The story of the seasons.

What the reader is supposed to know….

1) about life:
-The reader is supposed to know the definition of the Underworld.
-The reader is supposed to understand the importance of grains and fertility (in addition to what fertility is).
-The reader is supposed to be familiar with pomegranates.
-The reader is supposed to understand the idea and importance of seasons.

2) about language:
-The reader is supposed to be able to read and pronounce some difficult names.

3) about literature:
-The reader is supposed to know enough Greek mythology to understand Zeus’ divine power.
-The reader is supposed to know and understand despair.
-The reader is supposed to understand the idea that a mother’s love, in literature, can transcend earth/space/time.

What a reader is asked to do…

1) The reader is asked to accept the idea that if food from the Underworld is eaten, the consumer cannot return to Earth.

2) The reader is asked to connect the unison of Demeter and Persephone with spring, and their separation with winter.

3) The reader is asked to connect love with warmth and growth and despair with cold and death.

Implied reader of the text:

I think think the implied reader is a child regardless of the potentially difficult names. Children can connect the idea of love with growth, sunlight and warmth. They can also connect despair, or sadness, with the cold, dark winter. The love that a mother has for her child is a simple concept that a child could easily grasp.