MSU English 337

quoted verbatim from my final project paper

"Complementarity found in Myth can be represented in the story of
Branwen Daughter Of Llyr. It begins with double complementarity by
describing a king and his brother and then two brothers on his mothers
side all standing around a rock. While still in the first paragraph,
the story describes the two who are half-brothers to the king as total
opposites. Each one represents one of the Myth narratives: Nissyen
represents the narrative of dreaming, associated with animals,
fertility, the spirit of the earth, and the sacred feminine while his
brother, Evnissyen, represents the narrative of doing, associated with
men, aggression, the use of tools, and naming. These two narratives
serve to express in story the power humans have over the earth. When
used together, represented by the marriage of Branwyen and her
children, adventure is represented by the battle her brother wages for
her honor, disappearance is represented by the deaths of just about
everyone(most of all bran), and death is represented by the
celebrating of life and everything that happens to brans dead head.
The last story structure, winter and death, is complemented with
cheering and joy and we see the final complementarity within the
structure of story, that of life and death.
The story structure these narratives use is another form of
complementarity. The life cycle as lived by these people followed the
four seasons, beginning with spring, following with summer followed by
autumn, and ended with winter. This was the pattern of life and
stories reflected it by following the structure of birth, adventure,
disappearance, and then death. In this story, birth is represented by
the marriage of Branwyen and her children, adventure is represented by
the battle her brother wages for her honor, disappearance is
represented by the deaths of just about everyone(most of all bran),
and death is represented by the celebrating of life and everything
that happens to brans dead head. The last story structure of Branwen
Daughter Of Llyr, winter and death, is expressed with cheering and joy
and we see the final complementarity within the structure of story,
that of life and death complementing each other."

this can be summed up with the following points:

• 2 brothers are a complement, 2 pairs of 2 brothers is complementarity. This paralels with the two narratives: the sacred feminine, open and of life, and the heavy masculine, closed and with death. These two narratives can each be presented in a possitive way or a negative way, thus making two pairs of two, a parallel with 2 pairs of 2 brothers.
• Birth, Adventure, Disapperence, Death, the themes shown in the flow of norse myth, reflect the cycle of nature of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter.

I liked my role. Having my head chopped off was a good way to go. I think the coolest group presentation was #5. I liked being blindfolded and having different smells and sounds as the presentation. I think it was the most effective and certainly the most memorable.