Shae Turner, Origin and Creation Stories

 . . . Just as intertextuality is present in these two [Genesis & Columbus], it can just as much be seen in the origin and creation stories of the Iroquois Indians when compared with Genesis and each other. The Iroquois Indians have three different versions of their creation which our class has been presented with. As for myself when reading these texts I found them to be very engaging, because I saw them as stories that had somewhat of a relation to my personal belief in Genesis. But the element that really caught my attention more than anything was how fictional these Indian stories seemed; because of this fictional characteristic that they possessed, the stories obtained an entertaining satisfaction. For instance, all three of these stories acquire a turtle in their telling, and in which this turtle can be seen as the foundation in which earth was laid upon, except in the third story where the turtle was the place that Great Spirit’s daughter fell onto, in which then, earth was formed.

Another fictional component to these myths was the explanation on the twin brothers and how they exited from their mother, such as the evil one being born out of her armpit and in the other story her side. But the details of the brothers did possess something that is easily seen in Genesis, which is the story about Cain and Abel. Good and evil on earth comes out through these brothers in all of these stories mentioned. When looking at the Iroquois Indian stories in terms of the evil brother, we can see a gothic element that is definitely shown in some of our other readings such as “The Wonders of the Invisible World”, and “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” The gothic in the creation stories have a way of “twisting our minds” as we read about a vindictive child who kills his own mother, by going through her body in an unfamiliar way. “The wicked one said, let us go out of the side; but the other said, not so, lest we kill our mother; then the wicked one pretending to acquiesce, desired his brother to go out first; but as soon as he was delivered , the wicked one, in attempting to out at her side, caused the death of his mother.” (Page 6) On the other hand, the gothic element in the other literature texts is present in the way we see ghost apparitions in “The Wonders of the Invisible World” and the way the preacher degrades humans in the eyes of God in “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”  Even though the way the gothic is interpreted is much different through each reading, it is still a feature that allures the readers in which is also what makes these readings seem such fictional.  With all that was said about the way these stories seem imaginary, individuals who are not Christians or don’t believe the words from the Bible could perceive Genesis as fictional, whereas I for instance know it to be real, because I was raised on knowing about God and how he made earth and mankind.

          Another defining component that all the three of these stories have that is also seen in the story of Genesis, is the symbol of the tree, which then leads to some type of “fall”. The “fall of mankind” is a topic that is present in many pieces of literature, for the fact that it is what we as Christians know to be the reason there is sin on earth, which is the reason why evil and wrong doings are before us that we as beings must overcome. In Genesis, God placed many trees in the Garden of Eden, allowing man to eat from anyone of them, except the tree of knowledge of good and evil.   Once Eve finally fell into temptation and ate from this tree, this is what we as Christians know to be the “fall of mankind.” When referencing this to the Iroquois Indian stories, readers can notice the presence of the tree and how it caused a “fall” of its own. In the first story, Skywoman, had a dream about the uprooting of the celestial tree, and when she woke up told her husband about it and that she thought the dream had a powerful message. Because of this notion to the dream, chief of SkyWorld persisted that it be uprooted, and when this happened it left a huge hole, through which Skywoman fell through. In the second story a woman drank from the Tree of Life, in which just as in Genesis this tree was “off limits”, and once she did, she fell from “SkyWorld” onto the place we know as earth. In the third story, the tree is also there, but this time the tree was taken up, and the woman was thrown through the cavity by her own father. After highlighting these essential references to the tree and the fall, it is obvious to see how in there own ways they intertwine with one another. But looking at it with a deeper meaning the symbol of the tree represented in itself a type of “fall”, whether the “fall” happened, because a lack of balance, a push from mankind, or a temptation that led to a fall that we as humans are constantly trying to pick ourselves up from everyday. . . .

All of these stories have shown to hold an undeniable aspect within them, whether it is because they are part of a history, they communicate about a culture individuals are unaware of, or even because they are part of the mixed culture of America. In a sense, the creation stories can be seen as one story that was dissected and each culture implemented their own revisions and beliefs within it, as they proved to be interconnected with meanings. With that said, even some of the origin stories can interlock with the creation stories, such as with Genesis and Columbus. We can take these stories and watch how they interlace with the element of fiction and gothic, as well as how their meanings can come together to show how people learn to adapt and survive even when forced out of their own home and culture. No matter what type of story they are though, there is something within each one that can be seen as appealing to us, as well as a remarkable attribute of early American literature.