The reading that we had for over Thanksgiving break was incredibly challenging yet rewarding. I was able to get through it easier than I would have and understand more concepts because of our work together in class and because of our prior readings. However, the selections, especially Milton, were still difficult for me. I think there were concepts from class in almost each of these selections and one of the main concepts that stuck out to me was Authority v. Alien. I believe there were many new concepts, such as gender roles and light v. dark, that were critical components and themes of the readings. Throughout the selections, I found myself struck by the authors physical descriptions of the world being formed. Most of the writers portrayed the creation as being fully responsible by God, and it amazed me at how descriptive and detailed the authors were when illustrating the physical aspects of the creation of Earth.
I found the concept of authority v. alien to be packed throughout these selections. I think this relationship is presented through God and Satan, and it was amazing to see how this played out. God and all his angels, being the authority, constantly demeaned and demonized Satan as being both “Chaotic” and “false or negative”. Satan was portrayed as being a demonic parody to God, and additionally as a distorted image of God. In Paradise Lost, there is a war between God and Satan, and I believes this is an example of the third governing condition in Stephen Greenblatt, Renaissance Self-Fashioning. In this condition, the alien (Satan) is to be “attacked and destroyed”, and this demonstrates a significant connection and relation to the governing conditions and the authority v. alien model in Paradise Lost. Throughout the reading, I was surprised at the importance of gender roles in each of these selections, specifically in Genesis and Paradise Lost. I had no idea at how sexist Genesis is, and it is shocking to see the author describe Eve and how she came to be. I’m really interested in this, and I hope we can dissect this in class. I have many questions about this theme such as how did this reflect society's feelings towards women at the time? How did this influence gender roles for the future of literature? Finally, what do we make of this and what does christianity have to say about this today? Does the sexism Genesis, an integral part of the foundation of christianity, still have a role in the christianity of today? In addition to exploring this concept in class, I hope we can do a deep dive into the character of Satan in Paradise Lost. To me, Milton’s portrayal of Satan is one of the most genuine and layered versions of the character in literature. I believe that Satan has emotions in this story, and this was kind of confusing and different for me as a reader. I hope we can explore Milton’s version of the character, specifically with an eye towards looking at the paradigms and themes at play within Lucifer.
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