HIST 260 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Blubber, Sunwise, Sea Raven
24 Aug 2016
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Wednesday, May 11, 2016
Unit 2 Notes
The Goose Maiden
-man Itiqaujaq sees lake with a lot of geese, steals boots from shore
-birds flew away —> one stayed and agreed to become his wife if he returned her her
boots
•she was transformed into a women and had a son
•she refused to eat whale meat or to let it dirty her clothes —> she went to beach,
got feathers, put them on herself and her son and they flew away as geese
-the guy followed her
•crossing a boiling kettle by treading on the pieces of meat!
a burning lamp by treading on the pieces of blubber!
rushing between two fighting monsters who took off part of his coat tail!
and passing between two clashing stones which also took part of his coat tail
•reached river where Eqaluqdjuq (little salmon) was chopping pieces of wood, when
fell into water turned to salmon
-salmon father hollow, but guy pretended he came from side where he didn’t see
the hollowness
-salmon father showed him where his wife was and gave him a salmon backbone
—> became a boat and carried him there
-reaches his wife and son —> her new husband herself and her son were transformed
into geese
•before wife could fly away, guy cut open her belly and many eggs fell out
-old husband and wife are left together!
-simpler structure than Sedna and the Fulmar
•shows land in opposition to Birdland
•gives two opposed episodes, involving action on the land or lake or river followed
by progress to Birdland, bracketed by the solitary man at the beginning and he
family at the end
"1
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Wednesday, May 11, 2016
-number of references to sexual intercourse
•represented by…
•eggs : knife!
clashing rocks : coat hem!
monsters : coat hem!
boiling water : meat!
burning oil : blubber
-three times the guy sees something he shouldn’t
•geese maidens bathing!
hollowness of salmon father!
glance he takes from the boat
•motif of seeing/ not seeing —> same function as noise in Sedna, and to separate
the phases of the action
-also carries the resonance of our understanding which gradually becomes
clearer
-women, geese, mothers, feathers are all associated with Birdland!
men, salmon, fathers, wood belong to the Land!
salmon, penises, men are regarded as equivalents
•women belong with bird land, and this is a danger to men —> equally threatening is
the woman’s tendency to take her son to Birdland with her
-linked the identification of Inuit babies as little birds because the first dress which
they wear is made of feathers —> dress retains its significance through life
-bird identification is made the vehicle for expressing the danger to a man —>
husband embodied in the social custom which permits women wide choice of sexual
partners
•man does not know whether the person he calls "son" is in fact his son by blood or
not —> woman can obvi tell
-The story expresses the struggle of the man to retain his powers over wife and son,
both of whom are necessary to his economic well-being, now and in the future
-elements of myths reappear in rituals in the Beginning-of-Winter feast to mark the first
formation of the sea ice!
"2
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Document Summary
Man itiqaujaq sees lake with a lot of geese, steals boots from shore. Salmon father hollow, but guy pretended he came from side where he didn"t see the hollowness. Salmon father showed him where his wife was and gave him a salmon backbone. > became a boat and carried him there. Reaches his wife and son > her new husband herself and her son were transformed into geese: before wife could y away, guy cut open her belly and many eggs fell out. Old husband and wife are left together. Wednesday, may 11, 2016: represented by , eggs : knife clashing rocks : coat hem monsters : coat hem boiling water : meat burning oil : blubber. Also carries the resonance of our understanding which gradually becomes clearer. Linked the identi cation of inuit babies as little birds because the rst dress which they wear is made of feathers > dress retains its signi cance through life.
