It is noteworthy that this story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is the foundation of the religion with the largest number of followers worldwide. Why does it continue to resonate with so many people even today? The reason is that this utopia contains archetypes that reflect the collective unconscious that is found across all cultures. This is the result of universal themes in this story about humanity’s needs and desires that we still see occurring in our society today. The story of Genesis contains three archetypal characteristics that illustrate these patterns that still demonstrate humanity’s needs.
To begin with, one archetype found in Genesis is opposing forces and duality. In the days of creation there were opposites such as: Night and Day, Land and Sea, Heaven and Earth (Genesis 1:1-7) and Male and Female (Genesis 1:27). These examples show balance in our world. Another type of duality we see in our world today is Good vs. Evil. While there are
…show more content…
In Genesis, the test that Adam and Eve faced was the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. God told them not to eat the fruit in Genesis 2:17: “but as for the tree of knowledge of good and bad, you must not eat of it”. They didn’t obey God and they ate the fruit anyway, so God punished them for failing the test. In our society today we still have tests/, laws, and boundaries to keep people in check. If we didn’t have these tests, we wouldn’t know our limits. Then we wouldn’t have anything to keep ourselves from overstepping our boundaries.
It is clear that these three examples of archetypes in Genesis illustrate the presence of universal themes found in Genesis chapters 1-3 that are still relevant in our society today. They reflect common conflicts and/or quests that humanity still deals with. The reason it resonates well with many people is because it reflects the same things that many people deal with currently, even though the story is thousands of years
Another character that can be refered back to the story of Adam and Eve is
She then moves her focus onto Genesis 4:1-16, looking at the connection between Cain, Adam and Noah. The story of Adam contains Adam being formed out of the ground, and he will eventually end up back in the ground. The word “Adam” itself has roots that go back to the word “ground”, and Genesis links humanity to the ground by saying that humans essentially need to take care of the ground. This is shown in the case of Cain. Cain is a tiller of the ground, and Noah is a man of the ground, thus
“The Blackfeet Genesis” convey beliefs about nature. Old man created animals and birds “ he was traveling from the south making people , fixing the world as we see it today”(24). Old man made everything and had to change some things and where they were located because they did not fit right into the environment. “The Blackfeet Genesis” also shows complex religious beliefs . When the woman asked about the laws of life he said “ if the rock sinks you will die if it floats you will stay alive forever”.
Mankind will only survive by living with adversity, not with perfection. Humans seek success but true growth comes from the struggles faced obtaining it. Without the challenge, mankind and nature itself withers away in boredom and sterility. Humans, as with all organisms in nature, survive by adapting to challenge, not by the lack of them. The narrator in Wallace Stegner’s “Crossing Into Eden” finds that paradise is no place for humans because it is too perfect and does not offer the adversity mankind requires to exist.
In the novel The Pillars of the Earth, many characters exist with malicious, corrupt intentions. Whether it be in the pursuit of self-gain, or the desire to destroy others, these antagonists constantly cause havoc and destruction. The only thing that comes in between these antagonists and the rest of the population is a few unique individuals. Multiple characters in the novel are characterized as the hero archetype, and although each one operates in their own unique way, they all contribute to the betterment of society, while protecting the people around them. The common trait that defines these individuals as hero archetypes is that they all undergo a quest at some point in the story, which involves a separation, transformation, and return.
In John Steinbeck’s novel, East of Eden, the author explores mankind’s endeavor to overcome internal and worldly evil by utilizing biblical allusions and circular prose. One can infer that the novel is a great biblical allusion with the story of Cain and Abel from the Book of Genesis being a reoccurring insinuation. Steinbeck applies these biblical allusions to specify the moral and immoral characters in his novel. For example, Charles Trask receives a “long and crinkled scar” on his forehead that “turns dark brown” while he is filled with a malevolent rage (46). Later on in the story, Cathy Ames is also marked with a scar during a grisly altercation with the pimp she was exploiting.
Another reference to Genesis is made in Chapter 15, where the Creature likens himself to Adam. He says that similarly to Adam he was “united by no link to any other being in existence” (Shelly, pg.92), but unlike Adam he had very different circumstances.
East of Eden, by John Steinbeck, reflects the complexities in father/son relationships. The connection between a father and his son is vital to their development. The novel explores the impact of these relations is immense. The central allusion of the novel is comparing several characters to Cain and Abel, who were formed through their attempted relationship with their father-like figure, God. They struggled and vied for the attention, love, and respect of God, which subconsciously influenced their actions and thoughts.
It was that simple” (Cisneros 96). In comparison, the story of The Garden of Eden in Genesis consists
“Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception (Carl Sargon)”. According to The Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis, unprecedented floods occurred in both stories. The exception fell on the kind men, Utnapishtim and Noah: they survived the powerful event of destruction. However, in the same theme of the stories, there are sources of similarity and differences.
In the novel East of Eden, contrary to Fontenrose’s criticism, Steinbeck portrays the relationship between good and evil as an inherent part of the human condition, shown through his characters as they struggle with their choices and ultimate path, providing an understanding of humanity within the biblical struggle generation after generation must face. Steinbeck delineates good and evil as attributes present in everyone, existing from birth, and asserts that both are resolute and immutable in their existence. “Humans are caught… in a net of good and evil,” (Steinbeck 413). From the moment Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, humans were doomed to have both good and evil inside of them, without any ability to truly overcome the evil. Though Fontenrose supplies valid points in that Steinbeck uses the
Adam and Eve are ‘born’ in the Garden of Eden, an ethereal place where they want for nothing, or at least should want for nothing. This of
The story of Adam and Eve serves as a tale on how mankind and womankind were created and placed on Earth. The story takes place in the Garden of Eden, and because the woman was deceived by the Serpent, both the women and the man were cast down to earth. The Serpent deceived the women by allowing her to eat the fruit from the forbidden tree, as she also influenced the man, God punished both. “Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” (Genesis 3:16 NIV) and that He allowed “Adam (to) named his wife Eve” (Genesis 3:20 NIV).
In the following readings, Genesis and The Epic of Gilgamesh, women are perceived as subjects towards men. For example, in Genesis the first woman to be created by God is Eve and in The Epic of Gilgamesh the harlot Shamhat. Both characters are subjected to obey men in a point of their stories because it is the norm of the society of which these texts are written in. Even though both texts were written in the same part of the world, modern middle east, Genesis is the creation story of earth that was written in modern day middle east during Babylonian Exile of the 6th century BC, while The Epic of Gilgamesh was, however written in a different time, dating back to c. 2000 BC. Genesis was written before The Epic of Gilgamesh, which means that the norm of women being submissive towards men originated from Genesis to The Epic of Gilgamesh.
Atwood imagines a genetic engineering corporation called HealthWyzer that produces and disseminates diverse kinds of bacteria and trickily sells cures and medicines to pollute populace with the ailments that it produces. The destructive result of man’s domination and maltreatment of the natural world is destructing the world in a huge manner. According to Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, the exploitation and abuse of nature of humans began to take form as soon as different didactic human myths created a logic of domination, maintaining that “the world [is] subject to man” (pp77). Religious and classical texts, such as Genesis, reinforced the belief that man incontestably had dominion “over all the earth” and that “Man’s likeness to God [consisted] in sovereignty over existence” (pp77).