From "Water Death" To "Water Death"

Water is the source of life and the foundation of nature.Water-related myths are constantly circulating in the cultural texts of all nationalities in the world.For example4he myth of water creating the world and the myth of human regeneration after floods are both very old myths.In water mythology,the myth of death in water is a very special kind.The article intends to focus on the element of " death in water" and plans to sort out,decoded and reconstructed the myth of death in water.The method we use is prototype theory and interdisciplinary research.From the special point of view of"death",the paper illustrates life,regeneration and renewal symbolized by water in mythology.Firstly,there are myths and rituals in the cultural texts related to the prototype of death in water.The myth of "human regeneration after floods" reflects the reproduction of human beings after floods destroy the world.In the myth of "human regeneration after floods" and in all kinds of water rituals,water symbolizes the cleansing of sins,the salvation of souls and the renewal of life.The myth of "the marriage of the elves in the river" can be divided into the marriage of river gods to girls" and”the killing of sea monsters by heroes".Such myths and rituals to worship river gods embody people’s desire to have good weather and a good harvest of land.In the myth of drowning water,there is the plot of”rebirth after drowning or abandoned infant creat great achievement after growing up ",which originates from the custom of ancient people’s water burial and the realistic situation of accidental drowning in water.The myth expresses the good wishes of the living to the dead.Secondly,the myths and rituals of death in water contain the mythological motif of"resurrection after death".The "resurrection after death" in these rituals and myths is mainly manifested in the renewal of the body,the transformation of the soul and the change of the seasons.Many mythological rituals symbolizing the "resurrection after death" of plant gods originate from people’s worship of water fertility.Usually these rituals not only call for the reproduction of natural gods,but also contain the desire to enhance human fertility.This simple desire for reproduction evolved into longevity in the baptism and rituals of later generations."Death" is brought about by human sin.In order to dispel death,the first thing to do is to dispel sin.Therefore,in these ceremonies,water has the function of cleaning up sin and dispelling evil spirits.The reproductive worship of water is embodied in the myth of water creating the world and the myth of water creating man.The world and the gods were born in chaos.The death of the body is returned to water.After death,the water in the body breaks down and seeps into the earth.People imagine the underworld situated in a water area with rivers interlacing.Just as the sun rises and sets,the journey of the soul in the underworld is only short,and they will return to the sun again.In order to avoid the soul being lost in the earth,it must cross the Styx River by boat.Lastly,Kenzaburo Oe’s novel The Water Death embodies the reconstruction of death in water prototype in modern fiction.He imitates the section "Death in Water" in The Waste Land and takes "Water Death Novel" as the first part of The Water Death."Death in Water" originated from the primitive ceremony of summoning Spring in The Golden Bough.People throw the corpses of plant gods and spring gods into the water to simulate the resurrection of natural seasons.In the novel The Water Death,the father drowned like an idol thrown into the water in a ceremony.Father’s death gave birth to my "new life".Although Kenzaburo Oe endowed the symbolic identity of "I" and father,the "king of culture" of Japan,the motive force of cultural revival is still "water".This is a legacy of the priestly ritual concept of the ancient plant god.Ultimately,it is still the prehistoric worship of the reproductive power of water.Nowadays,in the writers’writings,water not only breeds life,but also becomes the source of cultural vitality.