Arachne, Five Different Ways
The myth of Arachne has been told and retold for ages, but what if the spider girl was in university? What kind of monster would she become?
BY: TANYA NG CHEONG
Photo by Jenine Shereo via Pinterest
Stage One: The Girl
I came from nothing, but here, I will be the Scholarship Girl. There will be no pushing me in the corner. No more shooing me away. No more gathering dust. Academia is a craft, and like any respectable craftsman, I have polished my skills for years. The time for payoff is now. Everyone will see. Thread by thread, I will weave my future, and it will be splendid.
Stage Two: Her Classmates
There is something about her. We can tell from the moment she walks in, head held high, refusing us eye contact. She is all silky hair and all-seeing eyes. Now she has a deadline, back bent over her laptop like it’s a loom. Tapping away at the keys with a factory worker cadence. She makes a name for herself through the term, fighting every superior head on. Always arguing. Hoisting up her own pedestal, pulling admiration out of us. Always winning? Almost.
Stage Three: Athena
The first time she challenged me, I could tell immediately. That girl was just another gifted kid, convinced she was exceptional. Questioning my authority. The line between confidence and overconfidence is thin as a thread, after all. She has to know her place. So I will show her now. Can you blame me? She will call me cruel. They will deem me too harsh, unfair. But this is the real world. This place is meant to change her. She will have to embrace it, like a tapestry unraveling. It might take some time, but I will rip those seams, one by one. She will understand how this place sucks the soul out of you, and she will crawl, whether she wants to or not.
Stage Four: Her Friends
Transformation, that’s the word for it. The nimble little girl is gone. Our talented little Arachne, toiling away endlessly, but her work has now lost its soul. It is made to gather dust. They have worn her down. She walks right into their web, gets wrapped up in the predator’s opaque silk. They prepare to feast.
Stage Five: The Spider
I came from nothing. I am nothing. This web, did I spin it myself? The more I do, the more tangled up I become. I don’t remember; what sort of creature am I? The story repeats itself, and yet, it always goes this way. Arachne weaves, but Athena wins. The goddess condemns the creature to a life in the corner. Here’s the catch: as she forgets about the creature, it grows. Just you wait. One day, when I remember myself, I will bite.
