Olivia Strittmatter - Symbolism in Myths

April 6, 2020

Outside of class reading 3

At the beginning of the semester we discussed the purposes of myths and the symbolism used within them. While I was doing some research for other purposes I found this website on symbolism in myths, and I really liked how it explained the purposes of symbolism and what they represent. I’ll add the link to the website at the end of the blog.
In class we talked about how the purpose of myths is for exploration of a concept. Which involves a lot of symbolism, in order to help create more meaning than what’s being shown at surface level. The article I found, Symbolism in Myths by Avia Venefica, mentions that “myths are meant to have a multi-layer effect upon the observer” which I think that connects exactly with what we discussed in class. We also had talked about the impacts that myths can have on the human experience. Venefica said in her article, “myths are jam-packed with symbolic levels that once acknowledged, can have a tremendous impact on the human consciousness.” I really liked how she worded that, it made me think about myths I had read and realize how it’s mainly made up of symbols, and how, while they do have underlying meanings, they’re also written in a way that you can come up with alternate meanings that are more tailored to your specific circumstances.

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