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(2015
midterm assignment) Model Student Midterm answers 2015 (Index) Essay 2: Personal / professional topic |
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Zach Mayfield
A Gendered View of the Apocalypse
When I was eleven years old, I was absolutely obsessed with the book of
Revelation and the apocalypse. I transferred to a private Lutheran school
towards the end of my fifth grade year, and I became introduced to a very
literal interpretation of scripture, and it seemed as if the basic core academic
curriculum consisting of math, science, English, and social studies was put by
the wayside to make room for saving our souls from eternal damnation. It
certainly didn’t do anything to calm my clinically diagnosed anxiety and
obsessive compulsive disorder. It wouldn’t be until much later that the scare
gradually loosened its grip, allowing me to at least put it aside for a little
while. Now, as a reasonably educated man adult in my mid twenties, I am able to
look at Revelation outside the narrow scope of the teachings of evangelical
Christians. It no longer frightens me. Rather, I am fascinated by the recurring
themes and tropes I seem to keep stumbling across. One thing I’ve noticed in the
short time I’ve been in this class is that most apocalyptic scenarios are
inherently archetypally masculine, and can carry misogynistic undertones.
In Parable of the Sower, essentially a re-telling of the Genesis story,
Lauren, whose name is also passable as a male’s, is stripped of her femininity
throughout the novel so that she can survive. Lauren is already portrayed as a
sort of tomboy in that she is able to use a gun, and that she is not submissive.
Later, in order to survive outside her neighborhood, she cuts her hair and
attempts to dress like a man so that she and her group can avoid unnecessary
trouble. This kind of masculinisation is essential in these kinds of
post-apocalyptic scenarios, where one has little option but to steal, pillage,
and kill in order to survive.
Stories like “Mozart in Mirrorshades” illustrate what Earth might be like after
humans discover time travel, exploiting the Earth which is typically regarded as
feminine for its resources. All throughout Revelation, the Earth is ridden with
plagues and curses and death. The Four Horsemen poison and taint Mother Earth.
The Whore of Babylon can also be seen as the “last great woman” who must be
overcome before all is made right with the Lord again. Finally, when Jesus
returns in his ultimate glory, he is riding a white horse, ready to conquer and
seize, two very masculine attributes. Essentially, Mother Earth is raped
continuously until she is completely used and annihilated. Note that the only
two females in Revelation are the woman who gives birth so that a dragon may eat
her child, and the Whore of Babylon. All of the elders, all of the beasts, they
are perceived as masculine by the audience.
This demonization of women is not only found in Christian theology. This
“curious woman” trope has its hand in Greek mythology as well, with the story of
Pandora and her jar. Like Eve, Pandora is made from the Earth, and the gods and
goddesses bestow her gifts. Zeus uses Pandora as a punishment to mankind because
Prometheus had stolen the sacred fire from heaven. The idea is that women will
create nothing but trouble for men, as they will seduce and distract them.
The personal conclusion I have come to is that I will not subscribe to any
belief system that demonizes women. I have learned in class so far that, if
anything, we should be respectable stewards of the Earth, and that we must honor
our mother from whence we came. Humankind was made from Earth, and to the Earth
we shall return.
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