Myth vs reality

The “Poem of a Righteous Sufferer” is the first work that we have read from the perspective of a human rather than that of the gods or some third party narrator. In fact, the gods never actually speak and are never actually seen in action; this means that this story is the first that steps slightly more towards what we know as reality rather than myth.

It seems to me that the “sufferer” simply gets stricken with some sort of sickness which causes him to be socially outcast due to his now changed appearance that he blames on Marduk. Because the protagonist “so grand, became servile” (302), he is now looked down upon since he does not longer fits in. Now, also, we see visions in the sufferer’s dreams that claim to be sent from the gods. Notice however, that the gods are never actually seen. This type of vision can relate all the way to present day when people claim to see things such as “the light at the end of the tunnel,” etc. Therefore, this piece is much more relatable to real life as we know it today rather than the previous stories about the battles between different tiers of gods, etc.