Mythology and Folklore

ANOTHER FAVORITE. The Little Mermaid is such a classic, and the original slaps. I guess I am old and beaten down now, but this version is my new favorite. The Disney version will always have a special place in my heart and be a part of my childhood, but his original version is so poetic. It is definitely more my style; it leaves an impression when the heroine doesn't get to live happily ever after, which is okay too! The world Hans Christian Andersen weaves is glorious . I could feel the mermaid's pain, urgency, and suffocating need to love and be loved. This is a story that will never get old, part of it due to how beautifully it is written. One of my favorite parts is when he describes the five older sisters and the things they experienced going to the surface for the first time. The scenes he paints makes me feel like I am experiencing those beautiful landscapes for the first time, too. Often time mermaids are fantasized, and it was interesting seeing it from the other per...

I was able to revisit some of my favorite stories from my childhood with this reading. The work of Hans Christian Andersen is so iconic and touching even now. It is really different reading these stories as an adult than as a child; what I took literally before is now so symbolic. I hadn't read the story of the little tin soldier in so long, and with it came a flood of memories. One thing I really love about his writings is how visual they are. For kids, it helps immerse them in the world he is trying to make and really experience the story with the character. For adults, there is something kind of sad and wistful about it. His creativity brings the situations to life in a very enjoyable way. One way he does this is through the flow of the story; it read extremely well and is easy to follow. The narrative is super smooth and beautiful to read, which is a big plus. There is nothing 'hard' or difficult to read about it, and it isn't tedious or repetitive either. Every s...

Once upon a time, in an unknown location at a vague period in time, there was a grand dance. This dance was like formal on steriods, and all the young ladies and gentlemen came to attend. They were eager to see who fate might put in their paths for the night. One young lady, forced to go against her will by her friends, decided that while she must go, no one was dictating how. Alexa was one of the fairest maidens in all the land, and her friends often made this home-body attend social event for the men she attracted. Alexa hated the male gaze, the wandering male hands, the smug entitleness that all men seemed to have. She tried her best to avoid their attention, and yet for some reason, all men seem to have an internal program that makes them think that pretty women who say no are just trying to play hard to get. Alexa would not be a victim of their harrassment this time. Rather than a fancy gown and jewelry, she donned a handsome suit, stuffed her long tresses into a short wig...

At last we are able to see Britomart unite with her beloved knight, Sir Artegall. This part B reading was full of more adventures and fighing as our heroine traverses landscapes and defeats many foes to find her beloved. She has to combat spiritual and magical forces this time, too. What I really enjoyed about this whole unit was how great the storytelling aspect was. The narrative style is easy to follow, although the amount of characters could get confusing at times. A lot of people are referred to simply as maid, maiden, sir, or knight, and after a while it can be hard to straighten them out. When the author was describing the procession of characters like Fear, Hope, etc. the use of imagery characterizing the appearance of each one was stunning. The setting and time period was mostly set in part A, and I felt like part B was mainly used for more character development. Britomart stayed true to her love in the end. When she finally beheld Artegall, it was a truly moving moment. All...

I had such a fun time reading this! The thing that got me hooked was the crossdressing female lead who, with the help of her magic weapon, went around the country knocking all sorts of men on their butts. It was really interesting to me how her motivation was just to find the man she fell in love with thanks to Merlin's magic mirror. It seems a rather foolish endeavor, to leave your title as a princess and a homely castle to find this wandering knight, but also very pure in a way. The main heroine has almost a childlike innocence to her which makes her someone the reader can wholeheartedly root for. One particular chapter I really liked was when another fair maiden fell in love with Britomart, thinking she was a handsome knight. The whole evening, Britomart has to side step the maiden's advances. Her cover is ultimately blown when the woman descends upon her chambers at night. I was chuckling the whole time at this. It isn't written humorously, but the whole situation was...

This week I watched two TED talks over the stories and storytelling. This included The Dangers of a Single Story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Imaginary Friends and Real-World Consequences by OU professor Jennifer Barnes. These videos were very different but I enjoyed them so much! Adichie opened her talk by revealing more about her Nigerian background and how American and British literature had impacted her book-loving childhood deeply. She only had this single story/image from the books she read, so all the stories she wrote involved blonde hair, blue eyed children eating apples and talking about the weather. When she came to America, she was shocked that people had such skewed beliefs about Nigeria. She said something that really stuck with me: stereotypes aren't necessarily untrue, they just don't tell the whole story. I have been thinking a lot about this lately. A popular group on facebook popped up a few months ago called Subtle Asian Traits, and honestly I think eve...

I really enjoyed Part B of this reading as well! What I noticed a lot was that the author often used specific objects to describe things instead of just adjectives. For example, "legs were like tree trunks" and "eyes the color of milk". The use if similes and metaphors were very effective in decribing the vividness of the setting and characters, especially the monsters. It also strikes a lot of imagery in the mind (well, at least my mind) of the reader and brought the whole story to life. The creative effects also made the story, which is a bit longer than most, very engaging to read. Also, the author used many stylistic elements in the text. Repetition, alliteration, and parallel sentences brough fight scenes to life and animated the plot. There was often a flare for the dramatic as well, which was refreshing to read, especially in scenes of conflict. The characters are brought out larger than life, and their actions reflect that. The narrative style of this is...

I have been looking forward to reading The Story  of Beowulf for a long time, since reading someone's storybook project about it at the beginning of the semester. It seemed like a wonderfully epic hero tale, full of knights, fighting, dragons, quests, everything I love! Being a fan of fantasy, this reading had all the components to keep me dutifully intruiged. One thing that particularly suprised me in this reading was how smoothly it read. The transitions between scenes, settings, characters, and dialogue was almost movie-like in nature. I felt like I could imagine the whole scene playing out before me. One great things that adds to this is the author's attention to detail. He truly paints a picture for every setting, devoting enough time to change the mood and immerse the reader. But it doesn't seem forced or out of place at all; it is like all the elements in nature are combining to make that one moment in time special for both Beowulf and the reader. Another thing I r...

In a house on the other side of the world, there lived a very beautiful girl. She took may suitors as husbands, but one by one they perished by the tricks of her father. Her father was very cruel and possessive of her beauty, not believing any man was good enough for her. At last, only one husband remained. His features were light in comparison to her midnight black hair and dark chestnut eyes, but she was determined to help him survive the tests of her father. One evening, the father invited the husband over to his house for dinner, expecting to rid himself of his son-in-law once and for all. "You must absolutely not wear your shoes inside his house." the wife warned. "Although the ground looks calm, you will burn up if your shoes touch the carpet." When the son arrived, he followed the father inside. "There is no need for you to remove your shoes here, I will take no disrespect." the father urged. But the son, aware of his tricks, vehemently insist...

This second unit of this reading focused much more on humans and their relationships, especially those between father and son. I noticed that there is a lot of competition between males in Native American stories; many time an older male will try to banish or kill a young up-and-comer. They are often jealous of their youth and very protective of their women and resources. But the young male hero always emerges victorious in the end, much from the help of a female that also wishes the old male to fall. There are often mystical powers involved, including enchanted animals, spirits, witches, and even the earth and skies itself taking part at times. Earthquakes, thunderstorms, giant storms at sea are all fair game. I was not as engrossed with the writing style as I was with Part A. These stories focues a lot on actions only, and it seemed a bit dry at times. Without as much dialogue it was hard to get attached to a character, since you couldn't tell what his personality was like. Als...

One thing I really enjoyed so far about this reading is how long the stories are. Instead of individual stories per chapter, each of these takes up about three chapter for one story. I felt like this really helped with character and plot development. Also, unlike the Alaskan stories I read last week, these stories were a bit more realistic, in the sense that they took place (mainly) on earth with real animals and real events in nature. Everyone loves a good hero story, and all of these were untraditional in their own way which made them interesting. One that I particularly liked centered around a bluejay, whose selfish actions were the reason he got sent on a journey to begin with. But upon his return, despite overcoming many obstacles, his life is pretty much the same before. It was interesting how their definition of hero is quite different from those we typically think of. For humans, it means dominating as the top species. For animals, it usually means just surviving.  At ti...