Category Archives: Week 4: The Sirens

A Story or (His)tory?

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After reading the “Legend of Melusina,” I couldn’t help but notice the irony within the story. The idea of husbands betraying or deceiving their wives is very interesting to me because of the notion that they lied first. I get the “conditions” that were in place for them to need a husband to agree to these terms, but it is still ironic. The lying and the deceptions go both ways, as well as the fear behind it all. Both husbands fear losing their wives, but “curiosity killed the cat” is a saying for a reason. The control these women have over the men by getting them to agree to these terms reminds me of why the sirens got the representation they have. Using the weakness of man against them, the lust they are born with, and the fear of ending up alone, which almost every person has.

I liked how the story mentioned, “but destiny, that would have Melusina single, was incensed against her” (85), because it reminded me that Melusina was cursed from the start. The idea that her mother punished Melusina for her “revenge” seeking actions makes me giggle a little. Melusina is gaining a fear of being alone, like the husbands. The world against her love, forever being punished for the revenge she took. I like to think that Melusina is the model for karma. Ran by revenge, only to be forever cursed to be alone, watching over her family. One small deed caused a lifetime of pain, which I feel is spot on for a siren. It almost mirrors everything that sirens are depicted as being: untrustworthy, and deceiving.

I loved reading this story, and it was a very eye-opening story of how sirens came to be. Everyone sees sirens as terrifying creatures, but what if they are this way because of how they’ve been treated? Humans have been untrustworthy and deceitful since the dawn of time. No surprise if the sirens “put up a guard” and were “cursed” for their revenge-seeking thoughts or actions.

Song of the Week: Echo of the Past by Jonathan Geer

The Sirens and the Odysseus

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In the book “The Penguin book of Mermaids” the poem and the chapter “Odysseus and the Sirens” and what really stood out to me is that in the passage of “Hear and obey; if freedom I demand,”(10). In this part of the poem it means that there is a part of society that often tells people what to do and controls behind closed doors. It represents how does a siren would play a sound that would be dangerous to play out to the world. What connects this to our world is the quote “Oh stay, O pride of Greece! Ulysses, stay!” (10). It would mean having pride in ourselves no matter what people tell us who we really are. Pride has gotten pretty far in a sense of identity and it has said points that proves why persistence has gone through further and further along on to going out into the sea. This relates to our world because it has to do something with how people take there pride too far like for example when people express themselves and people judge the for something that seems wrong with them but it can turn into isolation and revenge. The relevancy everywhere I go and it is to show the world isn’t really a safe place to express our true selves especially online.

Week 4: The Siren’s Song

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From our previous discussions, we learned about how mermaids (and aquatic creatures in general) existed in medieval times and will continue to exist in the modern age. In The Penguin Book of Mermaids, there is one creature we have encountered/yet to encounter, called the siren.

The siren is a creature in Greek mythology, usually depicted with a mermaid-like tail but with other appendages like wings or feet. As seen in a portion of Homer’s Odyssey, these creatures sing a seductive song in an attempt to lure sailors to their doom. In the stanza below, we see how their songs affect Odysseus:

“Thus the sweet charmers warbled o’er the main;
My soul takes wing to meet the heavenly strain;
I give the sign, and struggle to be free;
Swift row my mates, and shoot along the sea;
New chains they add, and rapid urge the way,
Till, dying off, the distant sounds decay;
hen scudding swiftly from the dangerous ground,
The deafen’d ear unlock’d, the chains unbound.” (12)

These songs have an ability to captivate (paralyze) sailors into listening to their songs, and it is so powerful that it is near impossible to break from the song alone. The siren attempts to lure Odysseus, a knowledgeable man, by promising “new wisdom.”

What can we make from this? A desire to exploit a man’s strength and render them vulnerable by promising what they seek? To feast on knowledge like how vampires are to blood? Since we are given the information that “sirens and mermaids are both symbols of dangerous femininity,” (9) we can see masculinity being reinforced through methods of resisting temptation: Odysseus’ crew stuffed wax into their ears to prevent themselves from hearing the siren’s song. Odysseus himself had to be bound to the mast so he wouldn’t be physically able to approach the siren. We can infer through the crews actions that we should always be mindful of what we seek, and sometimes it is better to resist these urges of knowing the unknowable.

Knowlege isn’t always what we seek.

Odyssey and the Sirens

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The reading that stood out to me the most this week was in the “The Penguin Book of Mermaids”. The epic poem about Odysseus is famous for its thrilling account of challenges he overcomes throughout his journey, one of them of course, involving his encounter with the Sirens. I was fascinated by the way the Siren was used as a symbol for pleasure in a non-physical way. As stated in the book, “Homer’s sirens sing a song that promises knowledge- a wisdom that bridges worlds-instead of pleasure” (10). I immediately thought about knowledge as temptation and how this has been used throughout time, somehow it seems it’s always been linked to women (ex: Eve). I began to wonder what this says about how we view the two and why they are always intertwined. I think there’s something really odd about this intellectual temptation narrative because It’s not ever explicitly implying that learning is a bad thing. In the reading they literally say, “learn new wisdom from the wise!” (11) maybe not as a form of manipulating him but as an actual invitation to higher knowledge. Reading it from this lens, curiosity then becomes disguised as something negative. It’s important to note that the reason why this matters is because society has a long history of fearing what the knowledge of knowing can do to power structures as it exposes injustice.

Week 4: Deterritorializing is the Key to Harmony

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All humans are separated by land: continents, countries, and regions. We came up with this idea of imaginary lines that separate us from wars fought long before many of us can remember. For example, California declared independence from Mexico in 1846, then later became a U.S. State after signing the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1948. All of this to say, land separates us, but the oceans connect us. We are so focused on our disconnection from each other because of imaginary lines that we forget that this planet is 70% ocean, with scientists sometimes calling it the interconnected global ocean. Interconnected. And maybe, as Steve Mentz suggests in his “Deterritorializing Preface,” if we deterritorialize ourselves with terrestrial language, we can become interconnected as well, just like the oceans.

Mentz offers the readers seven different terrestrial words with seven different oceanic replacements: field becomes current, ground becomes water, progress becomes flow, state becomes ship, landscape becomes seascape, clarity becomes distortion, and horizon becomes horizon (Mentz xv-xvii). These are just a few examples in which we can detach ourselves from land-bound vocabulary, but I wonder if taking this a step further (or, as Mentz might suggest, deeper) could help humans stop having such polarizing views ion each other. If humans were to deterritorialize themselves, not just through a means of language, but as a means of differentiation across peoples, could we be one step closer to harmony?

Mentz concludes with this bit of wisdom: “The blue humanities name an ocean-infused way to reframe our shared cultural history. Breaking up the Anthropocene means reimagining the anthropogenic signatures of today’s climactic disasters as a dynamic openings as well as catastrophic ruptures” (xviii). I note how Mentz writes, “shared cultural history,” as if every person on this earth shares cultural history with each other. Which, he’s not wrong—there is one thing that connects us all, no matter what imaginary lines we draw: the ocean. So perhaps, if we take a cue from Mentz, we might finally begin to find a sense of harmony between each other.

Sirens – humanity’s curiosity

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When reading ‘Odysseus and the Sirens’, it brings to attention that Sirens and Mermaids were originally separate entities in mythology. While later depictions of mermaids emphasize about their beauty and seductive natures, Sirens were not characterized by the same sexualized traits. Rather it was their powerful songs that define them as noted in the line on page 9, “it is the power of their song and music rather than their appearance that characterizes them across time”. Alongside what the songs held.

In the passage from the poem, the Siren’s song is the main focus, as it can be read Odysseus is curious about the contents.

‘In flowery meads the sportive Sirens play, Touch the soft lyre, and tune the vocal lay; Me, me alone, with fetters firmly bound, The gods allow to hear the dangerous sound. Hear and obey; if freedom I demand, Be every fetter strain’d, be added band to band.’

I believe Sirens may have been a metaphor for the human curiosity that drives some of us to explore the unknown, but also the possible dangers coming with that pursuit. Odysseus wanting his men to restrain him so he could listen to the Siren’s song fully may represent how there must be limits and restraint to avoid being destroyed by it. The song symbolizing new knowledge, which can both enlighten and consume someone if not approached with caution. This could’ve aligned with early sea travel, that the ocean held mysteries able to benefit earlier humans but also held within it dangers that did claim many ships and lives.

Week 4: The poetics of ecological catastrophe

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“Whitman’s pale body, and my own, frolicking in the waves, carry on our skin the guilt and violence of ecological catastrophe. I would like to believe, and sometimes I do believe, that inside the chaos of the surf we can derive succor and some pleasure from the buoyancy that poetry creates. But it is hard not to recall the other creatures who depend upon the ocean, the fish and crabs and microscopic plankton, that will pay a harsher price.(150)”

Every summer, the warnings issued through news sources and splashed in front of empty lifeguard shacks tell beachgoers that a sewage spill has contaminated the water, and thus, swimming is not recommended. And so, like Dickinson, we watch from ashore, the untouchable Silver that beckons us with its waves and dirtied water. At least, this is the issue in the South Bay. Miraculously, the sewage-contaminated waters from the Tijuana River plant do not spread beyond Silver Strand(and occasionally Coronado).

Every year, visitors turn away from the contaminated beaches of the South Bay, and find solace in the pristine white sanded beaches of Solana and La Jolla, conveniently located in some of the most affluent areas of San Diego. 

While Blue Humanities focuses on the poetics of planetary water, I can not in my experience separate my view of the ocean from the politics of land and water. The contamination of the beaches and the surrounding wetlands and waters is a constant feature on my mind. Just as Steve Mentz states, “it is hard not to recall the other creatures who depend upon the ocean, the fish and crabs and microscopic plankton, that will pay a harsher price(150),” I too can not seperate my enjoyment of the beach and ocean, from the total devestation of an unsolved ecological crisis happening a few miles down the coastline. As we turn to our beaches in the summer for pleasure and connection, and the surrounding coastal cities benefit from curating their beaches into tourist economies, I think of the way we continually take advantage of the body of the Ocean, the life and solace it provides us, and with which we interact.

I appreciated the broad experience captured in “poetics”, which Mentz expands through “Aristotle’s claim that poetics combines pleasure and pain,” which “seems especially noteworthy for a blue humanities focus on the watery parts of the world that both allure and threaten human bodies. (139)” Even as we remain grounded in our homes and on land, the ocean reminds us of its mistreatment, and it asks us to pay the price. As the issue at the sewage plant worsens with inattention, it rightfully reminds us that even the gorgeous beaches and tanned cliffsides further up the coast can not escape the eventual devastation of human pollution.

A Contrast in Storytelling Viewpoint – Greeks Vs. The Church

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In the excerpt we read this week from the odyssey, we are introduced to the story of Odysseus and his interactions with Greek sirens. In this particular version, sirens are represented to be creatures of knowledge and fulfillment. The threat of the song – contrasting with what we are usually predisposed to think of when we think of sirens – conveys the sirens as being enlightened ones, willing to share their wisdom with those courageous enough to fall into their trap. In grecian mythology, the seduction of human kind, opposed to a sexual attraction, is that in which humans gain wisdom beyond that of human conceptions. The mind would be allowed to expand beyond the present forces of earth, gaining wisdom transcending possible universes. 

In the traditional English church, sirens and mermaids are presented to be sexual beings, intent to lure men in with sinful and lustful promises, eager to create sin and treachery. The use of mermaids and sirens meant to reflect women as immoral creatures, the cause of men to fail in their religion and faithhood. The church created such emphasis that men must abstain from fraternizing with women, in hopes of curbing their lewd fantasies leading to a state of unrighteousness. 

This comparison between how Sirens were transcribed and developed across different narratives was very stark and intrigued me into further thought. Why in Grecian culture was the thought of knowledge women a threat versus sexualized femininity. In a way, both can be interpreted to mean that a woman in a higher state of power over men would be detrimental to society and manhood. In other ways, we wonder why there was more emphasis on purity inside the church culture compared to that in Greek culture. In my own opinion, I see the English church finding the idea of women being knowledgeable a laughable idea, only being creatures designed to hinder the teachings of the divinity. 
In both backgrounds of storytelling, they become objectified, only to be seen as a hindrance to a man’s success. They are obstacles, attempting to gain unrightful power over a “higher” being – a male. These stories are a direct reflection of these time periods, a place where women did not have an identity outside of her husband, no place to be within her femininity or obtain her own knowledge. Why then is a story such as The Odyssey conceived with such reverie? Why do we continue to idolize works in which a man’s victory is his conquest to outwit a womanly being?

Week 4 reading

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Focusing on poem verse 6 on page 11 of “Odysseus and the Sirens”, the carefully cultivated song (with a rhyming scheme of ABAB) to catch Odysseus attention with his greatest desires and fluffed up ego had worked to the point where his crew mates had to tighten Odysseus binds before he escaped and went towards the sirens. Not a sexually charged lure was used in this scene, instead the offer was about having rich knowledge and becoming a more powerful being.

Odysseus is an arrogant warrior and how did the sirens manage to catch his attention? “O pride of Greece!” (line 1) and “Blest is the man ordain’d our voice to hear,”(line 3) are great hooks that captured Odysseus ear. Who wouldn’t want to play a closer ear to someone complimenting them? The sirens praising him for being the extraordinary warrior he is and acknowledging how lucky he is to be hearing their “lay”(line 2). Odysseus knows that the sirens have bad intentions, hence why he’s bounded to his ship and his crew mates have wax stuffed in their ears. The supernatural beings that sirens are and have access to infinite knowledge helped gain their case for how to lure Odysseus their way.

The “Celestial music warbles from their tongue”(pg.11, verse 5, line 3) has me associating sirens as the harbingers of death. These supernatural creatures have sweet songs that convince humans to end their lives for whatever deep desire they have in their souls that isn’t for safe keeping while you’re around them. They know your vulnerabilities and use them against you.

This scene showcases how often humans are tempted to go the wrong route in life that will bring a heavy hand of pain. Or, fight through those intrusive and compelling thoughts and stay true to oneself. The choice is ours.

The seas and horizons are one in the same, forever forcing us to question our known world.

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In Steve Mentz’s passage, “Deterritorializing Preface,” he introduces his audience to a new vocabulary, not only to acquaint his readers with the language of the ocean, but to integrate it into the “land language” (of sorts) that we use every day.

What caught my attention the most out of these seven vocabulary words was Horizon. Every other word introduced had been changed. Water from ground, flow from progress, seascape from landscape, except for horizon “(formerly horizon).”

We have always associated the word horizon with the unknown, and in the case of humans, the unknown has always been and still is the ocean. For much of human history, all we had to tell us of where we were and where we were going were our senses, most importantly, vision. The horizon is the farthest distance our eyes can behold, and we have constantly chased that place. The horizon calls to us even more because it is often associated with the ocean. That stark flat line of blue waters that merges with the sky is enticing because it seems to span forever, and we are just as curious as to what lies beyond it as we are to what lies beneath it. We use phrases like “broaden our horizons” when we refer to bettering ourselves or gaining knowledge, because when we chase horizons, we leave behind the world we know in the hope of discovery. Mentz states, “Can horizon be a metaphor for futurity that spans green pastures and blue seas? I imagine horizons as sites of transition…” (Deterritorializing Preface XVI) Of course, there is no true “place” where the sky meets the sea, but it is attainable through progress, or as Mentz would call it, flow. This transitional space, upon which we chase the sun to the edge of the water, is where we expand our comprehension of the planet we call home.

We look to horizons also for markers or points of new beginnings or of memories. “Early modern
European sailors heading into the Atlantic spent days looking out for the unmistakable silhouette of Tenerife’s volcano, which signaled impending arrival at the Canary Islands” (Deterritorializing Preface XVI.) The landmarks that jet out in contrast to the vast sea are signs of hope and life. On a canvas of mysterious waters that make up most of this earth, land on the horizon not only gives us bearing, but the promise of a habitable place.