Victor Vainberg
Pre-AP English
February 8, 2009
Amazon Project
1. Finally, you might remember Queen Hippolyta was the Queen of the Amazons. How would the play differ if she had been a real indigenous person from the Amazons?
a. I believe that the play would have been different in the sense that the Amazons would have held a grudge against the men of today and paid tribute to their murdered Queen. Also, it is possible that the event would have kindled hatred towards the men, and thus decides to kill every male that is born.
2. Perhaps the other great mystery for the arriving Europeans that had read and studied many of the texts that you have was, did the indigenous people of the Americas take the fall of man. Many believed they had not and therefore were innocent of sin, etc. What do you think? Support your claim with details from Amazonian beliefs.
a. I believe that the fall of man did occur to the indigenous people of the Amazon, but with means of a different set of events. The Amazonian myths like that of the Curupira, a being that sprouted from sin, can inflict misfortune and fortune to those who deserve it. It is believed among the indigenous Amazonians that when two cousins fell in love and decided to be together without concern for the village or its Shaman, they were killed after leaving behind two children in the wilderness. These children grew up with the abilities of causing good of bad to whoever they deem appropriate.
I will give you the illustration tomorrow.
