Analysis Of The Earth On Turtle's Back

The Earth on Turtle’s Back
Long ago Native american tribes told many myths of creation but one myth that was carried on and even shared to this day is the story “The Earth on Turtle's Back”. A small summary of the myth slash story is that there used to only be water on earth and a skyland in which the animals lived in the water and a tribe lived on the skyland. Now the chiefs wife had a very strong dream of a tree being uprooted so the chief decided to uproot the tree as he saw the dream was so strong. After it was uprooted the wife fell down the hole to the animals below who helped her create proper earth.Now we can look into a theme of the myth which is that sometimes to improve or get something better you must end something old. With now …show more content…
The literary elements i'm going to use in this essay to analyze the theme of the myth are symbols, conflict, and imagery. With literary elements there are many you could choose to use to analyze the theme of the myth “The Earth on Turtle’s Back” but one that is used in this essay that is rather strong in the myth is symbolism. Now symbolism is the representation of something in a story with a deeper meaning. There are many examples of symbolism in the myth “The Earth on Turtle's Back” but one of the most important is the symbolism with the Muskrat with the meaning of determination. An example of this symbolism is after the wife falls down the pit to all the animals many try to swim down and grab earth but never exceed. Then the myth says,” I will bring up Earth or die trying.” They looked to see who it was. It was the tiny Muskrat. She dove down and swam and swam. She was not as strong or as swift as the others, but she was determined.” This can be used to help analyze the theme of that sometimes to improve or get something better you must end something old as the muskrat was the main reason the wife was able to make the earth better …show more content…
This helps to analyze the theme as it gives a descriptive look into the tree that the wife dreams of and wants to uproot as it is gives into the theme of the something old that has to be taken out so the something new can grow and become better. Another example is when all the animals are trying to swim down to the new earth it says,” Then the Beaver tried. He went even deeper, so deep that it all was dark, but he could not reach the bottom, either.” This helps by giving a visual to the reader as how deep and dark the water was in order for them to reach the new earth. Now this helps to analyze the theme as it helps the reader feel and understand what the animals are going through to get this new earth and it connects to the theme as sometime to get rid of something old to get the new and better you have to struggle and find a path that will lead you correctly. Overall, imagery plays a big role in keeping the myth interesting and keeping the reader invested in the story till they finish it. Also, imagery helped the theme as it helped the reader better understand the theme as it shows that sometime when you want something new and want a change you have to struggle or work together to find that something new and