Thoughts on "My Book & Heart"...

One thing that stuck out in my mind was the story of Little Goody Two Shoes. How the story got from where it started to what it means now in today's society. I have never read the story of Little Goody Two Shoes and I knew nothing about it. The one thing that I associated with the term "Little Goody Two Shoes" is someone who is a know-it-all, or a suck up, or "that girl/guy" in class that seems like they know everything. After seeing the movie, that is not where that name originated at all! The name came from the little girl who finally got two good shoes! I find it so interesting that the story goes from that one extreme to the other. How on earth did if shift that much in its meaning.

I loved the part about "The House That Jack Built." Hearing Michael and Lynda read it back and forth to each other was fun.

Another part I liked were the pictures of wood carving and the text that was beneath them. A lot of them seemed to contradict each other which I found very interesting. I think it is weird on how things were interpreted back then to how they are now. It is amazing to see how far things have come since then. What is and isn't acceptable. Back then they showed how man and ape looked the same where now evolution is a huge debate. But, did the idea of not being allowed to question it slow down that debate?

One question I do have is where the title "My Book & Heart Shall Never Part" came from? Is it from one of the little books that Lynda had. Is there a specific reason for her naming the film this? I remember seeing the little girl read it from one of the books I think.

Is there such a thing as a child?

I like my response as to what I thought a child was. Then Lynda came and talked to us about her movie and it's concerns with children, books and nature. Then Sutter brought up a really interesting point in class the other day..."is there such a thing as a child." I almost want to say, "no there isn't." Children aren't really ever given the time to be children. From day one they are always learning something. They are constantly aquiring more and more knowledge on everything. So if this person is always learning something that is helping them mature, are they indeed, every considered a child? If they aren't, then what are they...young adults? Or if you indeed would call them children because they are constantly learning things, is there even such a thing as an adult. You don't ever stop learning. Everyone is constantly expanding there knowledge of something. Are we all children, since we are continuing to learn? Or does it only deal with literacy. So many questions roaming through my head and no definite answers...

Reminders!

• Thursday, October 23 at 7:00 is the world premiere of "My Book & Heart Shall Never Part" at the Emerson Cultural Center. Everyone is required to attend!
• There will be no class on Friday, October 25. Write a response on your blogs by Monday regarding the film.
• We will begin discussion on Alice on Wednesday, October 29.

20 October 2008 Class Notes

• Begin reading Alice In Wonderland/Alice In Sunderland ---> try reading them both at the same time...
• Have "His Dark Materials" done by November 14, it will make it easier to discuss.
• DIDACTIC
• Tatology: talking in circles, it is what it is, the poem is a poem...
• Learning something but not questioning it...
• Is a child ever really a child? People argued that childhood wasn't invented until the 19th Century, children didn't exist until the 19th Century?
• Rites of passage --> boys becomeing men in tribal areas
• Cynical, satirical, ironical ---> things used in comin up with your own version of the moral to Cinderella...
• Taylor, Ashly, Rebecca, Julie and Brett read their moral to the story of Cinderella...
• Sexson read from Beauty & the Beast ---> almost identical to Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.
• In "Jane Eyre" she was brought up in an orphanage and somewhat by aunt. Attitude at orphanage was very adultlike, there wasn't room for the kids to act like children.
• Parody makes fun of things while respecting what it is making fun of.
• Anglea Carter's "The Tiger's Pride" ---> read it
• Eastern version of the rose was a lotus.
• This idea of committing crimes that didn't seem serious ---> eating of the apple in Adam & Eve, picking a rose from a garden, eating rapunzel

17 October 2008 Class Notes

• Lynda Sexson was the guest lecturer for class today. She talked about her upcoming film and things that it addressed.
• Is there such a thing as children's literature?
• Didactic: God------>speculative---->children begin to ask questions, morals, etiquette, pragmatic (ex. don't drink from a hot tea kettle)----->humor, nature
• All of those things (morals, etiquette, etc.) leads to literacy
• By becoming literate a child stops being a child.
• Nostalgia - a reminder of home, the old ways
• Books of nature--->leading to thoughts of God
• Influence of the Protestant Reformation..."anyone can learn to read"
• 1650 - John Eliott came to teach the Native Americans of Massachusetts how to read
• First bible printed in America was in the Algonquin language...
• Reading became a diversion for land
• Two world views colliding..."why do englishmen hate snakes?"
• John Newbery - the way by which we read is the way by which we think...
• Influence from the Enlightenment (think Thomas Jefferson whose library became the basis of the Library Of Congress) ---> notion of deism rather than theism.
• The notion that people can be rationale
• In 1803 Charles Peale opened a museum where for 50 cents, people could come in and see the bones from a mastadon
• John Goode wrote several books on nature but he had cracks in his world view
• JG would ask children not to think of the origin, not to think about where something came from.
• Wanted children to learn and become literate but not question certain things, only wanted them to reach a certain level of literacy
• Books on nature ---> some of the images conflict with the text
• Books were distributed by the American Sunday School Union and Religious Tracts among others
• iconoclasm: shattering/smashing of the image
• facsimile: made to look like an original
• "pocket books" from applewood books, nationalist enterprise
• "the blueback speller" produced by noah webster...wanted to regularize language in an American way
• Bluebeard, it is safe and scary at the same time when you are reading it, making it more appealing
• The world of books helps us with the world of words.

15 October 2008 Class Notes

• Graded each others tests in class...thank goodness I did much better than I thought I would.
• Possible Future Test Question! What is the last word in de Beaumont's "Beauty & the Beast"? The answer is VIRTUE!
• Lynda Sexson is coming to class on Friday to lecture. Everybody needs to come to class that day!
• Below is a symbol for virue...

13 October 2008 Class Notes

Today was the big day...our first test. It was harder than I thought it was going to be. I think I got so wrapped up in trying to remember all the stories that I didn't focus as much on the notes and such from class. Next time I will know to do it differently.

10 October 2008 Class Notes

We discussed the upcoming test on Monday and came up with questions that will pertain to at least 50% of the test.  The stories we are responsible for being familiar with (including sidebar information) are:

-Little Mermaid

-Little Red Riding Hood

-Cinderella

-Hansel & Gretel

-Beauty & the Beast

-Sleeping Beauty

-Snow White

-Rapunzel

-East of the Sun, West of the Moon

-Bluebeard

-Juniper Tree

The questions that the class came up with were:

Q: What is the name of the archetypal lady in Finnegan's Wake?

A: Prank Queen

Portmanteau - multi level word, Joyce gets it from "Alice In Wonderland."  Combine two words into one.  Example is slithey, comes from the word slimy and slithery.

Q: What numbers are considered privileged numbers in fairy tales?

A: 3 & 7

Q: What is misplaced concreteness?

A: A question that you're not suppose to ask.  For example, the possibility of Rapunzel's hair being strong enough for a human to climb, it being possible for Hans to ride a rooster.

Q: Which story is classified as 333 from the Aarnie Thompson folk index?

A: Little Red Riding Hood

Q: How is the collective unconsciousness manifested through fairy tales?

A: Through archetypes

Q: "If your really crafty, you'll get them both," is a quote from which fairy tale?

A:  Little Red Riding Hood

Q: What are the three parts of the universal quest?

A: Separation, Initiation, and Return

Q: What are the three parts of the triple goddess?

A: Mother, Maiden, & Crone

Q: Why is there no original?

A: All is displaced myth, you can't trace oral tradition.

Q: What are you recognizing in someone when you bow to them?

A: Recognition of the divine

Q: In Disney's Aladdin, the genie says he is _______?

A: Mythology

Q: A difference between the Grimm version and the Perrault version of Cinderella is?

A: She is called Ash Girl in the Grimm version

Q: In the Aarnie Thompson Folk Index, what classification does East of the Sun, West of the Moon, Hans My Hedgehog and Beauty & the Beast belong to?

A: Search For Missing Husband/Beast Groom

Q: Which of the following stories does not consist of parents struggling to concieve?

A: Bluebeard

Q: Name the mythological mother/daughter due we talk about in class all the time?

A: Demeter/Persephone

Q: Write a haiku of a fairy tale.  Consist of three lines.  First line has five syllables, second line has seven syllables, third line has five syllables.

Q: What is the significance of the blue in Bluebeard's beard?

A: All of the above

Q: What causes the transformation in Beauty & the Beast?

A: Love

Q: Who is one of our first archetypal talking animal/horse like Mr. Ed?

A: Golden Ass

Q: Why did Cupid wake up when Psyche was looking at him?

A: She spilt a drop of hot oil from the lamp on him

Q: What is sisty uglers?

A: Spoonerism

Q: Which romantic poet already knows everything there is to know?

A: Wadsworth

Q: What mythological story did Beauty & the Beast come from?

A: Cupid & Psyche

Q: What is the gender characteristic flaw in the story Bluebeard?

A: Female curiosity

Q: In which Grimm story is there a witch?

A: Hansel & Gretel

Q: Which author wanted to marry Little Red Riding Hood?

A: Charles Dickens

Q: What phrase begins most fairy tales?

A: "Once upon a time..."

In the celtic version of Cinderella, her mother is in the form of a female sheep, or a ewe.

 

  

8 October 2008 Class Notes

• Paul Newman's obituary mentions his likening to that of Little Red Riding Hood.
• Lynn Doyle read her response to what a child, boook, and nature were.
• Aaron read her rebuttle to the moral of Cinderella.
• Sexson read the ending of the Grimm version of Cinderella. Noticeable differences in the story: 1) the prince put pitch on the stairs to keep Cinderella from running off which is how she lost her slipper, it got stuck in the pitch, 2) the slipper was not glass it was, gasp!, gold, 3) no clock strikes twelve at midnight, no pumpkin, and 4) the step-sisters cut their heels and toes off, not to mention their eyes get picked out by birds.
• Magic number of a fairy tale is 3!
• Watch Jean Cocteau's "Beauty & the Beast."
• Beauty & the Beast is Type 425-C in Aarnie's motif classification (Beast Groom).
• A book and reading is about being on both sides of the pages.
• King Kong -- "original" version -- is a tale of Beauty & the Beast.
• Coming of Age Stories -- Pride & Prejudice, Bride & Prejudice
• Dark Themes in Fairy Tales
• Everything that is suppose to be realistic has roots that can be traced back to mythology or a fairy tale.
• Cybil had 20 personalites.
• Is marriage an institution of bondage? The yellow wallpaper.

Rebuttal to Cinderella's Moral of the Story

Grace is the gift that will win a man's heart,
That is the knowledge that this tale imparts.
No matter whether your dwarfish or ugly,
Any prince will fall for you surly.

Cinderella's beauty was just a luck of the draw.
For I'm sure if she had been a maiden that was ugly,
The prince still would have gotten cuddly.
For as was previously mentioned,
Grace was the true intention,
That would capture any man's attention.

6 October Class Notes

• Added new books to working bibliography. See my list for all the books we have so far.
• Reference to fairy tales: Mister Ed based on Frances the mule which leads back to Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream."
• The Storyteller. In Disney's Aladdin, the storyteller (Persian version) is the man at the beginning who is trying to sell us the lamp.
• Psyche's soul seems to be illustrated as a butterfly in some versions.
• Sexson read us a story from "Golden Ass."
• Google "Cupid and Psyche" to see what kind of imagery you find.
• Psyche...she fell in love with love. Discussion of Cupid and Psyche, Beauty & the Beast.
• The movie "Monster-In-Law" is a displaced fairy tale.
• Spoonerisms. Read Jack Ross's spoonerism of Cinderella in class.
• Write a rebuttle to Charles Perraults moral of the story of Cinderella.
• Cheryl read her response to "What is a child?"

The Polar Bear King

Out of all the fairy tales that we have read in class so far, my favorite is "East of the Sun and West of the Moon." Lately it seems, this fairy tale has been coming up a lot in the past few days. First with watching "Hans My Hedgehog." On Saturday night, a couple of my friends and I decided to rent a few movies and have a movie night. As we were wondering in and out of the aisles at the local Hastings store, we wander past the children's section. One of my friends finds a movie called "The Polar Bear King." She mentions that she used to watch it as a kid and how great of a movie it was. When I first saw the title, instantly my thoughts went to "East of the Sun and West of the Moon." So being the adventurous bunch that we were, we rented it. I'm pretty sure my reaction to the movie was lots of laughing, mainly because you can easily see how long ago that movie was made. And I'm not sure my friend thought it was as good as she remembers it being, grant it that was probably fifteen years ago. One of the things I remember best was at the very beginning before it started, across the bottom of the screen appeared the words "Based on a Norwegian folk tale..." Another thing that is funny, especially since it is a fairy tale no less, is that at this website http://www.moviemistakes.com/film3378, is a list of movie mistakes about the movie. That seems like a lot of trouble to go and pick out mistakes about a fairy tale, something that is not real in the first place. I believe one of the factual errors listed was "People can't outrun polar bears." People don't have magical scissors that can create clothes from non existence either. Duh, that is why it is a fairy tale. Anything is possible.

Children, Books, & Nature

So, I went to thefreedictionary.com to see what they considered to be the definitions of these terms. It is suppose to be "correct" and I just wanted to see how exactly they thought these things were. It is kind of interesting. For me to describe what I think a child is, or a book for that matter, I'm not sure how much of what I think would go along with the technical definition.

What is a child?
To me, a child is something that is a part of everyone. Deep down, I think everyone still has that small part of them that is a child. It is just a matter of whether or not someone ever lets that part of them out. Being a child is what allows you to believe without questioning if something is possible. It allows you to read fairy tales with an imagination or still believe in Santa Claus, even though he isn't real, or just to be able to open your mind, think outside the box. The critical or adult part of us wants to say that, "that's not real, it's impossible, that would never happen" while I think the child in us is saying, "wow, that guy is riding around on a rooster, wouldn't that be fun!"

What is a book?
Then, when you move on to a book, I do think it is a literary work or something to present and understand knowledge, but it's so much more than that. A book is what allows you to go places you never thought possible. A book opens your mind and allows you to travel to some far off place or go back time. A book is something that lets you imagine the impossible. It expands your knowledge, whether it be with facts or rubbish... As for nature, I'm not sure about what I think nature is. It can be the environment that we all live in or it can be people's characteristics.

What is nature?
Nature is such a hard word to describe as something. I think maybe it's the environment that surrounds each of us, possibly effecting the choices that we make, the choices that perhaps form our character. Is it possible for it to be both of those things. I just don't know about nature.

All About the Rooster...

So, the use of a rooster in "Hans My Hedgehog" has really got me wondering. Why, out of every animal that could possibly be used, would you choose a rooster? Maybe it has some special meaning or something like that... I did a little researching and here's what I found.

The rooster is actually a motif in Maltese idioms and the bird is described as prideful and arrogant. These are things that is represents when it is used in stories and such. Another thing it tends to represent is luck, or is a symbol of good luck in greek and medieval history. Generally the story with that goes, "someone is about to die, but if the dead rooster stands and crows, then the life will be spared. And of course, it does stand up and crow!"

Still not sure though on why it might have been used in the story. Maybe it was meant to bring luck to the ugly hedgehog...

1 October 2008 Class Notes

• We watched Jim Henson's "Hans My Hedgehog" from "The Storyteller." It was quite interesting. I really want to know if there was some point to the rooster as his mode of transportation?
• Discussed familiar motifs or references to other fairy tales:

- East of the Sun & West of the Moon

- Book of Judges, Jeptha's daughter

- Rash promises

- Beauty & the Beast

- the number 3, everything happening in three's

- sacrificial children

- passing off property from one male to another, marriage

- husband and wife not being able to have children

- monster baby, wanting a baby no matter what it is, how it turn out

"a face that only a mother can love..."

- the house being in the middle of a forest

- "a year and a day..."

- formula (language) - same thing said over and over again

- ugly duckling, black sheep

• Motif of beast/husband
• The bittersweet song that begins with hello and ends with goodbye...
• Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" being the opposite...ugly woman instead of ugly man.

29 September 2008 Class Notes

• Talked about archetypes in fairy tales, mythology, and also to trash novels (Harlequin Romance). About how it can be "ephemeral rubbish".
• Added a new book to the working bibliography list.
• Are kids "blank slates?" How are we born? Are we born as blank slates where education is used to fill that slate? Or, is it that you already know everything, it's just a matter of remebering it, so teaching is all about helping you remember what you already know?
• Michael finished reading his story "A Man Reading" from the Mississippi Review.
• If you have nothing else to say, say a cliche.
• REM - Rapid Eye Movement - Dreaming! Next time someone is sleeping with a newspaper over their heads, go up to them and open their eye lid...see if their eyes are moving...are they dreaming?
• "Groundhog Day" - the movie. You are going to do something over and over until you do it right.
• By this Friday, make a post on your blogs about these 3 things: what is a child, what is a book, what is nature?
• Bowing, in asian culture, a sign of respect, recognizing the divine in someone...