Module 2: Section 3

As you read the literary selections in this module, look for the elements of story structure: plot, characters, setting, conflict, and resolution. You will see similarities between each story. Here are some elements you will encounter when reading flood myths or other “destruction” mythology.

Story Elements – Characters: A Supreme Being

Many myths include a supreme or all-powerful being or god. This being may not appear in a clear or tangible form, but it is always present. In Greek and Japanese mythology there were many gods and goddesses.

First Nations peoples in North America such as the Haudenosaunee (translated to “People of the Longhouse,”) also referred to as the Iroquois of the Northeastern United States and Canada had their own unique mythology, including stories that describe the Sky Woman and her sons. Indigenous Australians tell stories of the Father of All Spirits, who gradually awakens other spirits, who help to “wake” various other groups on the earth (insects, sun, lizards, etc.) The San people of southern Africa (Botswana, Namibia, and Angola) tell stories of their god Kaang, a remote sky god. Pictured on the right is a statue of Gilgamesh, the mythic King of Uruk in The Epic of Gilgamesh (written c. 2150-1400 BCE). The Epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest known piece of epic world literature.

The Supreme Being used different methods to create the Earth. Some, such as the God in the Christian Bible and Torah, merely ordered that His will be carried out and it was done. Others molded each creation by hand. Still more gods had a less powerful god do the work for them. The supreme beings in creation myths came in many different forms and acted very differently, but they all shared in the creation of the world.

Story Elements – Plot: Conflict

A central element to a destruction or flood myth is the conflict that predates the destruction event. Sometimes the primary conflict is between the supreme being and humanity. Other stories tell of conflict that arises between two supernatural beings and brings about the natural disaster that impacts humanity or the earth itself.