Research Paper - Female Dominion vs. Epic Heroes

Eleanor Celmer
Eng 102 – Dr. McCormick
Final Paper
Word Count: 1,079
6/2/10

Female Dominion vs. Epic Heroes

Historically, men have been clearly depicted as the stronger of the two human sexes. Although each individual male differ physically and/or emotionally, each man struggles with internal quarrels. Literary examples of such men can be seen in Homer’s epic tale, The Odyssey, as well as The Book of J, translated by David Rosenburg. Despite the creation of both works in a vast time difference, the stories held in Ancient Greece and Biblical periods, the two main males seem to share the same problem; women have controlled them.

Odysseus is introduced to the reader as the leading protagonist in the Homeric epic legend, The Odyssey. Quickly, readers learn about Odysseus, and his status as an epic hero traveling home from a battle won at the great ancient city, Troy. Being an experienced and well trained warrior, we understand that his command and power over a large fleet of men had been earned through wars, battles, bloodshed and extensive experience. Most simply, “he embodies many of the qualities most admired in ancient Greek culture – intelligence, prudence, courage, strength in battle, agility in athletics, and most distinctively, wiliness or guile” (Bloom 29). His large sense of pride was built on these qualities, as well as his near invincibility and the women he was able to conquer.

Although a married man, Odysseus seemed to have a wandering eye for the beautiful, goddesses we meet in The Odyssey. We can see examples of these immaculate women when we read about the witch goddess Circe as well as the infamous Calypso. Realistically, it is easy to understand the superficial reasoning behind Odysseus’ adultery to his wife, Penelope, when around such dynamic beauties such as Circe and Calypso, admitting once that “…Penelope is inferior in beauty” (69). Circe, in addition to being stunning, had the ability to sing beautifully. Her voice could draw men to her and cause them to feel as if they have fallen in love with her. Circe used her talent to attract traveling men to her palace, where she then fed them food with magically, and even poisoning properties. These foods would cause the men to swoon over her, and later shape-shift into swine, bears and lions. The men were animals “by appearance and sound, but still with human minds” (Bender et al 121). Odysseus heard about this magic trick from one man that was able to escape Circe’s powerful wrath. Odysseus soon met with the Greek god, Hermes, who coached Odysseus on how to bypass Circe’s trickery and seduce her into a yearlong love affair. Similar to Circe’s enchantment, Odysseus also meets the dynamic and vibrant goddess, Calypso. Her loving ways had become almost seductive to Odysseus, for he lived with Calypso for seven years. She poured her true feelings out to Odysseus many times, providing him a lavish and comfortable lifestyle other men could only fathom in their dreams. Despite her affection and offers of marriage and immortality, Odysseus finds himself still nostalgic for his Penelope. “This emphasis on Penelope as the object of Odysseus’ disguise is puzzling” to the reader because of Odysseus’ contradictory adulterous ways with many women in this epic (Murnaghan 119). Odysseus, as well as the reader, knows for sure that Penelope has stayed loyal to him, which makes the reader question what would cause Odysseus to desire other females. Perhaps it is as simple as men needing to feel love and affection from a woman in order to understand circumstances and make a logical decision.

Unlike Odysseus, The Book of J’s Adam had been less successful with achievements in war, seduction or sharp-mindedness. Yahweh, the God ever present in The Book of J, created Adam as a witness to the earthly beauty created in the Garden of Eden. Adam became flesh by Yahweh in order to tend and rule over the earth and animals as his own paradise. Following the creation of Adam, Yahweh creating Hava, or the woman, to remain at the side of the man. As many scholars may argue, Hava was created by way to be secondary to Adam. The male was dominant over his female and animal counterparts in paradise. However, the story in The Book of J provides room for argument. The woman easily dominated Adam, as it was easy for him to give into Hava’s wrongdoing. By eating the forbidden fruit, Hava brought about a pain and suffering many scholars and biblical leaders believe is reflected upon humans today. Whether it affects humanity today, is a personal believe reliant on religious affiliation. However, Hava’s actions had a direct affect on her man, whereas “the two punishments are interwoven” (Walsh 168). Many scholars and believers may argue that because of Adam’s lack of strength and control over his woman, resulted in causing him punishment and lifelong suffering by Yahweh. The woman’s actions caused him “the pain of insufficiency and labor” (168) where we see that because Yahweh created both man and woman as ‘’ ‘matching helpers’ “(168), Adam induced pain, suffering and perpetual hardship for himself as the tiller of the earth. Yahweh may have created a sort of hierarchy in The Book of J; however it doesn’t prove to follow the standard focus of male dominion over women and animals. “The woman is superior to the animals not in authority but in the perfect way she answers the man’s need for companionship” (174). Walsh makes a valid point, however the need for companionship here enables the woman to hold a more powerful position than that of a mate. Hava’s “initiative influences him to follow her lead” (175), which causes the reader to see and understand the control a woman has over her man. Here, predetermined male dominion holds no true value over the power a woman had over Adam.

“A hero epitomizes what is best in man,” (173) says Walsh. This be true, one must also see that man is not completely invincible. Women have the ability to control men, whether it be with sheer logic, their sexuality, seduction or even through the use of food. Despite their human strength, authority – whether acquired or predetermined by higher powers, both The Book of J’s Adam and The Odyssey’s hero, Odysseus, were two men that let women get the best of them. Poor judgment about themselves and their women, as well as probable inflated ego led these men into their unfortunate final situations.








Annotated Bibliography



Bender, Leon, et al. Readings on Homer. San Diego : Greenhaven Press, 1998. Print.

This book is a good guide that will help me understand the writing of Homer’s characters, especially Odysseus.

Bloom, Harold. Homer’s Odyssey Bloom’s Notes. Broomall : Chelsea House Publishers, 1996. Print.

This book is a great read to help me understand the depth and thematic analysis of the Odyssey.

Murnaghan, Sheila. Disguise and Recognition In The Odyssey. Princeton : Princeton University Press, 1987. Print.

This book is a great in depth analysis of Homeric disguises seen in the Odyssey. It will help me understand and write about Odysseus better.

Teffeteller, Annette. Cambridge University Press. Homeric Excuses. Cambridge: 2003. PDF File

This article stands out as a very interesting point of view of the use of Homer’s written excuses for his characters. I hope this will help me strengthen my opinion of Odysseus.

Walsh, Jerome T. The Society of Biblical Literature. Genesis 2: 4b-3:24 : A Synchronic Approach. Journal of Biblical Literature: 1977. PDF File.

This article provided me with a fantastic, in –depth analysis of The Book Of J, as well as the characters Adam and Hava.

Presearch, Research and Stress!

I have to be honest here, considering my blog title is Anecdotes of Truth. When I hear about a research paper assignment we have to do, I cringe to myself because I know exactly what comes next...presearch, research, and lots of stress.

Typically, one usually chooses a topic for their assignment that is easy to research, find plenty of juicy information on and essentially will be fun to write about. The paper that I'm planning on revising is definitely fun to write about, however finding information about it wasn't as simple as I perceived it to be. Books were easy to find through the library media resources website, but those scholarly sources were pretty killer. It was slightly difficult to find exactly what I wanted, because JSTOR is not a mind reader and typing in "food and gender" brought about more sources that I could possibly go through in time to finish this paper. The sources I did find, however, seem that they will provide sufficient support of my thoughts and ideas in my paper. Hopefully, all goes as originally planned.

Good luck on your papers everyone!

My view is pretty sweet...

Today was an awesome day to ride my horse in our nearby Prospect Park. I snapped a few pictures while on the Nature Trails deep in the woods of the park...Cool view, huh?

My favorite, Maribel

Tortilla Soup was a cute and funny movie to watch. The storyline is about a Mexican-born father living with three grown Mexican-American daughters named Latitia, Carmen, and Maribel. The father, Martin, is an experience cook who enjoy making lavish, gourmet meals for his family in a traditional table setting. Throughout the movie, we see the strong relationship between the family as well as many unexpected changes enter the family’s life.

Out of all the characters in this film, my personal favorite was Maribel Naranja. Aside from her sisters, Maribel was still in high school, deciding what to do with her life. She had seemed very sure of herself at the beginning of the movie, however that seemed to change after she met her boyfriend Andy. She met Andy accidentally, originally speaking to him to tell him he was being stood up by their friend. Their original conversation led to more interesting talk, and finally led Maribel to accept Andy’s invitation for coffee. Without much regard to her family, Maribel ran extremely late for her father’s dinner that night. The writers portrayed Maribel this way in order to give off a irresponsible teenager type of vibe that would probably make the viewer laugh, or sigh.

Maribel seems to have a problem with communication with her family. While she tries to break up an argument between her sisters Carmen and Latitia, they can barely hear her raise her voice asking them to stop. This frustrates Maribel, and she ends up slamming plates into the floor from her seat on the counter. A second time, she could barely communicate with her whole family while they were sitting at dinner together, plus Andy. It was the first time the family met Andy, and it seemed to go well at the beginning. Naturally, Maribel chose to make her important announcement at dinner, like the whole family had done previously. Everyone was immersed in conversation already, and did not hear her voice, until she raised it completely, calling out her choice to put off college. This stunning decision upset her father, causing Maribel to throw herself into a living situation with Andy. Her issues with communication and “doing what she wants” make her seem juvenile still, even being a fully grown beautiful young woman.

My choice for this entry was Maribel, because I believe that every young woman can relate to her in a sense. In a way, each young lady has felt that communication was a problem, that we could never do what we wanted, or we were just lost and wanted to “find ourselves’’. Maribel was a fun character, that really touched me for the simple fact that she was a fantastically portrayed, slightly lost teenager.

Women and Food

Gender is what sets us apart from one another. It separates us into male and female. Gender has existed as such from the beginning of human kind. The Book Of J shows us examples of "man" and "woman", whom Yahweh created. We have come to know this man and woman as the story of Adam and Eve. Food plays a significant role in the story of Adam and Eve. Because Eve disobeyed Yahweh’s wishes, it leads us to understand that women have a certain connection with food.

Throughout history, being man or woman would include certain tasks that each would include certain tasks that each would be expected to complete. Traditionally, men were out of the house either hunting and gathering, or working in general. A woman’s responsibilities would include making a home, cook, clean and raise a family. The book, Like Water For Chocolate, clearly exemplifies the responsibilities of a woman in a traditional, early 1900’s home. Tita, the novel’s protagonist, expresses each one of her emotions through her cooking.

Laura Esquivel writes Tita’s feelings into her cooking in order to help the reader understand the severity of the situation that the character is facing. For example, all the emotions and tears shed while Tita was making her sister’s wedding cake had transferred to the guests and all who ate it. Everyone was overcome with nostalgia, and longed for the ones they loved most. Guests were crying and became physically sick from the buildup of their emotions. As Tita’s cooking brought about sorrow and intense longing, it also stimulated sexual thoughts during dinner. Her quail dish that was made with rose petals turned out to be a more erotic meal that she thought, causing her sister’s husband ( and Tita’s love interest ), Pedro, to complement her excessively and yearn just to touch her. It stimulated Tita’s second sister, Gertrudis to escape from their home and have sex on horseback with a soldier she barely knew. Tita’s cooking in Like Water for Chocolate symbolizes the voice behind all of her thoughts and emotions. Food helps Tita communicate grief, joy and jealousy throught recipes she carefully prepares.

The story of Adam and Eve is seemingly well know, however The Book of J provides more insight into the entire tale. Yahweh had planted two trees: The tree of Knowledge between good and evil, and the Tree of Life. He forbade both Adam and Eve to eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, however the garden’s snake persuaded Eve to do the exact opposite. Within taking the first bite, she handed off the fruit to her man and he ate with her. The forbidden fruit described in The Book of J symbolizes the desire to sample the outlawed, and the imperfect nature of humans.

Women seem to have an uncanny way with the kitchen. We can whip up an amazing meal in very little time or impress many with the presentation of our cooking. Cooking, for many, is an expression of self, in which emotions, desires and simple thoughts are spoken. Tita used food in exactly this way, whereas Eve used food as a way to explore her desires and heal her curiosity. These literary characters provide great examples that food, in general, holds a direct correlation to our ideas and passions.

My Easter

Wesolego Aleluja wszystkim! Or, should I say Happy Easter Everyone!

Today is Holy Saturday, and as you might have read in my previous blog, it is one of three days in the Triduum Paschalne. One of our main traditions is preparing the swieconka for a church blessing. I prepared my family's swieconka this year, and I wanted to share it with you. :]

Mini City

Have you ever thought about what New York City would look like if the skyscrapers weren't really so tall...or if the people were just about an inch tall? Well, Sam O'Hare and his team did!

Here is a short film that I thought would interest you all. It's called "The Sandpit". Enjoy!