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The World On The Turtle's Back Analysis

Decent Essays

The Iroquois and the Yoruba may agree about Creation in some ways, but they do see many things differently. One such thing is whether or not curiosity should be valued. The Iroquois see curiosity as a bad thing, and reflect curiosity having bad consequences in “The World on the Turtle’s Back.” One such example of curiosity killing the cat occurs when a woman looks through a hole in her world, and “she fell through the hole” (Iroquois). If the woman weren’t so curious about what was beneath the hole, she would never have fallen through. Again this happens, later in the myth, when two twins are being born, and one begins to become curious: “He went in the direction of the light … he was born through her left armpit, and killed her” (Iroquois).

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