Sindhuja Muppa
November 21, 2013
Writing Workshop
Mythology
“Myths are common stories at the root of our universal existence” (Seger).
In the essay written by Scott Russell Sanders, "The Men We Carry in Our Minds" discusses Sander’s perspective on men in comparison to the impression that women carry in their minds. The essay, “Creating the Myth” by Linda Seger shows on how stories are based on our own life experiences. Sander’s argument about how the impressions of men or women are based on ones life experiences relates to Seger’s depiction of myths through the use of rhetorical questions and dialogue. Primarily, Sander uses rhetorical questions in order to discuss how ones life experiences illustrates stories of myths. Sander addresses about when he experienced a situation where he met women telling him men have plenty of joy and privileges. He writes, “and for the first time I met women who told me that men are guilty of having kept all the joys and privileges of the earth for themselves. I was baffled. What privileges? What joys?” (Sander 229). Sander is shocked to find out that women feel that way about men. It is an amusing statement to assume that men have certain stereotypical characteristics in society because it is not necessarily true that woman cannot do some things similar to men. Life responsibilities are equally made for everyone. Sander disagrees and pushes back to how much of a struggle men have to go through in life, equally as women. These questions enable us to think about the hidden truth of how men do not take the easy way out and go through difficult phases in life just like woman. This connects to Seger’s argument about how stories are reflected on real life experiences because people tend to make assumptions and stories that are necessarily true. Seger claims that stories are based on our very own experiences. “They come from our experiences of overcoming adversity, as well as out desire to do great and special acts” (Seger). In addition, Sanders employs dialogue to show he is capable of sympathy for others besides himself. This shows how women had it easier. “This must be a hard time for women. They have so many paths to choose from, and so many voices calling them” (Sanders 227). This reminds the audience how much of a struggle men went through unlike, women. Women had the right to be anything they want while men had to choose from “prestigious” occupations. Sanders’s focus on how men are really important to justify his point. Similarly, we can relate to “Creating the Myth” because how the stories we read with make believe characters are resembling real people sometimes.:
Some myths are true stories that attain mythic significance because the people involved seem larger than life, and seem to live their lives more intensely than common folk. Martin Luther King, Jr, Gandhi, Edmund Hilary personify the types of journeys we identify with, because we’ve taken similar journeys—even if only in a very small way. (Seger)
Because we tend to recognize all these famous people and use them to make characters out of them, we can identify these familiar characters in stories. Each character can play a role of the well-known people listed above. The resemblance is really important to note because it can give us the connection needed to understand the story better.
Ultimately, it is very clear that Sander looks after men more than women when he was younger, but he realizes later on his life that women have it harder equal with men. The characters we tend to use in myths and stories are usually real in away. Even if they are make-believe creatures, they resemble a famous or well-known person in some case. Men early in time had it harder, but now women have a lot more difficult decisions to make in their lives. Men work hard and women work hard as well. There are no difference between men and women; and the stories we make up have to connect with real life experiences.