Methuselah

Noah – not only to save the human race, but to further appease a god who although he idolized, could just as easily destroy Noah as well. In Darren Aronofsky’s modern adaptation of the story though, Noah is not helped nearly as much by his Creator as he is in the Bible. Through a series of prophetic dreams, Noah realizes on his own that God means to destroy the world and kill every living creature (Noah 10:55). These dreams are akin to the ones that inflict Gilgamesh in The Epic of Gilgamesh – eerie delusions that show destruction and instill fear in the victims of the dreams. In Noah, the dreams spur Noah to seek out Methuselah, Noah’s grandfather (Noah 24:33). Upon meeting him, Noah learns from Methuselah that his dreams were a sign from God, and this transfer of knowledge was a means to tell Noah that he was to save mankind (Noah 11:30). In the film, Methuselah wears an air of mystique, and seems almost like a godly figure, living far from civilization, isolated in a grand mountain. Noah also enlists the help of “The Watchers.” The Watchers, also known as “Grigori,” were fallen angels who were punished to roam the earth as giant, half-stone creatures until Judgment Day. The film relies heavily on the role of the Grigori, whereas in the Bible, the Grigori are never mentioned in the story of Noah – in fact, there is no mention of The Watchers until the Book of Enoch. There are many glaring differences between the story of Noah and how that story is portrayed in…

In the book there is a very interesting symbol that is not touched on or talked about, the parrot Methuselah. The parrot was left behind by Brother Fowles, a former missionary, and minister in Kilanga. The parrot was taken care of by the Price family. Nathan Price resents the bird because Methuselah curses, and one day gets frustrated one day and releases him. Until that, Methuselah was kept in a cage and fed by his masters. Methuselah had forgotten how to fend for himself. The parrot continues…

Congo let them express themselves in ways that they could not due back at their home. Guilt and innocence is viewed in the ideals of every character’s point of view of what is sinful and what is innocent. For instance, from the Price family point of view the driver ants, or nsongonya, are guilty of eating out the village and even trying to eat them, while in the eyes of the Congolese the ants are bad, but they are innocent, for they are only trying to fix their way of life during the dry season.…

morals deserve to be punished by himself or God, which sets up conflict in the near future for him due to him not fully understanding the culture and its people that he has indulged in in the Congo. Not only did his morals hold true to him, but his arrogance as well. He had that mindset before living in Congo and the way that he portrayed it was by trying to convince the Congolese people that his view and morals are the right ones and anything else is wrong. In the text Methuselah, a bird,…

uses allusions to explain the plot and Janie’s role as the protagonist. Zora Neal Hurston the stories Saul’s daughter and David, Methuselah and keys to the kingdom as allusions in her novel. The first Biblical allusion that the author makes is Saul’s daughter and David. When Janie gets into a huge fight with Joke Starks, things immediately take a turn for the worse. Janie states “Stop mixin’ up mah doing wid mah looks” (78). Janie tolerates Joe putting her down and him being self-conscious of…

For my Poisonwood Bible project I made an art piece with the focus on the entire Price family. The year is marked 1959(which is the year the Price family arrived at the Congo) but it contains ideas and symbols from throughout the whole book. The most noticeable thing on the canvas is the huge and colorful parrot flying above. The parrot is obviously Methuselah who is a notable character in the book and who also symbolizes the Congo. Some clear evidence why Methuselah and the Congo go together…

slowly-moving mass like a boundless sheet of black cloud drifting towards Umuofia”. When the first missionary arrived no one had ever seen someone that looked like him and so they went to the oracle and the oracle said that the missionary would break their clan and spread destruction among them. “This doom and gloom prophecy sounds a lot like the destruction that is often associated with swarming locusts themselves”. And in the end, the oracle’s prophecy was correct and the missionaries do end…

Vonnegut also used a prominent allusion of Joe Heller, the author of Catch 22. The interesting point is that Vonnegut connected this allusion to an earlier allusion, Methuselah. He applied a simile to liken Heller as another Methuselah, which gives credibility to Heller, creating ethos. This made the Heller allusion be of great significance in bringing about Vonnegut’s main message. Vonnegut cited what Heller told him in the past, that Heller was completely fine with the knowledge that…

ever was. In Poisonwood Bible symbolism also happens, but in this novel it's a parrot named Methusleah. It’s about the Price family who live in Georgia, but are called on a mission trop to Kilanga in the Congo. The parrot is given to them by Brother Fowless, and he lives with them in their home. He is a symbol for the Congo. Methuselah is a bird who should be free, but is kept in a cage to do the whites man will. He is taught unnecessarily things that he doesn't need to know,…

Have you ever thought about what your name means? Why your parents chose your name? Even in books authors choose character names for a certain reason and not randomly. Usually the name’s meaning helps the readers get a sense of the character’s personality. God, like many authors, chose wisely when choosing the names of the humans in the Bible. For example, Jesus’ name means God saves. It’s significant because God sent Jesus to save us from sin. There are many instances when God changes someone’s…