Day Two of Individual Presentations

Bridgett started us off with her paper about the role of the imagination in Haroun, Through the Looking Glass, and Wind in the Willows. She discusses the belief in things unknown, unseen, and forgotten and the power of the imagination to give characters potentials that they would never have known otherwise. Aside from just the characters in the books, the language and imagery have the power to transport the reader or listener into a world "outside" the "real". I'm always suspicious of mirrors now...they're tricky if you get too close.

Lindsay Beck's presentation was about women and the art of weaving and storytelling through history. She discussed Penelope's tricky weaving as an example of a way that women were given a voice in societies where they were usually silenced because of their gender. I thought that her reference to the Fates was perfect for her topic. These women had the ultimate say in the events and lives in the world. Important ladies!

I loved Cindy's topic! She discussed the connections between fairy tale and myth using "Rapunzel" as the reference point to Persephone and Demeter story, the Tripartite Goddess (maiden, mother, crone), Thompson's cosmological interpretation, and the motif of male as intruder. She should post her paper because I'd love to read it.

Allison rocks! I love this! She discussed the Pied Piper of Hamlin and how that figure, a guy who leads children away with his music, is like Jim Morrison (Mr Mojo Risin') from The Doors. They play hypnotic music that frees youngsters from the confines of adult rules. I think that a lot of pop culture people could be viewed in this light. How many millions of people are obsessed with bands/singers. Their fans would follow them anywhere. It's crazy.

Drew focused on the role of the elderly in fairy tales (and maybe just stories in general...I can't remember). His categories of the elderly were the hermit, the healer, the shaman, the sage, and the witch. He argues that these characters are pretty central to most of the fairy tales that we read. I agree. There is almost always a wise older person to lead the younger, innocent and inexperienced generation through their life journey.

Sarah Peila refutes Alex Robbins' assertion that fairy tales adversely affect young children. She thinks that kids know what's a story and what's not and that they can distinguish between the parts that are applicable to life and the parts that are not. I agree that kids are smarter than we tend to give them credit for but I do understand that fairy tales, movies, stories can be scary. My sister used to be terrified of the witch in Disney's "Snow White". She would cry and scream when she cam on the screen. For that kind of fear to come out of a kid there must be some part of them that believe that the figure they are scared of is REAL and a real threat.

Fallon's paper has a similar focus as Kristen's in that they both look at gender roles. Fallon's paper argues that feminist signatures, like "Paperbag Princess" are nice but that the signature shouldn't demolish the archetype. She cites "Ever After" as a good example of a signature on "Cinderella" that both sticks to the story while making it more feminist in the process.

Michelle Humber's paper is kinda like Lindsey's in its focus on women and weaving and their role as the primary storytellers, but Michelle put much of her emphasis on refuting Zipes essay and supporting Rowe and Warner. She disagrees with Zipes' claim that there is no proof that women were the primary storytellers citing their weaving and role as home makers(and therefore childcare givers, children's encyclopedias, and entertainment) along with Rowe and Warner as her main support for that claim.

Megan's central topic is that of the Hero, how his quest is the same or different in the children's lit we've read than the traditional/classic hero quests. Alice, Haroun, and Catcher in the Rye are the texts she uses. She claims that these archetypes are different in that they do not need prodding to begin their quest following the call to adventure. They follow almost without thinking.

Jason uses the crtic/philosopher/thinker (?)Mircea Eliade to examine "Little Red Riding Hood" and its connections to sacredness and religion. I can't really remember where darkness came into the equation, but it was something about mysticism and symbolism.

Serena compares and contrasts Perrault and Grimm versions of "Little Red Riding Hood" to see what's different and what the difference might say about the tales' meanings. Grimm sugar-coats the ending and places an emphasis on the child and family, whereas Perrault's version does none of these things. I wonder if the Grimm Bros were more in tune to the existance of the story for children and maybe Perrault wasn't. Otherwise, why wouldn't the child be the focus of a children's story? That doesn't make sense.

Kelby's paper looks at what he feels is the central theme of children's lit: self-examination ritual. He argues that fairy tales do not offer an accurate representation of this ritual and that Catcher is much more realistic.

Wes talked about the book The Horse and His Boy from the Narnia series and focused not so much on the Christian influences, since evrybody talks about those, but more about the connections with the tales we've read in this class and other children's stories. There are parallels with the Arabian Nights in the character Aribus (he's a storyteller like Schehrezade), references to Norse mythology, and the motif of the bildungsroman in Shasta and Aribus' journey.

Brian's paper is about The Catcher in the Rye and Holden as the anti-hero. He is critical of others just like him (hypocrit), immature, and has an obsessive fixation with the phoniness in others. But, he is interesting because he's so young and he's trying to find a meaning in his life. Brian argues that Hodlen is the best example we've read of a character in the process of the transition from childhood to adulthood. Sexson asks us in respone...what is the value of a negative role model??

Emily's rather depressing but interesting topic is the real-life illustrations of the fairy tales "Bluebeard" and "The Little Mtch Girl". Bluebeard's legacy lived on in Ed Geene the serial killer who is actually reminiscent of Buffalo Bill in "Silence of the Lambs" and, apparently, the deranged killer in the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre". Nice, huh? "The Little Match" girl highlights the number of homeless people who freeze to death. This is sad and scary. I think that making the connections back to ral life makes everything seems worse. I wasn't freaked out by the "Bluebeard" story because I thought of it as just a story. Now, I'll never look at it the same.

Liz's paper discusses women and their passivity within the story, but Liz put a little twist on it all saying that although she may seem passive and dim-witted, it's all an act. Passivity is her strength because it is unexpected that she'll do anything else. The women are also often treated badly but they perserver through it all until the right time to go.

Jeremy talked about the Bildungsroman motif specifically thinking about the effects of industrialization and urbanization of the 18th century on Wordsworth and Blake (those crazy Romantics). HE talked about the rather grim outlook on life and Blake's "Songs of Innocence" and "Songs of Experience". Jeremy also mentioned a need to revert back to childhood and escape, but I wasn't sure exactly what that would mean. Isn't reverting back to childhood reverting back to the ignorance that comes from lack of experience? Any way there are four realizations to get through in order to be experienced, 1. Evil of the world 2.Time 3. Sex 4. Death.

Valerie's topic is really interesting and I've been thinking about it everytime I'm in front of a mirror. She argues that the mirror functions as a window for women who are confined, using "The Lady of Shallot" "Beauty" "Alice in Wonderland" and "Snow White" queen as her examples. The mirrors hold the key to magic worlds and real worlds that the women can experience through the mirror. Valerie's epiphany was that looking into the mirror is looking into one's self which, in the end, proves fatal for the Queen and the Lady of Shalott.