Yet another gruesome adventure in the Congo with this reading. Part B of this unit had many more animals in it, but they acted like humans so nothing was too different. I was really suprised that none of the animals acted like they were supposed to. Herbivores would eat other herbivores, a turtle and a man built a city together, in which the turtle tricked everyone and ate an antelope. It seemed like the storytellers just picked random animals because they were tired of humans.
Once again, it is often hard to tell who the protagonist is. Sometimes, the one you should be rooting for ends up the worst off in the end, and sometimes the person who does bad actions gets forgiven and well treated in the end. There doesn't seem to be much love between mother and children in this; familial ties don't seem very strong in the Congo tales.
The fetishes play a much bigger role, and they can be granted to animals as well. As in Part A, I think the writing style was a bit too dry for me. The details came when animals were either killing one another or chopping bits and pieces off of one another. Kind of sickening, but awesome if you like that kind of stuff. It was almost humorous to imagine a turtle chopping up an antelope to eat and ordering a cheetah to do its bidding, but this kind of ridiculousness is what made this unit entertaining. This reading wasn't the funnest that I have read so far. There was too much brutality; this reocurring violence is interesting when you look at the Congo today. There isn't much love going around, but a lot of competition and looking out for oneself. Not a bad thing to go about in life, but I think there is much more to be said and done.
R.E. Dennett, Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort. 1989. Web Source.
Once again, it is often hard to tell who the protagonist is. Sometimes, the one you should be rooting for ends up the worst off in the end, and sometimes the person who does bad actions gets forgiven and well treated in the end. There doesn't seem to be much love between mother and children in this; familial ties don't seem very strong in the Congo tales.
The fetishes play a much bigger role, and they can be granted to animals as well. As in Part A, I think the writing style was a bit too dry for me. The details came when animals were either killing one another or chopping bits and pieces off of one another. Kind of sickening, but awesome if you like that kind of stuff. It was almost humorous to imagine a turtle chopping up an antelope to eat and ordering a cheetah to do its bidding, but this kind of ridiculousness is what made this unit entertaining. This reading wasn't the funnest that I have read so far. There was too much brutality; this reocurring violence is interesting when you look at the Congo today. There isn't much love going around, but a lot of competition and looking out for oneself. Not a bad thing to go about in life, but I think there is much more to be said and done.
Congo Basin gorillas, Martin Harvey. WWF
R.E. Dennett, Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort. 1989. Web Source.
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