But how does it relate to ANE traditions? That’s not what happened to Utnapishtim, and it isn’t how Gilgamesh would have done it had he succeeded.
You are right. The stories of Utnapishtim and Gilgamesh differ in some of the specifics compared to the stories of Adam and Eve, to the point where they are using some similar elements but teaching different truths. In Walton’s Proposition 12, p. 111, he compares the Gilgamesh Epic to Genesis 2 & 3. As just one example, Walton argues that Genesis presents Woman (Eve) as the ontological match for Man (Adam), whereas in the Gilgamesh Epic, Woman provides sexual experience to civilize Man (Enkidu). Obviously these are two distinct concepts and one could run off in two different directions from these.
Walton’s book explores the Utnapishtim and Gilgamesh characters and stories in some depth and compares and contrasts them to Genesis 2 & 3.
The extensive amount of effort put into arguing for a literal or allegorical Adam and Eve led me to give up the narrative entirely. Nowadays, when I read Genesis 1 & 2, I see no essential difference between them and other creation myths. I have conserved a lot of brain power from doing just that.
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