The Myth of Creation in Modern American Literature and Art: Working to Deconstruct a Culture’s Dualistic Belief System
Between the one that I am and the other for whom I answer gapes a bottomless difference, which is also the non-indifference of responsibility.
Emmanuel Levinass
The Myth of Creation
The oldest versions of the creation myth were matriarchal in nature with inclusive societal models, but the introduction of print text and
the rise of the patriarchal tradition marginalized oral narratives and in
their place, grew the vast collection of media with which humans can
communicate. The minimization of
the oral tradition brought both beneficial and detrimental changes to the
global culture and subsequently the United States. African Americans and women have long
worked to dissect and destroy the binary system created by the Edenic myth in
America, and they have succeeded when they have rejected the patriarchal
limitations of print. However, only a system that does not rely on dualistic
interpretations will provide an equitable future for the marginalized portions
of American society.