Rose Perkins: Weight (Outside Reading)

     In my honors seminar last semester, Myth Matters, with Dr. Thompson, we read the book Weight by Jeanette Winterson. During our discussions on internal and external journeys along with the hero's journey, I keep thinking back to this book and realizing it embodies our discussion topics well. This book presents a new take on the myth of Atlas and Heracles. It focuses on the original story of the external and hero's journey of Atlas and Heracles, but it also focused on the internal emotions, journeys, and transformations that occur in the two individuals. Winterson bases and compares some of her topics to her own life and journey, and she argues that the internal journeys are similar. The main lesson that I believe the story taught is that humans can decide their destinies and decide whether to allow their burdens to ail them. These lessons are taught through the internal journeys and growth of the two main characters, mainly through Atlas.

    In the book, Heracles is focused on in a less appealing way than usual. It focuses on Heracles enough to say that physical strength is not everything. It focuses on the way that after his encounter with Atlas, his life takes a downward turn until he eventually kills himself. It focuses on the many bad things he does and the way he treats individuals around him. His internal journey is a spiral downwards until the end of his life. His main thought throughout the book is wondering why he lives his life the way he does. However, he never attempts to change it or change himself for the better. He just accepts the way he is and allows fate to take hold. Because he does not accept growth, he does not go on the internal transformation for a better life. 

    Compared to traditional myths containing Atlas, he is focused on in a more appealing light and we learn to like and appreciate him more than Heracles. At the beginning, he made mistakes. This is why he is punished with holding up the world on his shoulders for eternity. However, after spending years carrying this burden, he has had plenty of time to consider the choices he made and begins to change. When Heracles visits on the labor to retrieve the golden apples, Heracles temporarily takes the weight of the world so Atlas can go get the apples, since Heracles cannot take them. Atlas goes to retrieve the apples. On the tree, he only can see three golden apples, which he begins to take. The first two apples seem as though they fall straight into his hands. However, the third falls and he cannot lift it. He describes it to be as "heavy as thought." Because he cannot lift it, he just decides to lay on the ground and contemplate his existence. Hera eventually shows up, informing him that the apples he could lift that threw themselves at him were his past and future. However, the one he could not lift was his present. When Atlas now looks at the tree again, there are many more apples. This is when Hera tells him that he chose the three apples for a reason and though his future exists, it is not fixed. He has the power to change it and choose his own destiny. 

    The three apples symbolized different things. The past apple symbolized that his past was handed to him and many times one reflects upon their past and wishes they did things different. Atlas did this for many years. The future apple shows that, as Atlas just stared at it for a long while, that he is imagining the many ways his life could go in the future. However, he doesn't want to admit it because he does not know he has a choice. Finally, the present apple represents the burdens that Atlas currently carries. Despite being the "strongest deity," he cannot lift the apple. It shows the many choices that must be made to impact the future. This interaction causes Atlas to consider many things. For many years, he has carried a burden he did not want to carry, manifesting as the physical weight he carried. However, he then saves a Russian space dog, Laika, from a period in time (as he can see all the different realities and time periods in this book). Now, he was holding the dog, and it was a weight he wanted to carry. This made him consider things. He thought more and more about what Hera said, and he thought about his choices, past, and future, and decided to just let go of his burdens and the weight he carried. He put the world down, and nothing happened, and he was able to just walk away. He went through an internal journey or transformation that made him realize that if he did not allow his burdens to bother him or life to get him down, he could change his future. He could let go of the things that burdened him, and he could influence his destiny.

     This internal journey that Atlas went through to change his future versus the lack of transformative growth that Heracles had made me think of the topics we have discussed in this class. Atlas' choices and letting go of his problems show amazing growth, and we have the opportunities to do the same.