Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Mythic Fiction and Contemporary Urban Fanstasy

I read Anasi Boys by Neil Gaiman. I googled Anasi and in African tribes and other cultures, is known to be a trickster and African God. This idea came from the country of Ghana. He can take shape of a spider and is considered to be the god of all knowledge of stories. It interests me because spiders are known for creating webs. Everyone has their own web and creates them differently. 
The story by Neil Gaiman is about two boys who’s father is Anasi, have to find each other in different parts of the world. The story brings them through many situations and uses their ethnic backgrounds throughout the story. The story ties in their African culture and the Caucasian cultures to create a funny way of looking at the ideas. Fat Charlie is from London and spider comes to visit him. The story is about going back to Florida where their father died. The story is also about getting spider away from his brother Charlie.
This comical story is very interesting to be because when Charlie is drunk, he talks to a spider and asks why his brother hasn’t visited. Once he says this, spider appears. I feel this happens many times with siblings and they always get along for a bit then its over and they have to separate. I am the same way with my siblings.
I think this story is very relevant in the contemporary world because these ideas don’t change and using the spider as a story has been passed down from writer to writer.

I loved picturing some of this story because even when I was in Kenya, many people wear spider jewelry and have many insect imagery because they fight off certain things.


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