Blog Entry 13

Final Blog Post

            Throughout the spring semester in Folk and Fairy Tale class I have written 12 blogs, this being my 13^th and final blog post. Looking back through the blogs, really reminded me how much material was covered this semester and how much I learned. Coming into this class I really knew nothing regarding folks and fairy tales. I was familiar with most Disney films, but had no idea where these stories originated, the different variations, and the cultural affects.

            Each week we focused on a different story, or culture. We listened to many talented guest speakers, had many group discussions, worked through group activities, completed a term paper, and compiled a blog; with a new post every week.

            My favorite blog posts that I completed were blog post 5, and blog post 6. Blog post 5 was called, “Sonne music clip reflection.” I really enjoyed being able to analyze this music video, from my own viewpoint. I thought it was very interesting and fun to try and make sense of the mysterious symbols, and details. At first, I found this music video to be creepy, and odd; but the more I watched and found details that related to my interpretation I realized how genius it truly was.

            I also really loved my blog post 6. Blog post 6 was called, “Rags to Riches.” This blog discussed the similarities and differences between Disney’s, “Cinderella,” and the iconic film, “Pretty Women.” This blog was so fun to me because it reminded me of my mom. My mom and I used to watch “Pretty Women” together all the time; it is her favorite movie. Again, I really enjoy analyzing films, and looking for symbols and unique variations between these two Cinderella stories.

            Overall, I have learned so much throughout this semester. It was challenging at times, I had to reread stories often to truly comprehend what was being said, and sometimes struggled to follow all class discussions. It was also very time consuming material. Reading takes me a while, and being assigned many readings was challenging for me to finish in time. I tried my best to read all material, and fully comprehend it before class, but sometimes the connection was not made.

            I really enjoyed learning about folks and fairy tales, and respect these stories so much more now. I now know how important it is to read to children, and let their imaginations understand stories in their own way. I hope to continue learning about folk and fairy tales, and use the knowledge I have learned in everyday life.

Photo Source: Google Images

Blog Entry 12

Arabic Folk and Fairy Tales

            Professor Zaru spoke to my class and me about Arabic culture, traditions, and the connection to folk and fairy tales. It was a captivating presentation, and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to her speak. She spoke about the connection to the language, early ancient folk tales, characteristics of Arabic folk tales, and some specific stories.

            Arabic is an ancient language that is still alive, and vibrant. It begin as an oral language, and started in the Arabian Peninsula. Storytelling emerged to the illiterate masses by oral language. The stories soon added music, dance, and people eventually even got paid to tell stories to the people. Storytellers were mostly men, due to the conservative culture. Also due to this type of culture, the stories had no sexual meaning at all.

            There are many characteristics to Arabic folk and fairy tales. Some of these characteristics are similar to the fairy tales that we have studied this semester, but some are unique to the Arabic culture. These characteristics include, entertainment, frame story, typically starting with “Kan ya ma,” which is like “Once upon a time.” Also stories include, longer introductions called “farsheh,” stories may have a moral (not always), varies in style, characters range from ghouls, princes, princesses, animals that speak, etc., and may include tribal/national heroes. Lastly, many stories have the reoccurring theme of the struggle of the underdog.

            Professor Zaru spoke about multiple different stories. These stories included, “Kalila wa Dimma.” This story is an animal fable with two jackals who offer advice. This is a very beautiful and respected story. This story has been passed on, and changed a bit by adding new details, or taking different parts away. The next story Professor Zaru talked about was, “Joha.” “Joha” is a made up character in the Arab world, and beyond. This story has also been translated for different cultures, but varies in exact details. These stories are usually short, humorous, and are considered jokes. He was known as a peasant orphan child. Professor Zaru told the class one example of “Joha” dealing with his donkey.

            Professor Zaru continued to discuss multiple stories including, “Sirat,” “Ben Hilal,” and of course, “Arabian Nights.” All of these stories beautifully contributed to the Arabian culture, traditions, and way of life. Professor Zaru was eager, and excited to share information regarding these stories, and her culture. She was very insightful, and helped me understand Arabic Folk and Fairy Tales very much.

Photo source: Google Images

Blog Entry 11

Oscar Wilde Fairy Tales

          

  Oscar Wilde wrote three fairy tales that we read, and discussed in class. These fairy tales include, “The Selfish Giant,” “The Happy Prince,” and lastly, “The Nightingale and the Rose.” Each of these fairy tales are intended for people aged 18-80. They are unique because they are not truly meant for children, and reflect his Irish and religious background. Majority of Irish people indulge with the Roman Catholic Religion, and each of his fairy tales involve symbols that relate to this religion. Also all of these fairy tales result in death at the end, but in a positive light because the death leads to a deeper meaning. 

           

“The Selfish Giant” is a story about an emotional giant who lives in a beautiful garden. The children always want to play in his garden, but he scares them away. The garden freezes over, with snow and coldness due to no children playing there. One little boy appeared in the garden trying to climb a tree, but he was too short. The giant helped the young boy, into the tree and realized he felt love for the children. After this, the giant allowed all the children in his garden, and the garden prospered. The only missing was the little boy who the giant helped. Time went on, and the giant waited for the little boy to return. One day, the giant saw the little boy. He had marks on his hands and feet with nails. This is an allusion to Jesus Christ. Since the Giant was saved, and learned his lesson to be kind and welcoming to everyone (love thy neighbor) he died, and was welcomed into Paradise.

            “The Happy Prince” is an allegorical story, representing the social class system. The wealth of the upper classes people versus the poor and struggling. In “The Happy Prince,” the statue of the prince has jewels from the poor; the prince can now see the people in poverty instead of being hidden from the reality. Soon, the statue loses all its wealth, but he is richer on the inside for helping the needy. The townspeople remove the prince’s statue, and discuss the next statue that will replace him, because material wealth is more important to them than helping others, or being a good person on the inside.

           

Lastly, “The Nightingale and the Rose,” tells the story of a young man who has fallen in love with a girl who promises to dance with him at a ball, if he brings her a red rose. The boy soon becomes upset because he does not have a red rose. A nightingale overhears the boy, and decides to help. The nightingale desperately searches for a red rose, but she is unsuccessful. Eventually, she sacrifices her life, using her blood to stain a white rose red. The girl who the boy loves changes her mind despite her promise, and goes to another suitor. The boy leaves the ball, and goes home. The story ends with him indulging in a book.

           

All of Oscar Wilde’s fairy tales are different from the typical fairy tale story. These are not children stories, they include religious symbolism, obtain symbols dealing with his culture, and include deep morals for a reader to have to analyze and interpret. They all include a sad death, and often a confusing ending, which must be interpreted to understand the meaning Oscar Wilde is trying to say.
           
Photo Source: Google Images 

Blog Entry 10

Traditional Jewish Folktales            

            Jewish folktale tradition stories differ from those of European origin in many ways. They are unique. Almost all the Jewish folktales that we read and analyzed in class include religious believes, and majority used a rabbi as the heroic symbol. Many also discussed tension between religion, used an abundance of the number three, and contained lessons, jokes, or tricks.

            The short stories that we read used rabbis as the hero over and over again. In stories like, “The Rabbi and the Inquisitor” the rabbi was falsely accused of murdering a Christian boy. This speaks on the tension between the Jewish people and the Christian people. In the end, the rabbi emerged the hero, and used his wits to outsmart his enemies. Also in the story, “The Rabbi Who Was Turned into a Werewolf,” the rabbi underwent hardships against his wife, and at the end of the story was turned back into himself, and his wife (enemy) was turned into a donkey.

            I noticed throughout reading these stories the number three was used, and repeated a lot. Tasks were completed in sets of three in some stories as well. This reminded me of some European stories. For example, “The Three Blind Mice,” “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” and “The Three Billy Goats Gruff.” These all include the number three as an important numeric symbol. In “The Rabbi Who Was Turned into a Werewolf,” the “advisor tried to attack the wolf a third time.” Also, in “The Magic Mirror of Rabbi Adam,” there were three different tests of magical power.

            Lastly, something that I find very unique about these Jewish folktales is the wit, humor, and comedic factor. In almost every story, the writer included things to make the reader giggle, or smile. Some of the humor is dark, but it all leads to the moral in the end. For example, in “A Dispute in Sign Language,” the man, and the priest both have different meanings, but they believe it to mean something else. This touches on the power of interpretation, and is humorous in a sense. Also in, “Chelm Justice” one may think the story makes no sense, why would the judge agree to kill a random roofer, over an actual murderer just because of his needed job position. This touches on false logic, and injustice in a dark, yet funny light.

            Traditional Jewish folktales are unique, and contain different aspects to make them how they are. These factors are different and similar to European folktales in many ways, but they stand out, and are very important culturally.

Photo source: Google images 

Blog Entry 9

Nathaniel Wright Blog Review

I read over Nathaniel’s latest three blog posts, and am very impressed. His tone while writing is very mature, and detailed. He has a unique perspective about these tales which shines through his writing. I think his blog is done very well, and I enjoyed reading his unique interpretation of these tales.

The first blog post I read of Nathaniel’s is, Rags to Riches. He talks about Disney’s Cinderella, and the modern Cinderella story Pretty Woman. I really like the flow of this blog. He begins with an interesting first paragraph, which makes me want to continue. Then he briefly describes the two films in similarities and differences. Then he talks about exact details from the films, and relates them back to the topic. Finally, he concludes this blog with real life explanation. I really like how he talks about how the Cinderella story may be less common today, but not impossible. I wish he would have included a picture in this blog entry, but overall this entry is very good.

The next blog entry I read is, Bluebeard. I see that Nathaniel included two photographs in this blog entry, which is good. His beginning paragraph is full of wit, and humor. His style of writing is unique, and attention grabbing. He also has very good diction, and seems like a gifted writer. I also really like how he includes other stories and films that follow the same pattern as Bluebeard. He included titles like, Mr. Fox, which is his favorite out of the examples he gave. I really enjoyed reading this blog. It was unique, and interesting. His writing is easy to follow, and is entertaining.


The last blog post by Nathaniel that I read was, Child Heroes. In this blog post, he again starts with a unique hook, to draw a reader in. He has very good starting paragraphs, and uses humor, quotes, and personality in his writing. I like this because you can see the individualism in his writing, which makes the blog posts much for fun to read. The only difference in this blog from the others, is it is a bit shorter in length. This is not necessarily a bad thing, because with length in writing often comes repetition. I think he may be could have analyzed a little bit more, and extended the length, but overall this is again, a solid blog entry.

Nathaniel’s blogs are captivating, unique, humorous, and overall a strong example of his amazing writing skills. His personality shines through his words, and I really enjoyed reading over his interpretation of these fairy tales. 

Photo source: Google Images

Blog Entry 8

The Child as a Hero

            In the various tales we read in class involving Hansel and Gretel, Jack and the Beanstalk, and others, the children are highlighted as the heroes. In these stories death was a high probability for these children, but they had to work as heroes in order to escape death. For example, in Hansel and Gretel, the brother sister duo had to outsmart their parents to escape death. In The Singing Bones, and Jack and the Beanstalk the children had to uniquely emerge as heroes. It was not as clear as some of the other tales but the children impacted the stories immensely.  

            In The Singing Bones a man and a woman had 25 children. “The man was good, the woman was bad (Tatar, 254).” The husband was afraid of his wife, and ate whatever she made for him. Soon, he noticed that some of his children were missing. The wife lied to him, and said they were staying at the grandmothers’ house. Come to find out, the wife had been killing the children, and feeding them to the husband. The children are the heroes because the dead children had a voice and told the father, “Our mother killed us, our father ate us. We are not in a coffin, we are not in a cemetery (Tatar, 255).” The father then reacted to this news by killing his carnivorous wife, burying the children’s bones, and became vegetarian.

            The children in The Singing Bones may not have been able to escape death due to the mother killing them, but they still emerge as the heroes of this story because they saved the father from the evil mother by communicating what had occurred. The dead children, not only saved the father, but also saved the rest of the children whom were still alive from being murdered by the mother. The dead children did not technically save themselves from death, but they are still heroes for saving the other children, and helping the father realize what he was doing.

            In Joseph Jacobs, Jack and the Beanstalk, Jack is a child hero. Jack, and his mother lived together and were very poor. They were often hungry. Jack’s mother sent him to sell there cow in order to get money for necessity’s for survival. Jack ran into a mysterious man, and sold the cow for magic beans. When he arrived with the beans, his mother threw them out into the yard, and was very upset that Jack sold there only source of money for a trick. Come to find out, the beans sprouted into a large beanstalk. Jack climbed the beanstalk, and ran into an ogress, and an ogre. The ogress was more motherly toward Jack, but the ogre did not like Jack. Jack had to outsmart the ogre in order to steal multiple gold items from them including a golden egg, hen, and harp. Jack successfully gained the golden items, and brought them back to his mother. They cut down the beanstalk, and now had plenty of money, and Jack even married a “great princess (Tatar, 277).”

            Jack is the hero in this story because even though at first his mother thought he was being a stupid child, and they would starve due to his careless actions, he ended up helping the family become rich. Jack had to be brave in order to face the ogre, and still managed to overcome the challenges as a child, and successfully bring back wealth for his mother.

            Bettelheim discusses the meaning of these stories from a Freudian point of view. His viewpoint is that the stories give insight to “childhood anxieties, and deep disappointments (Bettelheim, 159.)” He also talks about the “consequences of trying to deal with life’s problems by means of regression and denial, which reduces ones ability to solve problems (Bettelheim, 160).” This speaks on both of the stories I analyzed closely. In The Singing Bones the children regressed to the mother killing them before it was too late, and many children already died. Also in Jack and the Beanstalk, he regressed to their problem of being poor for making a careless decision of trading the cow for magic beans. In both stories, the children still emerge as heroes in the end, and solve their problems in unique ways.

Sources: google images

Blog Entry 7

Kenyan Folk and Fairy tales 

            The class rhythmically chanted, “come story come” and Dr. Ochieng’ K K’Olewe began another magnificent Kenyan folk or fairy tale. Dr. Ochieng kept the class engaged, and wanting more, like the best story tellers tend to do. Not only did Dr. Ochieng recite interesting Kenyan folk and fairy tales, he also taught about the culture, and the importance of storytelling.

            In Kenya, folk and fairy tale stories are culturally intertwined. These stories will relate to religion, music, history, or even geography. Folk and fairy tales have become a part of people’s social ecology. In Kenya, and many other places people thrive off of storytelling. Weather one is dramatically conveying a story, or one is closely listening, these Kenyan folk and fairy tales are sure to be interesting, and teach a lesson.  

            African Stories always have meaningful lessons or a moral. Many African stories also include songs. Songs are included to engage in participation from the audience, create a dramatic effect, re-emphasize main points, and create episodes or parts to a story. Another common trend in African stories is the setting. The setting is majority of the time at night.

            One of the most unique and important aspects of storytelling is that it is done orally, it is not written down. One has the freedom to change details. Dr. Ochieng said, “You own the story, and invite others to participate.” The theme, or lesson of these stories still must be the outcome. This is different from the folk and fairy tales we read in class because these stories are written by the authors, and not up for debate, or imagination. Once a story is written it is those exact words, from the one author. African storytelling is free to manipulate and change in creative ways.

            Dr. Ochieng told incredible Kenyan stories about why things are the way they are, affirmation of identity, or even origin. His stories were witty, entertaining, and meaningful. My favorite story that Dr. Ochieng told was the one with the stranger looking for a place to stay while traveling to visit relatives. A song was intertwined in this story, and lesson in the end was to simply be kind to people, and strangers. Kenyan folk and fairy tales have proved to be an important aspect to that culture, and many alike. Hopefully this type of storytelling will continue forever.

Photo Source: Google Images