January 13, 2020
Katherine Fernandes - Period 2
Team 6 Presentation: Gaiman’s Norse Mythology Pages 231-265 (The Death of Balder, The Last Days of Loki)
Aim: How can we use Norse Mythology to address the topic of consequences?
Do Now: Group Discussion
Think of a time when you did something bad and faced the consequence. If you could choose, would you do it again and do you think you deserved the punishment received?
Robert said if doing something bad or wrong means that you have learned a lesson and faced the consequences then he would not do it again because if you do something bad again, it would mean you did not learn from it the first time.
Unsa shared that last year she was late to school multiple times and ended up getting detention for it because the teacher was upset. She would not be late again because of this experience.
Ms. Fusaro shared that when she was sixteen years old she wanted to try smoking a cigarette. So one day she sneaked into her room to try it out but ended up coughing and choking on the cigarette. Her father found out and grounded her for the rest of summer. At the time she thought the punishment was too much but now years later she understands that her father didn’t want her to get addicted to cigarettes and develop health problems.
Thomas spoke about a time he was meeting with a friend at their house and decided to throw a pebble at one of the windows, like in the movies, instead of calling his friend or ringing the doorbell. Instead of the pebble bouncing off the window it ended up breaking the window. Thomas’ parents made him spent the whole summer working to pay back what he owed. He doesn’t feel like he deserved this punishment.
- At the time you feel you don’t deserve the punishment but overtime you will come to understand the reason behind the punishments. It also means you don’t learn from your mistakes right away.
The group provided a summary of the story “The Death of Balder”
Group Discussion: Think about a time when you felt left out. You may have felt angry or upset even. What did you do and why? Did you choose your actions based on logic or emotion?
Gaudy said usually if a group of kids playing and there is a child who is watching from the sidelines they feel left out. If you consistently are singled out you may feel sad and angry which could lead to an emotional response.
- In the story Balder’s brother, Hod was hearing everyone laughing and having fun without him. He didn’t know what was going on since he was blind and wanted to join in on the fun. He did not think of the consequences of his actions but only thought that he could have fun with everyone.
Turn and Talk: Given that Balder is allowed to be brought back to life if Hel’s condition was met, how does this compare to other mythologies take on revival.
Robert spoke about how in Greek mythology there was the story of Hades and Persephone in which the seasons changed due to Persephone traveling between the underworld and Mount Olympus. The Greeks also had the flower myths in which someone died and revived by becoming a flower.
Emma spoke of the story of Orpheus. There is always a condition for someone to be revived but in the end the condition is not met and people fail. Revival is not something to be taken lightly.
Yayin discussed the story of Dionysus from Greek mythology to show how his death and revival correlated with the changing of the seasons.
Class Activity:
Team 1: Loki’s character changes from being playful and deceptive to acting more evil. Before he would cause some trouble and then try to make up for his mistakes by solving the problem. In this story he causes Balder’s death and there is no way for him to be forgiven for his actions. This story is a transition point for Loki as Ragnarok approaches.
Team 2: Loki’s actions are becoming more consequential as he is further causing the gods to be displeased with him.
Team 3: Loki does not want to acknowledge the consequences of his actions. The gods are reaching their last straw with Loki as he continues to ridicule them.
Team 4: Loki runs away because he doesn’t want to die. He also realizes he did something that the gods cannot forgive him for this time.
Team 5: This time the gods are actually punishing him through the suffering of his family. It gives Loki a reason to hold a grudge towards the gods and why he is opposing them during Ragnarok.
TED-Ed Video “Why do we kiss under the mistletoe? - Carlos Reif”
The group summarized the story of “The Last Days of Loki”
Discuss: From the aftermath of this scene, how can the fates of Vali and Narfi be related to another study of mythology that we’ve looked at previously? What about the situation of Sigyn being allowed to do as she pleases?
Selena referenced how in Greek mythology the idea that the children pay for the parents mistakes as shown in the story of Oedipus. She spoke about how Oedipus ended up paying for crimes of his father, Laius, who rape a young boy who he was tutoring.
Yayin also spoke of the story of Oedipus, except she focused more on the sons of Oedipus. The sons of Oedipus ended up fighting and killing each other similar to Loki’s children Vali and Narfi.
The situation of Sigyn doing as she pleases is very different from what we studied in Greek mythology where women had less say in their fate. In Norse mythology, this is demonstrated through the Sigyn when she asks Kvasir about her fate and he replies, “You may do whatever you wish.” She decided to spend her fate next to Loki making sure snake venom would not continuously hit his face. This is also different from some cultures such as the practice of sati, or widow burning in Hindu society.
Tracy thought Hod didn't deserve to die because he had no intentions of killing his Balder.
Gautaman thinks Loki understands the consequences of his actions but it is part of his nature to cause trouble. If someone taught Loki why his actions were wrong instead of just punishing him, he might be able to learn from his mistakes.
Student Reflection:
I learned how every action has a consequence. After reading the stories about Loki being a trickster, I got the idea that even though Loki caused trouble he almost always made up for his mistakes. In the last two story, Loki goes too far where he cannot be forgiven. It made me understand that one person can only be forgiven so many times until they have fallen from others graces. In addition, we have to think about the effect our actions can have on others because we won’t know how far we pushed someone else until it is too late.
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