Week 9 Reading Diary: Alaska

The creation story is oddly similar to the creation story in the Christian bible. Except, instead of God, we have a Raven. However, the Raven does very similar things to God. He creates Man, and realizes he is lonely, so creates a companion in the form of Woman. He creates the sun, and the sky, and the sea, and everything like that, as it is what is needed for the men and women and animals to survive. It is interesting to see these parallels, especially with the section that I found to be the most interesting.

The section I am referring to is that one called "The Flood". Sounds like the flood of the story of Noah, right? It is in a lot of ways. Except, instead of people sinning so much that it makes God angry, it seems that Raven is just angry at humanity, with no explanation why. Anyway, there is a flood caused by a lot of rain. It nearly destroys everything until the Raven seems to get so angry with the people who are surviving that he decides to lower the waters. Weird, right?

Also, it should be noted that birds aren't named nor tides created or fire brought about until way later in the story. Like, I'm entering the halfway point, and the birds are just now being named. It seems there are a lot of things that are taking precedence, or at least there is focus on certain animals and situations being created or happening. It just seems that things are going too slow or there is too much to the story, at least in comparison to most myths I have been reading about throughout this semester.

Now, even after that do we finally get to see more women. That's right. Prior to chapter 12 or 13, or whichever it is that I'm on, there has only been one woman. Raven has to create more so the men and sons have companions, as well. It really makes you wonder how these men got around -- or created for that matter. However, the stories do get better as time goes on. The chapter that speaks on The Land of the Dead is actually quite interesting and enjoyable. I would recommend that one to anybody. And frankly, I might have to do my retelling on that story.