Esch and Medea Response

"When Jason betrayed Medea to exile so he could marry another woman, she killed his bride, the bride's father, and last her own children, and then flew away into the wind on dragons. She shrieked; Jason heard." (pg. 205)

     This mythological allusion appears right after Esch has her fight with Manny, where she realizes that there's no sense in waiting for him to fall for her and cuts off their relationship. It's comparing Jason to Manny and Esch to Medea because in Esch's mind Manny has betrayed her for Shaliyah. The fact that she makes this comparison tells us a lot about Esch and how she is progressing through the book. She looks up to strong women, especially Medea, and by the end of the book she's moved on from being a quiet younger sister to a more independent person overall. When Medea shrieks it is the same as Esch yelling at Manny, and when Medea flies away on dragons it is the same as Esch moving on from her almost abusive situation with Manny. This also plays into the theme of independent women throughout the book and Esch growing up. It is important to the text because it shows how Esch is growing as a character and becoming the person she admires and strives to be throughout the story.

     This oil painting was created by John William Waterhouse in 1907. It shows Medea, controlled by her "love" for Jason, making a potion for him so that he can complete Aeëtes's tasks and by doing so win the Golden Fleece. The potion would make him invincible, allowing him to yoke the two bronze bulls, sow dragon teeth into a field, a fight the army of soldiers that would come from the seeds. This way he could come out of the tasks victorious and alive.

     I think this image of a pitbull swimming symbolizes Esch at the end of the book because by the end of the book she had grown as a person and was significantly stronger and more independent than she was in the beginning. I liked the white pitbull because throughout the book Esch aspires to be like the strong female figures in both her summer reading and in her life. One of these "women" in China, who Esch compares herself to a lot in the book. Esch also uses a lot of swimming metaphors, and when she cut off the unhealthy relationship with Manny she had her head above the water again instead of drowning in all the emotions that came with loving him. The water is also symbolic of the flooding she just escaped from Hurrican Katrina.