In my trip to the Museum of Modern Art, I saw this oil painting from Roy Lichtenstein called “Drowning Girl” which was painted on 1963. This painting stood out to me because of its dark color scheme and lack of bright colors. It gives off a angry vibe because of the dark colors. I liked this painting because it reminded me of a comic book, which I used to read. I noticed that this “Drowning Girl” seems to have a problem with someone named Brad saving her. This made me think of her as a woman who doesn’t need to depend on a man to help her in any way. This painting reminded me of Medea, who I consider to be a modern woman in her time period. She talked about the problem that women in her society face in terms of marriage. I feel like Medea would say the same exact thing that the Drowning Girl would say, since they both aren’t in terms with men.
All posts by j.mathew1
Medea
In the beginning of “Medea”, Medea is depicted as a weak woman who is mourning over Jason, her husband, leaving her and her children behind. Toward the middle of the passage, she grows into a strong character who is plotting revenge for what Jason did to her. I agree that Medea deserves revenge for what has occurred, but the fact that it involves the death of her kids seems like it crossed the line. Although Medea feels guilty for plotting to kill her kids when she says, “Once that’s done, the next thing I must do/ chokes me with sorrow. I will kill the children-/my children” (lines 811-813). This shows that Medea feels guilty for plotting to kill her kids, but her hatred toward Jason overpowers the guilt.
As the plan proceeds, Medea makes Jason an accomplice, without him knowing it. Since Jason is asking his wife to persuade Creon to let the kids stay, he is helping expedite Medea’s plan. As a result, this would make Jason feel even guiltier after the wife and kids die, since he was a part of it. This will leave Jason with a lot of regrets, knowing that he could’ve prevented all of this from happening. This trickery shows Medea’s deviousness, since she says “And ask your wife to ask her father: please” (line 968). Knowing that Creon wouldn’t let the kids stay, Medea told Jason to ask his wife in order to persuade Creon.
After the plan was executed and the wife, Creon, and the kids are all destroyed, I feel like Medea doesn’t feel guilty for killing her kids, which contradicts what she stated earlier in the passage. As Jason confronts her, Medea says, “The pain is good, as long as you’re not laughing.” (line 1411). This proves that as long as Jason was hurt, the death of her kids was justifiable. She also blames Jason for their death when she says “Your outrage, and your newfound bride, destroyed them.” (line 1415). Medea is trying to convince herself and Jason that she had no part in the death of her kids, in an attempt to make Jason feel guiltier about his losses.
God’s Punishment for Man
In the Genesis creation story, I noticed how the writing portrayed God as an almighty being who brought life and prosperity to a place where there was “welter and waste and darkness over the deep”. God brought life and order to a blank space, such as dividing the light from the darkness. Every day for 6 days, God would add more to this “darkness over the deep” to make it a better life for all living things. He provided “grass, plants yielding seed…fruit of each kind.” He provided plants that would bear fruits and seeds so humans could harvest the seeds, and then humans and animals could eat the fruits that grew from the plants. This text portrays God as loving and caring toward his creation, especially toward humans. God says, “’Let us make a human in our image, by our likeness, to hold sway over the fish of the sea and fowl of the heavens and the cattle and the wild beasts and all the crawling things that crawl upon the earth.’” He states that created humans using the same physical features as him, and humans will be rulers of all the animals. This shows God’s love and compassion to humans, who seem to be his greatest creation.
Chapter 2 talks about how God created man and gives him directions about what to do in the Garden of Eden, he may eat from any fruit in the garden, except the tree of knowledge. God gives the man instructions that if he eats from it, “[he] is doomed to die”. In chapter 2, it states “And the two of them were naked, the human and his woman, and they were not ashamed.” This states that God gave them the power to not be ashamed of their nudity. Then, in Chapter 3, directly after they ate from the tree, they realized they were naked, which was a consequence for listening to the serpent. God became angered at both Adam and Eve and punished them and their future generations. For women, God created pain for them during childbirth, and “your man shall be your longing, and he shall rule over you.” For men, God said that they will have to work and sweat for their food. This is why the world is set up where everyone has to work in some fashion. As a result of disobeying God, death and sin enters the world. Adam and Eve, and all other humans that follow them must undergo aging and eventually endure death of their physical bodies.
Why did God create the serpent if he knew it would trick the man and the woman?