I found connections between the Epic of Gilgamesh and The New York Times article “The Best Two Women Could Do” written by Ariel Kaminer. The article is about a lesbian couple who faces many difficulties. However, they are highly motivated to solve problems together.
Both pieces of writings project very intimate relationships between two people. The Epic of Gilgamesh describes the friendship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu. They are introduced to each other in a fight; thus, it creates an extremely high connection between them. Gilgamesh’s mother says something interesting about Enkidu (while she is translating a dream) when she asserts that “the axe that you saw is a man, whom you love and embrace as a wife, but whom I have made compete with you” (A 65). Also, Gilgamesh calls Enkidu a “friend and advisor” with a great respects (A 65). Similarly, “The Best Two Women Could Do” is about two ladies, Ms. Bacolas and Ms. Glazer, who are “introduced by a mutual friend outside a bar.” Then, they fall in love and spend every weekend together. In fact, they went to parties, they went dancing, and “in the mornings, Ms. Bacolas cooked them amazing breakfasts: scrambled eggs with truffle oil, feta and tomatoes on millet toast. After too many years in heavy, doomed relationships, they could not get over how easy it all was” which represents their strong relationship.
In both cases, they are looking to improve their lives which require them to travel. Gilgamesh and Enkidu travel to Cedar Forest to kill Humbaba and become famous for many generations. They know that death takes away bodies but immortality is to be memorable for others. In addition, it is necessary to “establish fame” (A 73). However, they also use their trips as a source of getting cedar wood which is expensive and desired material used for building walls. Similarly, Ms. Bacolas and Ms. Glazer have to travel outside of New York City to make their marriage dream come true. Also, marriage gave them an opportunity to “ protect themselves and their joint property, as they wanted to give Ms. Bacolas the right to make medical decisions on Ms. Glazer’s behalf,” which gave them comfort of sharing and improvement in their lives.
Last but not least, in both examples health condition of one partner seriously affects the other. For instance, Gilgamesh sees Enkidu slowly losing energy as “Enkidu lies down [the] first day, [the second] second day,…[until] Enkidu’s illness grew ever worse” and when he dies “Enkidu’s eyes do not move, as [Gilgamesh] touched his heart , but it beat no longer” and Gilgamesh doesn’t want to burn Enkidu’s body (A 82-83). Moreover, he becomes very upset and behaves in a wild manner. Therefore, he feels afraid of death and wants to find a way to becomes immortal. Similarly, Ms. Bacolas and Ms. Glazer are affected by unexpected cancer. “Ms. Glazer learned she had breast cancer. A double mastectomy followed, then five more operations, along with radiation and chemotherapy.” They face serious illness which can lead to death and separation of their love. So, they don’t postpone important decisions anymore. They also have great opportunity to see the strength of their feelings and fight against the cancer together.
