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Sporophila B. Deming Mythology Essay

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A.Deming’s book, Zoologies, was not exactly what I expected. While her style is friendly and readable, and her tone was casual enough for anyone to enjoy, it was organized differently than I anticipated. I was expecting something like The Urban Bestiary, with each chapter focusing in on one subject while conveying an overall theme. The collage style is a very appropriate one for this type of book. Zoologies is not written in collage style, though, and I expected it to be. I shouldn’t have, but I did. This book has chapter titles, but some chapters are about more than one thing. It was a little more confusing to me, though still an enjoyable read. For example, the crow chapter is just about crows, but then the chapter titled, “Patativa (Sporophila …show more content…

Deming talks about spiritual things, but she does not believe in God as far as I can tell. She says, “I have no such confidence (in deliverance). For one thing, I am daughter not son. For another, I find continuities… as cycles of growth and decay… I am hopelessly materialistic in my spirituality… The lessons will come” (24). She tells stories of many myths, traditions, and from various religions. “Legend and myth create stories that seep into psychic depths… I’ve long wondered if science can go as deep as myth in the imagination. Perhaps that’s what I’ve been working my way toward in my writing” (175). I think Deming isn’t sure exactly what she believes, but she is trying to investigate all paths to find hers. Spirituality is definitely a part of her story. Her speaks of her ongoing quest for knowledge of the truth: “If I were to live like a gannet, I’d suspend my need to know... But, no. I’m content to let the gannet be the gannet (242). C. Anthropomorphism: There are some instances of this, but I didn’t see them as much. The storks “built their cities in the trees” (108), which feels animalistic because birds do build nests, and human because birds do not really have cities, people do. I know there must be more, but I didn’t note them as I went, and a brief re-read didn’t unearth any extras. I guess they didn’t stand out if there were instances of anthropomorphism. The elephants seem human, but she also says that their brains are similar to humans in storing memory. I’m not sure that counts

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