by both characters. Both are wanted for a profound trade and both are abused and pushed around when the larger entities join the mix. In the end of the myth it is decided that Persephone would spend half the year in the underworld as Hades dark queen and half her time on Earth as the beautiful daughter of Demeter. This was portrayed in the narrative through China and America sharing Shelby for half a year at a time and agreeing to work together with Shelby’s research to fight climate change on a united front, rather than fighting each other for the glory and bragging rights of who figured out how to stop climate change before the other. Persephone spending time between earth and the underworld kept the peace between Demeter and Hades because they were both able to get what they wanted (Madeleine, 1). The narrative I created is related to climate change and that was based on the Demeter, Persephone myth. The end of the myth states how Demeter stops growing things in the earth and things get cold and die when her daughter is in the underworld thus creating fall and winter; and start growing things in and creating warm, fruitful weather thus creating spring and summer. Earlier in the myth when Persephone was first stolen by Hades to the underworld, Demeter begins making the weather change and making it hard for humans to find food and such out of anger regarding the thrift of her daughter. In my narrative, climate change took place because of human action rather than the emotions of an angered goddess; in my narrative earth acts as an angry goddess because we are constantly stealing from her. We take her trees and fish and precious metals, we pollute the air and take away room for wildlife. In return, the earth makes life more difficult for us through lack of food, absurd temperatures and weather patterns and rising sea levels. This is why it was so crucial to find a solution for climate change in my narrative, we are at the point of no return.
In conclusion, my narrative was based on the Demeter-Persephone myth, this myth directly relates to climate change and even includes it in its text (Madeleine, 1), stating how when Persephone is with Demeter the earth has spring and summer and when Persephone is with Hades in the underworld the earth has fall and winter. That fact made it less difficult when comparing climate change to mythology and it also contributed to the inspiration for my narrative and allowed me to draw reasonable connections between the mythical world and our physical world that best explain the relation between the narrative and the myth.
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