Structural Study of Myth
Structural Study of Myth
Structural Study of Myth
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"It would seem that mythological worlds have been built up only to be shatte
that new worlds were built from the fragments."
Franz Boas, in Introduction to James Teit
Traditions of the Thompson River Indians of
British Columbia, Memoirs of the America
Folklore Society, VI (I898), i8.
I.o. Despite some recent attempts to renew them, it would seem that
past twenty years anthropology has more and more turned away from stu
field of religion. At the same time, and precisely because professional anth
interest has withdrawn from primitive religion, all kinds of amateurs
belong to other disciplines have seized this opportunity to move in, thereb
into their private playground what we had left as a wasteland. Thus, t
for the scientific study of religion have been undermined in two ways.
I.I. The explanation for that situation lies to some extent in the fac
anthropological study of religion was started by men like Tylor, Fraze
heim who were psychologically oriented, although not in a position to
the progress of psychological research and theory. Therefore, their in
soon became vitiated by the outmoded psychological approach which
their backing. Although they were undoubtedly right in giving their
intellectual processes, the way they handled them remained so coarse a
them altogether. This is much to be regretted since, as Hocart so profoun
in his introduction to a posthumous book recently published,' psycho
pretations were withdrawn from the intellectual field only to be introduc
the field of affectivity, thus adding to "the inherent defects of the p
school . . . the mistake of deriving clear-cut ideas . . . from vague emotion
of trying to enlarge the framework of our logic to include processes whic
their apparent differences, belong to the same kind of intellectual operati
attempt was made to reduce them to inarticulate emotional drives wh
only in withering our studies.
I.2. Of all the chapters of religious anthropology probably none has tarr
same extent as studies in the field of mythology. From a theoretical poin
situation remains very much the same as it was fifty years ago, namely,
chaos. Myths are still widely interpreted in conflicting ways: collectiv
outcome of a kind of esthetic play, the foundation of ritual.... Mythol
are considered as personified abstractions, divinized heroes or decayed god
the hypothesis, the choice amounts to reducing mythology either to a
to a coarse kind of speculation.
I.3. In order to understand what a myth really is, are we compelled
between platitude and sophism? Some claim that human societies mer
1A. M. Hocart, Social Origins (London, 1954), p. 7.
428
where meaning succeeds practically at "taking off" from the linguistic ground on
which it keeps on rolling.
2.6. To sum up the discussion at this point, we have so far made the following
claims: i. If there is a meaning to be found in mythology, this cannot reside in the
isolated elements which enter into the composition of a myth, but only in the way
those elements are combined. 2. Although myth belongs to the same category as
language, being, as a matter of fact, only part of it, language in myth unveils specific
properties. 3. Those properties are only to be found above the ordinary linguistic
level; that is, they exhibit more complex features beside those which are to be found
in any kind of linguistic expression.
3.o. If the above three points are granted, at least as a working hypothesis, two
consequences will follow: i. Myth, like the rest of language, is made up of constitu-
ent units. 2. These constituent units presuppose the constituent units present in lan-
guage when analyzed on other levels, namely, phonemes, morphemes, and seman-
temes, but they, nevertheless, differ from the latter in the same way as they them-
selves differ from morphemes, and these from phonemes; they belong to a higher
order, a more complex one. For this reason, we will call them gross constituent units.
3.1. How shall we proceed in order to identify and isolate these gross constituent
units? We know that they cannot be found among phonemes, morphemes, or seman-
temes, but only on a higher level; otherwise myth would become confused with any
other kind of speech. Therefore, we should look for them on the sentence level. The
only method we can suggest at this stage is to proceed tentatively, by trial and error,
using as a check the principles which serve as a basis for any kind of structural analysis:
economy of explanation; unity of solution; and ability to reconstruct the whole
from a fragment, as well as further stages from previous ones.
3.2. The technique which has been applied so far by this writer consists in analyz-
ing each myth individually, breaking down its story into the shortest possible sen-
tences, and writing each such sentence on an index card bearing a number corre-
sponding to the unfolding of the story.
3.3. Practically each card will thus show that a certain function is, at a given time,
predicated to a given subject. Or, to put it otherwise, each gross constituent unit will
consist in a relation.
3.4. However, the above definition remains highly unsatisfactory for two different
reasons. In the first place, it is well known to structural linguists that constituent
units on all levels are made up of relations and the true difference between our gross
units and the others stays unexplained; moreover, we still find ourselves in the realm
of a non-revertible time since the numbers of the cards correspond to the unfolding
of the informant's speech. Thus, the specific character of mythological time, which
as we have seen is both revertible and non-revertible, synchronic and diachronic,
remains unaccounted for. Therefrom comes a new hypothesis which constitutes the
very core of our argument: the true constituent units of a myth are not the isolated
relations but bundles of such relations and it is only as bundles that these relations
can be put to use and combined so as to produce a meaning. Relations pertaining to
the same bundle may appear diachronically at remote intervals, but when we have
succeeded in grouping them together, we have reorganized our myth according to a
time referent of a new nature corresponding to the prerequisite of the initial hypothe-
4.6. Thus, we find ourselves confronted with four vertical columns each of which
include several relations belonging to the same bundle. Were we to tell the myth,
we would disregard the columns and read the rows from left to right and from top
to bottom. But if we want to understand the myth, then we will have to disregard
one half of the diachronic dimension (top to bottom) and read from left to right,
column after column, each one being considered as a unit.
4.7. All the relations belonging to the same column exhibit one common feature
which it is our task to unravel. For instance, all the events grouped in the first column
on the left have something to do with blood relations which are over-emphasized, i.e.
are subject to a more intimate treatment than they should be. Let us say, then, that the
first column has as its common feature the overrating of blood relations. It is obvious
that the second column expresses the same thing, but inverted: underrating of blood
relations. The third column refers to monsters being slain. As to the fourth, a word
of clarification is needed. The remarkable connotation of the surnames in Oedipus'
myth although they can easily be integrated, the first one as a new case of auto-
destruction (column three) while the second is another case of crippledness (column
four). At the same time there is something significant in these additions since the
shift from foot to head is to be correlated with the shift from: autochthonous origin
negated to: self-destruction.
4.11.2. Thus, our method eliminates a problem which has been so far one of the
main obstacles to the progress of mythological studies, namely, the quest for the true
version, or the earlier one. On the contrary, we define the myth as consisting of all its
versions; to put it otherwise: a myth remains the same as long as it is felt as such. A
striking example is offered by the fact that our interpretation may take into account,
and is certainly applicable to, the Freudian use of the Oedipus myth. Although the
Freudian problem has ceased to be that of autochthony versus bisexual reproduction,
it is still the problem of understanding how one can be born from two: how is it that
we do not have only one procreator, but a mother plus a father? Therefore, not only
Sophocles, but Freud himself, should be included among the recorded versions of the
Oedipus myth on a par with earlier or seemingly more "authentic" versions.
5.0. An important consequence follows. If a myth is made up of all its variants,
structural analysis should take all of them into account. Thus, after analyzing all the
known variants of the Theban version, we should treat the others in the same way:
first, the tales about Labdacos' collateral line including Agave, Pentheus, and Jocasta
herself; the Theban variant about Lycos with Amphion and Zetos as the city founders;
more remote variants concerning Dionysos (Oedipus' matrilateral cousin), and Athe-
nian legends where Cecrops takes the place of Kadmos, etc. For each of them a
similar chart should be drawn, and then compared and reorganized according to the
findings: Cecrops killing the serpent with the parallel episode of Kadmos; abandon-
ment of Dionysos with abandonment of Oedipus; "Swollen Foot" with Dionysos
loxias, i.e. walking obliquely; Europa's quest with Antiope's; the foundation of
Thebes by the Spartoi or by the brothers Amphion and Zetos; Zeus kidnapping
Europa and Antiope and the same with Semele; the Theban Oedipus and the Argian
Perseus, etc. We will then have several two-dimensional charts, each dealing with a
variant, to be organized in a three-dimensional order
Fig. 1.
mechanical gro
of vegetals Beloved Twins sibling incest gods kill children
(used as ladders)
food value of
cultivated plants
sibling adopted
(in exchange for
corn)
periodical
character of
agricultural work
war against
Kyanakwe (garden-
ers versus hunters)
hunting war led by
two war-gods
salvation of the
tribe (center of
warfare the world found)
sibling sacri-
ficed (to avoid
flood)
DEATH PERMANENCY
6.2. As may be se
sists in discoverin
is especially diff
Gods allied, use fiber Kyanakwe alone, use Gods allied, use fiber
strings on their fiber string Men f string
bows (garden-
Kyanakwe ers)
Since fiber strings (vegetal) are always superior to sinew strings (animal) and si
(to a lesser extent) the gods' alliance is preferable to their antagonism, it follows th
in Cushing's version, men begin to be doubly underprivileged (hostile gods, sin
string); in Stevenson, doubly privileged (friendly gods, fiber string); while Pars
version confronts us with an intermediary situation (friendly gods, but sinew strin
since men begin by being hunters). Hence:
CUSHING PARSONS STEVENSON
gods/men - + +
fiber/sinew - - +
life
mechanical growth of
plants
war
death
Fig. 2.
The fact that contradiction appears in the middle of the dialectical process has as its
result the production of a double series of dioscuric pairs the purpose of which is to
operate a mediation between conflicting terms:
Life
Agriculture
Herbivorous animals
Carrion-eating animals
(raven; coyote)
Hunt
Prey animals
War
Death
With the unformulated argument: carrion-eating animals are like prey animals (they
eat animal food), but they are also like food-plant producers (they do not kill what
they eat). Or, to put it otherwise, Pueblo style: ravens are to gardens as prey animals
are to herbivorous ones. But it is also clear that herbivorous animals may be called
first to act as mediators on the assumption that they are like collectors and gatherers
(vegetal-food eaters) while they can be used as animal food though not themselves
hunters. Thus we may have mediators of the first order, of the second order, and so
on, where each term gives birth to the next by a double process of opposition and cor-
relation.
7.I.I. This kind of process can be followed in the mythology of the Plains where
we may order the data according to the sequence:
7.2.0. Thus, the mediating function of the trickster explains that since its position
is halfway between two polar terms he must retain something of that duality, namely
an ambiguous and equivocal character. But the trickster figure is not the only con-
ceivable form of mediation; some myths seem to devote themselves to the task of
messiah> dioscurs> trickster> bisexual> sibling married grandmother- >4 terms> triad
being pair couple grandchild group
In Cushing's version, this dialectic is accompanied by a change from the space dimen-
sion (mediating between sky and earth) to the time dimension (mediating betwe
summer and winter, i.e., between birth and death). But while the shift is being made
from space to time, the final solution (triad) re-introduces space, since a triad consist
in a dioscur pair plus a messiah simultaneously present; and while the point of
departure was ostensibly formulated in terms of a space referent (sky and earth) this
was nevertheless implicitly conceived in terms of a time referent (first the messiah
calls; then the dioscurs descend). Therefore the logic of myth confronts us with
double, reciprocal exchange of functions to which we shall return shortly (7.3.).
7.2.I. Not only can we account for the ambiguous character of the trickster, but w
may also understand another property of mythical figures the world over, namel
that the same god may be endowed with contradictory attributes; for instance, h
may be good and bad at the same time. If we compare the variants of the Hopi myth
of the origin of Shalako, we may order them so that the following structure becomes
apparent:
(Masauwu: x) ' (Muyingwu: Masauwu) - (Shalako: Muyingwu) ' (y: Masauwu)
where x and y represent arbitrary values corresponding to the fact that in the tw
"extreme" variants the god Masauwu, while appearing alone instead of associate
with another god, as in variant two, or being absent, as in three, still retains intrinsi
cally a relative value. In variant one, Masauwu (alone) is depicted as helpful to ma
kind (though not as helpful as he could be), and in version four, harmful to ma
kind (though not as harmful as he could be); whereas in two, Muyingwu is relatively
more helpful than Masauwu, and in three, Shalako more helpful than Muyingwu
We find an identical series when ordering the Keresan variants:
(Poshaiyanki: x) - (Lea: Poshaiyanki) I (Poshaiyanki: Tiamoni) ' (y: Poshaiyanki)
7.2.2. This logical framework is particularly interesting since sociologists ar
already acquainted with it on two other levels: first, with the problem of the pecking
order among hens; and second, it also corresponds to what this writer has calle
general exchange in the field of kinship. By recognizing it also on the level of mythi-
cal thought, we may find ourselves in a better position to appraise its basic impo
tance in sociological studies and to give it a more inclusive theoretical interpretation.
7.3.0. Finally, when we have succeeded in organizing a whole series of variants i
a kind of permutation group, we are in a position to formulate the law of that group
Although it is not possible at the present stage to come closer than an approxima
formulation which will certainly need to be made more accurate in the future, it seems
that every myth (considered as the collection of all its variants) corresponds to
formula of the following type:
fx(a) : fy(b) fx(b) : a- I(y)
where, two terms being given as well as two functions of these terms, it is stated that
a relation of equivalence still exists between two situations when terms and relations
are inverted, under two conditions: i. that one term be replaced by its contrary;
2. that an inversion be made between the function and the term value of two elements.
7.3.1. This formula becomes highly significant when we recall that Freud con-
sidered that two traumas (and not one as it is so commonly said) are necessary in
order to give birth to this individual myth in which a neurosis consists. By trying to
apply the formula to the analysis of those traumatisms (and assuming that they
correspond to conditions i. and 2. respectively) we should not only be able to improve
it, but would find ourselves in the much desired position of developing side by side
the sociological and the psychological aspects of the theory; we may also take it to the
laboratory and subject it to experimental verification.
8.0. At this point it seems unfortunate that, with the limited means at the disposal
of French anthropological research, no further advance can be made. It should be
emphasized that the task of analyzing mythological literature, which is extremely
bulky, and of breaking it down into its constituent units, requires team work and
secretarial help. A variant of average length needs several hundred cards to be
properly analyzed. To discover a suitable pattern of rows and columns for those
cards, special devices are needed, consisting of vertical boards about two meters long
and one and one-half meters high, where cards can be pigeon-holed and moved at will;
in order to build up three-dimensional models enabling one to compare the variants,
several such boards are necessary, and this in turn requires a spacious workshop, a
kind of commodity particularly unavailable in Western Europe nowadays. Further-
more, as soon as the frame of reference becomes multi-dimensional (which occurs at
an early stage, as has been shown in 5.3.) the board-system has to be replaced by
perforated cards which in turn require I.B.M. equipment, etc. Since there is little
hope that such facilities will become available in France in the near future, it is
much desired that some American group, better equipped than we are here in Paris,
will be induced by this paper to start a project of its own in structural mythology.
8.I.o. Three final remarks may serve as conclusion.
8.I.i. First, the question has often been raised why myths, and more generally oral
literature, are so much addicted to duplication, triplication or quadruplication of the
same sequence. If our hypotheses are accepted, the answer is obvious: repetition has
as its function to make the structure of the myth apparent. For we have seen that the
synchro-diachronical structure of the myth permits us to organize it into diachronical
sequences (the rows in our tables) which should be read synchronically (the col-
umns). Thus, a myth exhibits a "slated" structure which seeps to the surface, if one
may say so, through the repetition process.
8.I.2. However, the slates are not absolutely identical to each other. And since the
purpose of myth is to provide a logical model capable of overcoming a contradiction
(an impossible achievement if, as it happens, the contradiction is real), a theoretically
infinite number of slates will be generated, each one slightly different from the others.
Thus, myth grows spiral-wise until the intellectual impulse which has originated it is
exhausted. Its growth is a continuous process whereas its structure remains discon-
tinuous. If this is the case we should consider that it closely corresponds, in the realm
of the spoken word, to the kind of being a crystal is in the realm of physical matter.