Ms. Fusaro's Blog: Tracy Liang 11/1/19 Period 2

Modern Mythology 2020
11/1/19
Tracy Liang PD 2
Aim: Why and how does Hercules’ characterization make him one of the most memorable figures in Greek mythology?
Notes for the day

Write Now: Write about a time when you did something wrong, whether purposely or inadvertently, but for which you were extremely sorry.

Alexis was allowed to go to a last-minute concert even though it was a school day and was expected to come home by 12AM. However, her phone died and she ended up coming home at 1/2AM. She felt guilty for making parents feel worried and angry for not being able to reach her.
Justin went on a vacation and had to leave turtle at home with no one to feed it for 3 days.
Emma was supposed to take care of her turtle during the winter. She left turtle outside to run an errand. When she came back, it was dead.
Bobby went to the beach and brought back hermit crabs. He left them in an overheated car by accident.
Brian stole a book.
Sarina was 9 years old when she fought with her 6 year old brother and pushed him into the stairs. Her brother had bruises and blood all over and cried. She felt bad about the incident because it was her duty to protect him.

Write Now: Watch the video I’m about to show you. Write down your honest, raw emotions for both the dog and the guy. Use brief words/phrases, in chronology of what you’re seeing. The more, the better. You can be honest. If you’ve seen this before, act as though you haven’t when writing emotions.

Summary of Video: The short video included a dog and its owner. The dog is seen spending time with its owner. The owner tells his dog that he will be going out for a while and promises to return. The dog is shown waiting for its owner to come home. After a while, the owner finally returns home and apologizes for taking longer. The words at the end of the video say, “Make plans to come home.” It was a Budweiser commercial.

Rob thought the dog was cute, questioned why the owner left the dog, “what the heck,” almost cried, and glad the owner came back.
Ben said that he thought the dog was going to die from starvation.
Another person thought it was a drink and drive video.
Justin related the video back to his turtle story where he left his turtle like the owner left his dog.
Mrs. Fusaro tells the class that everyone has similar emotions. The video was only one minute but brought us to so many different places. We felt mad at the owner for not coming home but he redeems himself and we forgive him when he comes home. This is related to Hercules in the sense that he also does terrible things but he feels guilty and tries to redeem himself so we end up forgiving him. Hercules’ stories are always told again and again because we find it endearing how he keeps trying to make up for his mistakes.

1. Read and annotate the article by Stephen A. Diamond, PhD, “Why Myths Still Matter: Hercules and His Twelve Healing Labors.”

Is Hercules responsible for killing his family or should we blame it on supernatural forces? This question is related to now such as in court cases where a person may be guilty of violence caused by outside forces: defective genes, childhood trauma, faulty neurology, etc. Should they be held in the wrong for their evil deeds or should we consider those outside forces? For ancient Greeks, the answer was both. For instance, Hercules was punished by the Gods for his crimes and had to complete 12 extremely difficult tasks. He redirected his anger towards eradicating evil and could only redeem himself by doing good deeds.
The daimonic: a Greek concept, anger that possesses a person to do evil. However, this anger may be redirected to positive/creative energy which could be for constructive pursuits.

2. What is your opinion on the psychology of evil? Is it ever vanquished? Are we truly our own worst enemies?

Evil cannot be destroyed. Hercules used his anger to help him. We shouldn’t banish evil and it will always be there. Instead, we should learn how to control it and like how Hercules redirected it to further himself beneficially. We aren’t sure if Hercules or the deities are responsible for the evil deeds done but evil can’t be banished. Moreover, everyone’s perspective of evil is different. Hercules may be a victim of circumstance. For example, people in ghettos are more likely to be criminals so should we blame society or them. In most situations, throwing anyone in a certain environment will cause them to be a certain way and we must have sympathy. Anyone may be redeemed. Hercules is still idolized after killing his family. It is a sign of strength if you can fight your own demons. Hydra is a good example of symbolism in the story of Hercules. The Hydra can replicate its heads which may be compared to evil such that evil will always exist, even when Hercules hid its head under the ground to prevent it from replicating. This shows that evil will always exist no matter what.

Whole Group Discussion: Does Hercules’ sensitive soul trump his ignorance and arrogance?

Ben says that we can’t put one above the other. One didn’t control the other: Hercules is still ignorant even with all the good deeds he’s done.
Gautaman disagrees with Ben and says that arrogance and ignorance are still dominant. Hercules’ sensitive side is trumped by his arrogant and ignorant side. However, he is a better person after he went through many tests.

Today we learned how Hercules’ characterization made him one of the most memorable figures in Greek mythology. The whole concept of finding imperfection in seemingly perfection is evident in Hercules’ stories. Hercules was born as a half-God and one of the strongest/most powerful beings on Earth. However, he lacked intelligence which was one of his imperfections. Even with all this strength came weakness such as how he was vulnerable to Hera when she made him go crazy and therefore caused him to kill his whole family. All his stories show how he tries to redeem himself by doing nearly impossible tasks. He tried to right his wrongs which is something we and also the Greeks found endearing and admirable. Humans naturally admire beings that have flaws when they seem to be perfect on the outside. We respect people who try to make things right when they do wrong. Hercules redirected his immense anger and strength towards good deeds which shows how many of us today should also do that. We have the power to redirect our anger towards positive ideas/actions. Of course, anger may be used for the wrong but in many cases, it can be used for constructive purposes. I will use what I learned in real-life situations such as being more productive when I may be in a bad mood instead of sulking and doing nothing. I will also control my anger when dealing with real-life situations because I might end up regretting my actions afterward.

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