Reading Journal Averno

Averno is set now, modern. The tone of this book is very solemn. The narrator is a woman telling her story of her life and relationship with others. Another narrator is Persephone who, like the main narrator is a parallel to her childhood. They both want maternal love and love for another. The earth is the mother of Persephone, and Persephone is a reflection of her mother: “everything in nature is in some way her relative.” (50), “Persephone is taken from her mother and the goddess of the earth punishes the earth” (16). The final verse on page sixteen is a reference to the Hawthorne version of Persephone, which was changed to be a children’s story, and thus the line the line “stained with red juice” is a reference to Pomegranates rather than the rape that actually took place. Narrator second guessing: “Did I say “suffered”? That was my parents’ way of explaining tastes that seemed to them” (23). An author would do this to show the way her relationships had an affect on her, and only now she realized the influence. Part I is shorter and focuses more on the adulthood of the character, part II is the childhood, though both have references to the other. Part I and “Persephone” is from the adult, or the mother’s perspective and vengeful and angry, and part II is from the child’s point of view and it is much more innocent. After reading Gluck’s interpretation I understand the myth as a parallel to the mother daughter relationship rather then an explanation for the seasons.