Story

Author's Note: Unfortunately, my scanner isn't working, but below is my story from the mid-term.

It wasn’t unusual to see these types lurking around at night – especially in bars at odd hours of the night. Unfortunately for me, the only open seat was the one next to him. Not that this was especially surprising.

I generally kept my distance from strangers, but I was cold and wet from braving the elements and if ever I needed a drink, it was now. I wasn’t afraid of his leathery green skin or his beat red eyes. I could handle myself in a sticky situation. I had proven it before and I’m sure I wouldn’t have had too much trouble proving myself again, if need be. Besides, despite all appearances, I never went anywhere unarmed.

Taking the empty seat next to him, I offered a slight smile and brief nod of acknowledgement before ordering a drink for myself. He seemed to take this as an invitation to start talking and staring down into his glass, he lamented. “Not sure there’s much worth livin’ for anymore.”

It seemed he expected me to listen. I sighed, raising my eyebrows, indicating that I was listening, despite myself.

“Made a huge mistake, I did. Killed me own wife and me own daughters – all because I was trying to make a quick bite to eat out of a foolish girl and her two sisters who decided to take refuge in my castle. Would’ve served her right, it would’ve. ‘Stead, she made a fool out of me. Took me for all I was worth. Left me with nothin’. Curse thee, Molly Whuppie!” He shouted to the air.

He downed the amber liquid in one, long swig before exhaling. “Never trust little girls.” He advised. He must have been drunk, as it seemed he hadn’t noticed that I was, in fact, a young girl myself. I drew my red cloak closer to me in hopes that it would continue to help shade my features from him. I wasn’t afraid of being able to defend myself, if need be, but preferring not to cause a scene.

“They might be tasty,” He continued, “ … but they ain’t worth it.”

I was, at this point, more or less certain he was off the stuff for good and relaxed a little. “So little girls have officially been taken off your diet, I’m assuming?” I asked after thanking the bartender for brining me the drink I had ordered upon sitting down.

“Yessireee,” He replied, his words slurred. “Certainly, learned my lesson.” He added with a chuckle. I was satisfied, for the moment, and went back to my drink.

They are, however,” He added, turning to look at me more closely, “my weakness.”

If I had learned anything, it had certainly been not to trust a man, beastly or otherwise, especially when he leered at you suggestively. Convinced he was lying and ready to pounce, I pulled out my trusty automatic and shot him right there and then.

Final Entry

Reviewing my blog and class notes, has shed light on just how much I have learned this semester.

Fairy tales were a staple in my childhood and when I was read to, I was more than willing to be swept up into the magical realms and distant lands. I always believed that there was a sort of enchantment behind them, but I never knew until this class why that was.

Fairy tales, despite being often very predictable and 1-dimensional, they still have the ability to not only captivate, but inspire hope. Children who grow up with these stories hope and believe in a bright future, even if the present is bleak.

They have the power to aid in analyzations of someone who has had a troubled past. Often, they are used in therapy to discover something about the person in question that may be helpful in their treatment. There have been cases when using fairy tales in therapy have been the key to the cure.

I learned a lot from this class. The Grimm Brother's stories aside, most of the fairy tales we read and analyzed this semester were completely new to me. I suppose I most enjoyed reading popular tales from different cultures and countries and catching not only the differences, but also the similarities.

I loved the readings and always kept up with them. I've also enjoyed keeping this blog and looked forward to curling up with a cup of hot tea as I thought over the assigned topic. Unfortunately, after we took a week off, I got out of the habit.

I would certainly suggest this class to other students who are considering taking it. It really is a great class where you are encouraged to use your talents in order to explore and master the material.

Blog Entry#11

Hans Christian Anderson and Oscar Wilde fairy tales, are presented as fairy tales that are not for children. They are dark stories which do not end with Happily Ever After -- in fact the hero or heroine often dies at the end and although there is sometimes a ray of hope as the author shares how the deceased is now within reach of heaven or has been reunited with loved ones, they never end the way that fairy tales are known to.

While I enjoyed the stories by Anderson, I have to say that I preferred reading Oscar Wilde. He is, and remains, a satirist, even when composing fairy tales. One of my favorite experts was from "The Happy Prince" when he talked about the sparrow and the wind.

" His friends had gone away to Egypt six weeks before, but he had stayed behind, for he was in love with the most beautiful Reed. He had met her early in the spring as he was flying down the river after a big yellow moth, and had been so attracted by her slender waist that he had stopped to talk to her.

"Shall I love you?" said the Swallow, who liked to come to the point at once, and the Reed made him a low bow. So he flew round and round her, touching the water with his wings, and making silver ripples. This was his courtship, and it lasted all through the summer.

"It is a ridiculous attachment," twittered the other Swallows; "she has no money, and far too many relations"; and indeed the river was quite full of Reeds. Then, when the autumn came they all flew away.

After they had gone he felt lonely, and began to tire of his lady- love. "She has no conversation," he said, "and I am afraid that she is a coquette, for she is always flirting with the wind." And certainly, whenever the wind blew, the Reed made the most graceful curtseys. "I admit that she is domestic," he continued, "but I love travelling, and my wife, consequently, should love travelling also."

"Will you come away with me?" he said finally to her; but the Reed shook her head, she was so attached to her home.

"You have been trifling with me," he cried. "I am off to the Pyramids. Good-bye!" "

I thought it was terribly witty, this comparison between young women and the reeds and the swallow with young men. The way the beautiful Reed bends and sways, flirting with the wind and the swallow both, instantly painted for me a gorgeous, but flighty, young early 20th century women, who, although proclaimed to love one man, couldn't help but make advances elsewhere when someone should give her any speck of attention.

*Edit: I realize that this post is a week late and probably won't be credited. I just realized that I never actually wrote it, but thought I would anyway, regardless, because I truly loved this week's reading.

Blog Entry#10

Although many other fairy tales which we have read possessed religious undertones, none so much as the Jewish ones. Obviously, being a religion as well as a culture this is not surprisingly. Where European fairy tales focus on human protagonists, African on animals, the Jewish fairy tales focus on the Rabbi.

The tales present a moral to be learned -- as most fairy tales do. They underline the Jewish wit and intelligence. Most minorities, in their folk and fairy tales, tend to poke fun at the majorities such as in some of the stories where the priests are outwitted by the Jewish Rabbi. Or like in the story where the young man has to speak in sign language to the priest and although it is misinterpretation on both sides, it is the bravery and sense (the idea that if they do not at least try, they still will all die), that saves them all.

They also, as religious tales, incorporate motifs of faith and God, and draw on the divine power, as in the story as the Rabbi Adam who defeats the sorcerer with not only his intelligence, but also his own power which has been given to him from God and his trust that he will be able to overcome this evil with His help.

Blog Entry#9

Bluebeard is a much darker villain than we've seen in other stories. While there have certainly been other sinister antagonists, Bluebeard's cruelty runs much deeper. As a man who desires to marry young women whom he then sets up for failure. Bestowing upon them a test of their obedience which their curiosity is sure to win, he now feels he has a troublesome wife whose punishment can only be death and thus begins the vicious cycle as he looks for his next victim.

It is a twisted person, indeed, who keeps memorabilia of his bloodied victims in a locked room for his new wife to stumble over.

My favorite version of Bluebeard was certainly the Fitcher's Bird by The Brother's Grimm. Although her older sister's fell into the same trap as the young bride in Bluebeard by Charles Perrault, the youngest sister, who is "clever and cunning", is able to outwit her husband and save not only herself, but her dead sisters and any other young women who would have otherwise fallen victim to the sorcerer's cruelty.

It is still a brutal story, regardless of the cleverness of the heroine who does not rely so desperately on her siblings aid to free herself. The descriptions of the hacked up bodies as well as the dismembered remains of her sisters which were "chopped to pieces", leaves the reader with a truly chilling effect.

Still this version does, unlike Perrault's Bluebeard, was not as suspenseful. To have the sorcerer go through the first two sisters in a similar fashion, but then the third -- and youngest -- to prove to be the bright young heroine is typical in fairystories. However, to only have one young women and that desperate moment when she is living her last moments and waiting for the arrival of her brothers, the reader -- after witnessing how dark the story has been thus far -- does begin to fear for the life of the young bride.

Blog Entry #8

Cinderella is one of the so called “rise tales”, which features a narrative arc of “rags to riches through magic and marriage” (Ruth Bottigheimer). Write a reflection on this motif.

"Rags to Riches" is a story motif that has come to be known as giving a story that "Cinderellaistic" feel. The protagonist's life (although it doesn't always have to have been this way) is a hard one and at the end, they ascend into a place of comfort and wealth.

This is a very popular motif which finds itself in not only the tales about the poor girl (or boy) who is tormented by his step-mother, but also in many other fairy tales. If the hero or heroine is not already of noble blood, it is rare that they do not achieve a higher rank or a world of greater comforts than when they began.

It is, I feel, the author's sense of justice. The characters have gone through an especially displeasing circumstance and yet they remain humble and exemplary, even though their lives are the furthest thing from enviable. It seems only right that they should have a better life ahead of them. Stories like these give their viewers hope and anyone who is going through a particularly hard time, may just be able to hold on in hopes of those better times that must be ahead.

The rags to riches motif is used in many films and books that are not categorized as "fairy tales", stories such as Sense & Sensibility, Annie, and My Fair Lady.

Blog Entry #7

As I was listening to the presentation given by Dr. Rust and Dr. Rose, I thought about how much ASL storytelling is like folk tales that have been passed down orally. In our modern traditions, as a speaking community, we don't tell stories like we used to. We read books aloud to our children or retell them, but there isn't the creativity that used to be there. Stories are not taken and made our own. In fact, when we try to do that, we will receive odd looks and the "that's not the way it goes" response.

ASL story telling, as a hearing viewing, is more like a performance because it is so visual. ASL is really a wonderful language -- because it is dependent upon pure visuals, it can communicate so much in an instant. I feel that ASL forces you, too, to get more involved in the story you are telling. The grammar is in the facial expressions and because you can't change the "tone" of your voice, you use expressions of the character -- or "voice" -- you are trying to convey.

I feel that, more than any other foreign language, sign language will be able to draw you in -- especially when stories are being told in it. It's always fascinating to watch and, even if you don't know the language, you can understand much, much more than if you are simply listening into another spoken language with which you are unfamiliar.

Blog Entry #6

The German rock band, Rammstein's music video for their song "Sonne" is a retelling of the story of Snow White. The villain in this version, however, is not the Wicked Stepmother, but rather Snow White herself, which I found very interesting, especially considering the theories we've talked about that suggest that Snow White is the wicked stepmother or, at the least, will become her.

The band members "or the dwarves" are working in the gold mines for Snow White, who is addicted to riches they unearth. They, in turn, are sexually attracted to her and consequently let her continue her hold over them.

G o l d: Gold is a motif common in fairy tales, but it tends not to play such a large role in Snow White as it does in other stories. The dwarves are miners, but I'm not sure that they ever specify as to what it is they are miming for. Most consider it to be jewels based on purely the Disney film. In the music video, Snow White snuffs the gold like it is cocaine and appears to die of an overdoes. This seems to suggest an extreme obsession -- to the point of death.

A p p l e: The apple that plays a so crucial part in the story as the object that finally killed Snow White, is what brings Snow White back to life in the music video.

I enjoyed the music video by Rammstein -- or at least I did the second time I viewed it. At first, I wasn't entirely sure what to make of it, but upon further reflection, it seems to tell the story of abusing the power one holds over another person and the inescapable position their victims are in, even if they want to be free. In a way, it is not unlike the struggle that Snow White has within herself, if the unending cycle of her becoming her stepmother is, in fact, true.

Blog Entry #5

Beauty and the Beast and Cupid and Psyche have a very similar plot outline: the youngest of three sisters goes to marry/live with a man who is said to be anything but human in punishment for a crime that was committed that, although out of her control, she has been selected to pay for it (whether it be that she is too beautiful or that her father has stolen a rose in her name). The heroine is treated kindly, but soon becomes homesick. She returns home only to be tempted by her sisters into breaking a promise she made to her husband/master. Because of her sisters' influence, she soon seems as though she is in risk of loosing her beloved forever, but in the end, they live happily ever after.

While there are several similarities and difference between the two versions, there are two which strike me as particularly interesting. In C&P, Cupid is the farthest thing from a beast. He hides himself from his wife not because he is afraid that she will be afraid, but rather that she will not look upon him in wonder and awe. He wanted them to be equals.

Both tales present heroines who appear to be the image of perfection next to the hidden image of their opposites, but both are quite far from it.

In B&B, Beauty returns home to her sisters and is detained longer than a week due to the attention and love her sisters have finally shown her. It is, perhaps, understandable that she should neglect her Beast due to the mended relationships she believes she has finally formed with her sisters. For as intelligent as Beauty seems to otherwise be, it is strange that she would not see through her sisters' charades, regardless of the fact that she should so desperately want to.

Beauty also continuous denies the Beast's requests to marry him and on the grounds that are solely, as far as we can tell, based on his looks.

Psyche's curiosity continues to get the better of her. She gives in when she can no longer bare not to look upon the face of her husband and then again when she looks into the box which Venus has told her not to open. Psyche seems also unmotivated to even attempt the seemingly impossible tasks which Venus has given her and only returns back to her husband because others have aided her and persuaded her not to give up so easily.

In the end, she is returned to her husband because of what he does and not her own actions. Quite the contrary, her actions would have led herself to her doom, had he not interfered.

Both stories highlight that the Beauty needs the Beast and not the other way around.

Blog Entry #4

Little Red Riding Hood Cartoon: Click

This particular Little Red Riding Hood Cartoon appeared on the show "Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends" on their segment called "Fractured Fairy Tales." I'm not sure exactly when this episode aired, but the show ran from 1959 to 1964.

In this version Red is a grown women (as opposed to a little girl) who sells riding hoods in Hollywood, CA. She receives a request from a wealthy women for a riding hood made of wolf skin. The problem? Red does not have any to sell her and if she wants to complete the sale, she must obtain one by three o'clock the next day. Meanwhile, there is a young wolf named Walter who is being sent to his grandmother's house on a errand by his mother. To get to his grandmother's house, he must go through "The Holly Woods" (or Hollywood), where he is intercepted by Red who tries to get him to sell her his skin. Of course, Walter is completely opposed to the idea and is evades all of her attempts to trick him into it and makes his way safely to grandmother's house. Red, however, has gone on to his grandmother's house where she dresses herself in a bear skin rug she finds on the floor. On the way to his grandmother's, Walter has been considering just how much he could make by selling a wolf skin to the wealthy women. He's not inclined to sell his own fur, but someone else's? He suddenly considers the fact of selling his grandmother's fur. There is a brief scene between the wolf and Red (with the roles reversed) with the classic, "Oh grandmother! What big ... you have!" But it's quickly cut off when Walter scoops up "grandmother" and carries her off. In the end, Walter sells the bear skin (with Red inside) and passes it off as a wolf's skin, selling it to the women. He takes over Red's shop and sets up a shop for himself, making plans at the very end to obtain a few more valuable wolves' skins.

I enjoyed this rendition because it was first, a relatively modern retelling and with the roles reversed (Red as the "hunter" and the wolf as the "hunted), it's sure to stand out in my mind. This aired in our country fifteen to twenty (depending) years after the WWII had ended and women were, relatively speaking, new fixtures to the work place. It portrays Red as a well to do business owner who is willing to do anything in the name of her sale -- including hunting down and skinning a wolf (even going so far as to impersonate his grandmother in order to achieve her ends).

Although Red is the antagonist of the story, Walter the wolf is hardly a clear cut hero as we often see in fairy tales. Driven by the same motives as Red was (money), he was willing to sell out his own grandmother, which just may be even worse than Red's plot to kill him, and the end of the story shows him eager to continue this trend and trick what is suggested to be more friends and family so he can further his own business.

Blog Entry #3

What is the relationship between fairy tales and psychology? What psychological theories have been used to better understand fairy tales? How did psychologists use fairy tales in psychotherapy?

Psychologists have been interested in discovering the reasons behind the power and significance of fairy tales. Although they may have been disregarded as some as mere children’s tales, psychologists realize that there is more to them than might otherwise reach the untrained eye.

According to Freud, fairy tales give us access to the unconscious desires and inner struggles. Certain elements can be translated to have a deeper meaning. In Freud’s case they tend to have sexual undertones and double entendres. Freud believes that, like dreams, fairy tales can give glimpses into to unconscious.

Carl Jung, on the other hand, found and analyzed the different archetypes in fairy tales. There are reoccurring roles that are filled and preformed in fairy stories. Some of the many he pointed out were: the Mother Role, the Wise Old Man, the Trickster, the Maiden, the Anima and the Animas, and the Shadow. He also employs the theory of the collective unconscious as to why so many fairytales are almost identical. We all undergo similar experiences as humans, and it is not coincidence but rather our collective unconscious that allows for this.

Psychologists use fairy tales in their therapy because almost everyone has a fairy tale with which they identify – even if they don’t know as to why. When asking their patients which ones they like now or as a child, it very often helps them get to the root of the problem, by finding out why the child (or adult) was/is drawn to that story.

Blog Entry #2

What is a fairy tale?

It is a question that many people may have to stop to ponder before answering, especially if you are fishing for a precise response. It is a rare child, indeed, who did not grow up listening to these stories over and over again. Although they may be, at times, considered simple "children's stories", they must be more than "nursery tales" if the accounts are so captivating as to stay with us our entire lives.

So what then, have analysts found about fairy tales? What makes a story a fairy tale? What have they found is true all of fairy stories?

Fairy tales are stories without authors. They are passed down by word of mouth and, as such, allowed alteration by the listener who goes on to tell the tales themselves to others. Someone who had been told a folk tale may tweak certain details that they may not like or cannot make sense of. Cultural differences and translation errors also made for various countries to have their own rendition of a popular story.

They are simple tales. They are often repetitive and predictable. The hero or heroine will complete a task "just in time". Good triumphs over evil, and the day is saved. The characters are one-dimensional. The plot drives the story forward, rather than the characters that are, in turn, never complex. They fall completely into their stereotypes. There are the bad and the good. There are never characters that could fall in both categories. Characters are in the plot for the functions they perform and nothing about them is known unless it is absolutely essential to the story.

For the sake of the plot, characters will also do things that do not make sense. In Sleeping Beauty for instance, why would a father who loves his daughter not tell her about her enchantment, but rather, in the name of protecting her, destroys all of the objects in the kingdom that may present her harm, so that she grows up without knowing what a spindle is?

With such elements, how is it that they are stories that seem to affect nearly everyone who hears them? Why are they told and retold throughout the generations? Why do we love them so much, if they are tales that seem void of substance?

For as simplistic as they are, they are not without their charms. They don't always make perfect sense, but they are created in another world. It is relatable, but certainly not the same place where we are living. Fantastical things happen that have the power to intrigue and captivate us as we become entranced in the wonderful world that is so very different from our own where anything seems to be possible. They may be stories in there rawest forms, but they are very believable to children, who can often find at least one story to which they relate. They are powerful works, having been used by psychologists to help heal their patients and help them move on or deal with a situation.

Fairy tales, although extremely uncomplicated and straight forward works should not be taken at face value. For all of their far from elaborate structures, they make up for it. They may not be descriptive or graphically depicted, but it allows for the listener to create the world with their imagination. A fairy tale is a story that is as much yours as it is anyone else's and you have the power to make it so.

Blog Entry #1

Why did you choose this class? What are you hoping to accomplish in the seminar? What is your favorite folktale or fairy tale of all time and why?

Despite the many different classes to choose from to fulfill my SIS requirement, this class immediately caught my attention. As a child, I spent more time reading and being read to than anything else. My grandmother and mother would bring out the old books of fairytales and I could listen to them for hours. They were for me, as with many children, a substantial part of my childhood and, like most, I always took them at face value. They were what they were and, quite simply, nothing more.

I have never broken down and analyzed fairytales before. The task seemed to promise that it would leave me with a new perspective that not only changed the way I view them, but have the potential to leave me viewing them in a negative light. However, I felt the same way about venturing to take any literature class and have since found that it is not as bad as all that. In fact, the literature courses I've taken, tend to be my favorite outside of those in my major. I’m hoping to get the chance to think about what I’m reading when I go through these stories again and see what I otherwise never would. The undertaking of reading several different variations from various cultures is sounds intriguing and I would love to see where certain renditions have come from and perhaps why certain elements were changed, added, or removed based on the societies that adapted them.

As per my favorite fairy or folk tale of all time, that may be a harder question to answer. I generally went through phases as to which story I liked the most. I tended to obsess over one and then move on from it. I suppose the most consistent tended to be King Arthur and Robin Hood, which, depending on what version you read, could be classified as folk tales, though are generally seen to be legends due to the prospect that either could have been based in reality. Growing up surrounded by my cousins who were mostly boys, we tended to play whatever was they wanted. When we weren't caught up in a game of Star Wars or power rangers, we were climbing in the trees as members of Robin Hood's gang or sitting around in a circle by the stone wall at our grandmother's house, which curved inwards, making it seem to us to be the perfect place for King Arthur to hold his council. No matter what was going on with our families, school, etc. we found that throwing ourselves into the wonderful worlds of the heroic and adventurous Robin Hood and King Arthur (either by reading or playing), allowed for us to escape, if only briefly, into another world.

I also loved Peter Pan. My fascination with the story developed when I was eleven or so, and was determined that I was quite old enough and had little intention of getting any older.

Hello! Working on setting this up, learning the ins and outs of blogger.com, etc. Should (hopefully) be finished by this evening and shall have the first post written. In the meantime, enjoy the music???

As far as a brief introduction about myself goes: my name is Caroline. I'm nineteen and a junior here at McDaniel. This blog shall be used to post responses to the weekly questions I received from my Folk/Fairy Tale course.