Whilst doing this week’s reading, my attention was mostly concentrated on the stories of “Sedna” and “The Tuna of Lake Vaihiria”. This was particularly because of our class discussions of the christian misogyny that transformed the role of the mermaid. It is immediately noticeable, in both of these stories that women were held in a different regard across non Christian cultures. For example in “The Tuna of Lake Vaihiria” The authors of the text explain that in these stories the character of Hina is often represented as a woman of “High rank, and sometimes semidivine”. This is in stark contrast with schribner’s text which mentions in chapter 1 “churchmen adopted these pagan creatures in an effort to depreciate the feminine.”

I noticed that both of these narratives have to do with women and marriage. Hina runs away in order to avoid being forced to marry a monster and Sedna can only be made made to wed under conditions that she finds suitable. Already we see that women in Inuit and Pacific islander cultures are able to exert their autonomy without being condemned to be sinful monsters. Both Hina and Sedna contribute to the prosperity of their people, one by bringing about the coconut and the latter by providing Inuit people with their main food sources. Sedna becomes a deity and the Inuit people strive to honor and maintain a good relationship with her so that they can continue to enjoy the bounty of the sea.

Through these stories I noticed the connection that exists between women and the environment. Both of these characters are life-givers of sorts, to their people. It is interesting that even now a days we consider nature to be female in nature hence the term “Mother Earth”. In these stories both women exert disobedience of some sort. Hina runs away and refuses to marry the Eel and Sedna refuses to marry unless it is in her own terms. The Christian church, I imagine would focus on these acts of disobedience and punish them by turning them into sea monsters but both women in these stories are rewarded with respect by their people.