The Narrative of Life, Death and Resurrection: A Comparison between North American Corn Myths and Longfellow’s Poem The Song of Hiawatha Part 5

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to compare North American Indian corn myths with the poem written by Henry Wardsworth Longfellow, The Song of Hiawatha, focusing mainly on the origin of corn. Two types of corn myths are examined in this thesis: one having an edible plant mytheme, and the other having an edible plant mytheme within a rite of passage mytheme. In regard to the first type of myth, the Cherokee corn myth is examined. In this myth a mother-goddess figure is murdered and buried by her two sons after receiving her permission. With passage of time and with their devotion, corn sprouts rose from her corpse, grew, and bore ears. The murder of the goddess-mother symbolizes the end of the age in which people relied on hunting or gathering wild plants or fruits. Nevertheless, the concept of corn as a divine gift is reflected in the fact that corn is the outcome of the sacrifice of the goddess-mother figure. In brief, the beginning of agriculture, the cycle of life, death and rebirth, and corn as the sacred body of divinity are implied in this type of myth. In regard to the second type of myth, the Odjbway myth is examined. In this myth, a mother-goddess figure is replaced by a divine male figure who is murdered by an initiate who is going through a period of fasting, a kind of rite of passage for North American Indians. During the fasting period, the initiate wrestles with a divine young man and defeats him. As in Cherokee myth, he is permitted to murder the young man and bury him on his own. And in due time he is able to harvest corn by following the young man’s aforementioned indication. Part V of Longfellow’s the Song of Hiawatha is based on the Odjbway corn myth. In his poem, he gives credit to Hiawatha for the origination of corn. Despite maintaining an edible plant mytheme within a rite of passage mytheme, he particularly highlights organic relations among creatures and a cycle of life, death, and rebirth.