The Legend of Sedna the Sea Goddess

I’m not sure how to describe the tone or diction of the translation of this legend, but it seems somewhat pedestrian or matter-of-fact. After our discussion in class last week, I started thinking about the difference between the Western tradition of writing things down (like the Bible), and a collection of chronological and organized stories into a whole book that is cemented in physical writing. The tone of this text helped me realize the distinction because it’s a legend that isn’t necessarily part of a larger work of texts. It’s also a story that “varies from one region to the next” (Moore 9). I like that Moore added this detail because it lets the reader know that there isn’t one exact version of the story. That variety is cool because it adds some diversity and individuality to the storyteller. For example, maybe some descendants of the Inuit describe the story differently from others. I think that’s pretty cool to think that there are people with their own interpretations and ideas about a similar story. To me, this juxtaposes the ideas from Western culture that are somewhat rigid, without much room for individual interpretation. For example, as a member of the Roman Catholic Church, I was taught the same (or likely very similar) things that the confirmation candidates were taught in Kansas. Somehow this rigidity creates a weird comfort for some people, but to me it’s boring. After backpacking around 11 different countries over the last 2 years, I noticed something similar. In the US, there are many common restaurant chains and other types of stores (hardware, grocery, etc). When I visited other countries, especially the less Western ones, I noticed that there was a tendency to have more variety in the restaurants and stores. I’m not sure if it’s a product of capitalism, but I think there are some similarities between the ways Western religion spread and somehow stayed relatively homogenized, and how less Western people have diversity in their stories as well as other parts of their culture. I think that this story teaches us more than just what’s written on the page about Sedna. There’s even a significance in the fact that it can be called Sedna OR Sanna.