- One of the most glaring things I noticed throughout the work was the importance of collaboration. Creation as well as destruction are undertaken in groups, who plot and scheme together. Even the animals are encouraged to work together (p. 12). The few characters that work on their own (Seven Macaw and his sons), meet their demise at the hands of Hunahpu and Xblanque.
- Predictably, this work also includes a range of moral lessons, ranging from the dangers of boastfulness to the importance of being well-versed in trickery. However, it is interesting to note that the deitic entities aren’t held as stringently to these moral codes, or at least the author doesn’t note any harm befalling them. There was one story, however, that really confused me, or at least I was confused at to what the message behind it was. In Zipacna and the Four Hundred Boys, ZIpacna offers to help the boys build their hut, and then, because of his power or whatever, the boys plot to kill him. He survives the attempt on his life and gets vengeance, but then Zipacna gets killed for this? I didn’t really understand why.
- Just a small thing I noticed was Hunahpu’s arm being torn off reminded me a lot of Beowulf tearing off Grendel’s arm and then keeping it as a sort of memento.
- Beyond collaboration, connection also played a key role in the work. I really enjoyed the way that nature and creation are indivisible in the work, how when Zipacna dies, he still makes earthquakes, or when One Hunahpu is killed, he becomes calabashes. Beyond the characters, there is also a linking of worlds, which I found quite intriguing. Unlike heaven and hell in the Christian belief, the underworld and sky world are accessible from earth; admittedly, the passage is described as long and confusing, but there is a direct link between the layers of the world.
- I also noted the emphasis on aesthetics in the work. Through all the iterations of humans, the Framer and Shaper attempt they make note of mashed faces, fixed gazes, shriveled faces, and withered sticks for limbs. Even the Grandmother in the final story can’t help herself from laughing at her own grandsons because of their “blunt ugliness” and their “paunchy belly and naked bits”. Regardless of who it is, the work is clearly delineates what desirable bodies look like, what bodies worthy of divine creation are meant to, and more importantly not meant to, resemble.
Popol Vuh: Week 1
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