Jordan Hernandez

We started off the week discussing the Ramayana. Canto 2 of Book 1 depicts Brahma's (the creator) visit. We learn that sheeva is the god of destruction and vishnu is a god that keeps the balance. Canto 3 essentially summarizes the entire story. I also noticed that they describe sacrifices and mantras that are spoken making them quite ritualistic. In addition we began to discuss canto 47 of Book 3 when Ravan attempts to woo Sita. Moreover, we compared Achilles and Ram and the consistent themes within both epics. Such themes include war and abduction. One thing, however, that I noticed is that the "bloodiness" present in the Iliad is missing in the Ramayana. I'm not entirely sure why that is the case and I don't think that it has much significance. I enjoyed reading the two verses of the Iliad because I actually understood them. I liked reading parts of the Ramayana except for Canto's 2 and 3, which were so confusing to me.

I'm not sure how I feel about reading the tragedies since I didn't enjoy reading them back in high school.