Compare And Contrast Philadelphia And Midas
Rosemary Wells’ Max and Ruby’s Midas and Max and Ruby’s Pandora take Greek myths and give them a new spin. Her stories are aimed at young children in the hopes to provide an enjoyable reading experience while teaching lessons on life. She accomplishes this, but only by completely creating new versions of Pandora and Midas. Wells’ changes greatly deviate from the ancient sources in her characters, the objects within the stories, and the outcomes. In her quest to make these stories relatable, Well’s switches the age of Midas and Pandora so that they are children like her intended audience. Pandora is not the first woman or a gift of destruction given to humanity, but simply a curious child that wants to play with the things her mother has hidden
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Wells’ adds items from the present into a past setting. For example, the jar spurting water in the story of Pandora. 21st century kids love to cool down by running through the sprinklers during the hot summer, but it is not an invention that dates back to the times of Ovid or Hesiod. Another example of Well’s placing modern things into an ancient setting is all the treats of the Midas story. Ice cream sundaes, pistachio pops and Jell-O were not a part of the Ancient Greek diet. Chocolate, for example, was not brought into Europe until long after the fall of the Greek and Roman empires. While the changes feel very odd in relation to the ancient garb or home, they do serve a purpose. Like the characters of Midas and Pandora themselves, they are creating a connection to children of the modern …show more content…
First, Wells’ is not interested in remaining true to Greek Mythology. She is using it as a tool for teaching stories, but she is not interested in following closely to Ovid, Hesiod, or any other ancient writer. In both books the only remnant of Ancient Greece comes from the clothing, the names, and setting of Ruby’s stories. If Wells changed that and took “Greek Myth” out of her title, then the details that tie her stories to myth would be gone. While the purpose of her books is not in sharing retellings that closely follow ancient myth, she is trying to create a cast of relatable characters who face similar problems that kids in this day and age come across. Her books are life lessons that take the very basic details of the ancient myths and add their own problems and
Wells’ adds items from the present into a past setting. For example, the jar spurting water in the story of Pandora. 21st century kids love to cool down by running through the sprinklers during the hot summer, but it is not an invention that dates back to the times of Ovid or Hesiod. Another example of Well’s placing modern things into an ancient setting is all the treats of the Midas story. Ice cream sundaes, pistachio pops and Jell-O were not a part of the Ancient Greek diet. Chocolate, for example, was not brought into Europe until long after the fall of the Greek and Roman empires. While the changes feel very odd in relation to the ancient garb or home, they do serve a purpose. Like the characters of Midas and Pandora themselves, they are creating a connection to children of the modern …show more content…
First, Wells’ is not interested in remaining true to Greek Mythology. She is using it as a tool for teaching stories, but she is not interested in following closely to Ovid, Hesiod, or any other ancient writer. In both books the only remnant of Ancient Greece comes from the clothing, the names, and setting of Ruby’s stories. If Wells changed that and took “Greek Myth” out of her title, then the details that tie her stories to myth would be gone. While the purpose of her books is not in sharing retellings that closely follow ancient myth, she is trying to create a cast of relatable characters who face similar problems that kids in this day and age come across. Her books are life lessons that take the very basic details of the ancient myths and add their own problems and