Essay for Week 14: Analyzing La Fontaine's Fables

La Fontaine's Fables

(La Fontaine's Fables)

This week's unit caught my eye because they are originally French stories! I love French stories! Because I love France and all things French. It was fun to see that a lot of French stories are similar to American stories that I grew up with. I've heard so many of those stories before, it was great! I don't think I had heard them in poem form, though. That was different and nice! I especially loved the Tortoise and the Hare story along with the Dogs story. Those two have really good distinct morals. I didn't have any that I disliked!

These stories are really good for little kids because of the simplicity and the rhyming. I don't know why, but kids seem to really love rhyming. I think I'm going to read these to my kids at the church sometime soon! This is wonderful. It contributed to my goals in this class because I wanted to find things to read that were similar to my interests. France is an interest and so this unit matched perfectly! I know I said last week that I did not like how much the British Units paralleled with my background. And here is La Fontaine's Fables matching a lot of things I've read and I loved it. Sounds a little hypocritical, but I think I just have a bias against America and Britain. What can I say? We're bullies to the rest of the world.

I didn't need to know any additional information before I read this unit. Everything was wonderful and I followed along very easily! It is very safe to say that this half of the last two week's of the class and the Native American Units were my absolute favorite! Yay! Definitely don't change this part of the British Unit. Keep the French!

Essay for Week 13: The Heptameron of Margaret, Queen of Navarre Analysis

The Heptameron of Margaret, Queen of Navarre Analysis

(Queen Navarre)

This was not my favorite unit. The past two weeks have not been my favorite units. I think I am more of an international person. The French/British/North American stuff does not interest me. I think I was born in the wrong country! Or race. Or both. The Heptameron of Margaret, Queen of Navarre  Unit is what I am referring to.

I think what I originally did not like about it was the dialogue before and after the stories. It seemed pointless and redundant. A lot of the conversation just reiterated what the story had told, which was too repetitive for my taste. The stories themselves were okay. They were a bit dark and brooding. They also touched on topics that were uncomfortable to me. The Virgin With Child was disturbing. Incest is a very taboo topic to society. It's taboo in the story too, so it's not like a difference in culture thing. I think my favorite story was The Lady From Milan and Her Lover. This was so because it was the least weird and most romantic. Even though the guy stalked her for three years...that's also disturbing. It was the best out of them all though.

Another thing that bothered me was the language. It was difficult to smoothly read. I got through everything alright, but I was easily stuck on a few sentences and phrases that just would not register for me.

One more thing I found troubling about this week and last week's readings is that they're all too familiar to me. I've heard all of these stories growing up and they are a part of my ancestry. I chose this unit because I had never heard of this Queen or any of her stories, so at least it was new information. If I have to read one more Alice in Wonderland story, I'm going to croak.

This unit helped my goal in life and for this class by just reconfirming that I am not a fan of Western culture. Including stories. That's good to know! I can avoid it. Haha :)

Essay for Week 12: Nursery Rhyme Analysis

Nursery Rhyme Analysis

(My brain's image of Nursery Rhymes which did not match the reality of this unit)

I was going to do a story analysis this week for the Nursery Rhymes Unit, but there was really no similar theme or moral running through all of the poems other than morbidity. I have written on the theme of morbidity before so I did not want to be redundant. In this case, however, it would be worth it to say that the rhyming of morbid topics makes them less morbid and therefore seems like a defense mechanism in a way.

I did not really enjoy this week’s readings. A lot of them made no sense and had no point. Some of the stories I have read before are like this, but they were longer and I could use my imagination to create a point. These were so short that my imagination has nothing to go off of. I think I read for purpose and functionality. I do not read for fun…that is what I have discovered about myself this semester. I like to feel productive while I read and I feel frustrated through these shorter, nonsensical readings.

I think the Paradoxes and the Songs were my least Favorite parts of the Nursery Rhymes. They were weird. My favorite stories would have to be the Riddles. Those are functional. There is brain involvement in reading those. Kept me on my toes! There was not really any information that these rhymes lacked, I appreciated you providing the Wikipedia links for explanations. I think people really need to pay attention to the fact that each of the parts of the unit consist many different rhymes. They just have to remember that for their reading adventures!

This unit did not fit my expectations or goals for this class. I cannot really put my finger on why I did not enjoy this unit other than its lack in productivity and purpose. In comparison to the Native American stories which were my favorite, the nursery Rhymes fell short. The Native American stories had purpose and I learned a lot from reading them. I like being productive. But I did not learn anything from this unit aside from a final confirmation that I do not read for fun. I must have substance in what I am reading. My imagination is not as active as others I guess!

Essay for Week 11: Canterbury Tale Analysis

Canterbury Tale Analysis

(The Canterbury Tales: Source)

This week I read the Canterbury Tales! I absolutely loved this unit! Probably even more so than the Native American Units the past two weeks. The idea of medieval times is fascinating to me and I love the morals that were present throughout all the stories I read! Everyone that deserved to be punished was justly reprimanded to the degree of their offense. For example, in The Story of the Summoner and The Revelers the evil summoner gets his just deserts by giving himself to the devil and the revelers are found by death because of their immense material greed!  These were really good stories. I didn’t have least favorite stories! I think I got a little agitated with the length of a few of them because of the tangents that some of them took. I don’t quite understand the purpose for all the tangents. They made sense in The Cock, The Hen, and The Fox, but not in others. The notes were perfect for the introduction to these stories, no additional information is needed! I really just wanted to enjoy all the readings for this class, and this unit definitely contributed to that! I think a lot of Americans are really exposed to British tales throughout their childhood so this unit was kind of a flashback for me. It’s just the tradition of American culture to see into the history of the state that birthed this one. I didn’t necessarily learn new things in this unit, I just saw the reinforcement of morals that I already have. Examples include, don’t disrespect women, do not let material wealth get the best of you, don’t think you can overcome death, etc. I just loved every story I read this week! By far my favorite unit, please don’t change anything with this one!

Essay for Week 10: Bestiality

Bestiality

(The product of a human and animal reproduction. Source)

This week's reading unit that I chose was Native American Marriage Tales. This unit proved to be very interesting and far-fetched in the ways of comprehending the origins of their creation. I did not enjoy this week's reading as much as I did last weeks. I do love Native American stories, but only the ones that have some tangible base in explaining something like why Loons have red eyes.

The issue I had with this week's Native American stories was the reoccurring motif of bestiality. This practice was woven into every story I read. I do not understand why some of the stories accepted bestiality like The Piqued-Buffalo Wife while others denied the practice like The Dog-Husband. The tribesman married a buffalo and it was accepted but the dog had children with a tribe daughter and the girl was left for dead.

Last week's reading was fun and had a connection to explaining certain phenomenon throughout the land. It seemed as though this was the way that Native Americans comforted themselves in knowing the ways of the world. It was innocent. The bestiality of this week's readings though, were unsettling and weird.

I cannot for the life of me figure out what phenomenon reproduction with an animal explains in the real world of Native Americans. The fact that these ideas occurred through the stories makes me wonder if Native Americans practiced bestiality at any point in history. That might explain the acceptance of the act in some stories but not in others. Maybe it was a progression of the culture that accepted bestiality in earlier times. Upon European culture being introduced to the land, maybe the evolution of this acceptance turned to disdain which would explain the inconsistency in the stories.

Another explanation could simply be that accepted practices of other things, not just bestiality, might have varied from tribe to tribe. Just as cannibalism was not seen really outside of the Karankawas. Each tribe believes differently. The interesting thing about this though, is the fact that reproduction with an animal was a concept in every tribe whether they condoned it or not.I just don't think bestiality is a good thing...like many other people of the U.S. I'm sure.

Whatever the reason for this motif, it made for very interesting stories to read this week! I can't say it was my favorite, but I can say it was definitely a page-turner unit. Everyone has to step outside their comfort zone at some point!

Essay for Week 9: Assessing the British North American Unit

Assessing the British North America Unit

(Me and my friend Taylor posing with a local Native American tribe during Commencement 2013)

I just had to asses this week’s reading unit on British North America Native American stories! I love Native American stories so much. You’ll see that throughout all my comments on this week and next week’s readings. They are so full of life and have points or morals to every story they tell. Each character in these stories has a personified spirit where as they usually would not exist. They all have a personality and the stories generally explain a phenomenon of the world! Like why the Loon has red eyes or how the moon was created. My favorite stories were the creation stories in the beginning of the unit (Creation of the World, How the Earth Was Formed, and Creation of the Earth). I know my understanding of the creation of the world is a combination of evolution and Genesis, but I admire so much the imagination of the Native Americans. I didn’t have any least favorite stories. They all were so good! I did not need any extra background information. I had just enough knowledge and already knew a fair amount about Native American culture to read this week. I think I chose this unit because British North America seemed like a combination of American ideas and Native American ideas. I was wrong, it was just Native American, but that’s why I chose it! My goals in this class are to enjoy the readings and so this unit fit in perfectly! I had no complaints. I learned so much about how Native Americans explain things. There is a spiritual reason with a story behind literally everything in their surroundings. It was incredible to me. I also learned that they did not just interact with their surroundings, but also use it to explain their lives. Such a symbiotic relationship. This was my favorite reading week so far and I can’t say enough about its wonderfulness!

Essay for Week 7: Assessing the Congo Unit

Assessing the Congo Unit

(The Congo! Source)

This week’s unit that I chose was the Congo Unit. I really did not have a background in anything African related aside from Egypt so deciding the stories was kind of a shot in the dark! I just went for it and I’m glad I did! I did have a couple favorite stories including Another Vanishing Wife and Why the Crocodile Does Not Eat the Hen. I did not really like nor understand the Fetish of Chilunga, The Rabbit and the Antelope, and The WickedHusband. Some of the stories didn’t make a whole lot of sense so I would have liked more of a background if there could have been any. That might just be the point of the story though; I do not know how the Congo works. The stories I disliked were not bad stories, I just did not like what happened in them. All of these stories were wonderfully written and interesting to say the least. This unit met my expectations by the fact that I didn’t have any expectations, and this unit caught my attention one hundred percent! I learned that the inequality of women and submission of them to men is a reoccurring theme throughout the world. I already knew that, but the depth to which the inequality stretches into history is always interesting. I am continuously surprised at the gruesomeness that is in some of these stories. The wicked husband cut his wife’s legs off! The antelope buries the rabbit alive! The fetish of Chilunga was very creepy, too. I just felt like these three stories were the most outstanding in their not socially accepted actions. I really didn’t like them. The ones I did like had really good morals and followed them really well! That’s why those were my favorite. I really enjoyed this unit!

Essay Week 6: Fear Factor

Fear Factor

(Image of fear! Source)

This week’s unit on the Chinese Fairy Tales played on a lot of fears. A lot of people, especially me, are drawn to scary stories for their thrill and capability to take the mind to places only reachable through nightmares. I personally love scary stories and movies because it makes me feel better about where I am in my life; I am in no situation comparable to these people in the stories. I especially loved this week’s unit for its play on the mind with fear. In my favorite stories of The Panther, The Girl with the Horse’s Head or the Silkworm Goddess, and The Night on the Battle Field, these Chinese Fairy Tales leave a lasting impression by playing on people’s fears.

In The Panther, the fear that is used is the fear of losing a parent, especially a mother. The two daughters are left to be by themselves and their mother is killed by a panther. This leads to the second fear played upon in the story: fear of wild animals. The fears that lie in these two things are abandonment and death. The girls are all alone, they have no one anymore and the panther is likely going to kill them if they do not out smart him. It’s a huge fear. The girls just cried and cried in their sorrow and fear and did not know what to do. The merchants that helped the girls out were really good and saved them though because their fear was inhibiting.

The Girl with the Horse’s Head or the Silkworm Goddess was especially scary to because it used the idea of bestiality. That is so scary in my opinion. I don’t even want to think about that idea. The girl in the story didn’t either, that’s why her and her father killed the horse that wanted to marry her. That is how they overcame their fear; killing the source of it. Another fear that I don’t even know is a universal fear, was that the horse skin came back to life and suffocated the girl. Maybe the idea of zombies is what that refers to. I haven’t figured it out yet.

Finally, in The Night on the Battle Field, the fear of life from beyond the grave is utilized. Ghosts will always be a fear for human kind. They can’t be officially proven or falsified. The merchant in this story is literally seeing a scene from the past as if it were real life. That is absolutely terrifying. What if that is happening to us every day and we don’t realize it? He deals with his fear by running, which is a good release of extra energy if you ask me. I would have run the heck away too!

The fear factor of these stories really kept me hooked this week and I hope there are more units like this in the future. Using fear to catch attention leaves a lasting impact on everyone. The parts of life we remember are the parts that scare us the most. 

Essay for Week 5: Insanity

Insanity

(Shah Abbas in Persia, Source: Wikipedia)

I am actually really stumped for what to write about for this week's essay. The stories in the Persian Tales unit are very odd. Very hard to follow. They are very entertaining, don't get me wrong, but they did not have any point or logic. It was almost as if the point of the stories got lost in translation from Persian to English. I feel like these stories were meant for children, to an extent. The death aspect of the tales are what prevent me from fully thinking they're for kids.

For example, The Wolf and the Goat, was a good story for kids. It told them to not give up on what they want. It also shows kids that moms are determined to keep them safe. The goat kills the wolf by means of over drinking water in order to get her kids back. She was so determined and not afraid of the big bad wolf because her kids were in harm's way. This was an odd story, but the ideas given are positive ones.

The City of Nothing in the World was ESPECIALLY weird and hard to follow for me. There was absolutely no point! There also was no death, which made this the most kid friendly story of them all! Kids are really good at weaving crazy stories at the drop of a hat and this seemed like a tale straight from the mouth of babes! Eggs magically turning into chickens, making poles out of needles, gigantic watermelons being fallen into, and cities inside fruits. I never would have come up with this.

The one story that made any sense was Shah Abbas and the Poor Mother. This ine was a story for kids on how to be good to others no matter the circumstances. The weird part of this one was that when the Shah was nice to the mother, it backfired and she was arrested for stealing something she didn't steal. He was nice and honorable a second time around and everything turned out really well for the mother and the kids! The bad guys were arrested and everyone lived happily ever after. This one probably made sense because bringing a bad name to the King of Iran would have been punishable by death. Either they think very highly of their king or they made a nice story about him to keep their lives. It makes sense! Raising children on the idea that they should love their rulers. It's very good.

Essay for Week 4: The Bond of Brothers

The Bond of Brothers

(A Silouhette of a Family! Source: Wikipedia)

This week's reading had a lot of familial ties in it. I feel like every mythological story has a ton of familial relationships, but I noticed this week's especially. From Isis and Osiris and their family, and Nu being the father of everyone, to The Tale of King Rhampsinitus, there are encouraged and discouraged practices a plenty. 

First of all, the parental aspect of all of this was very odd to me. They encouraged revenge a ton. and even the means of revenge was horrible, mothers and fathers were encouraging murder! Especially in Ra and Hathor, Hathor killed a ton of humans and swam in their blood in pleasure! What the heck? Also, the parents encourage the drinking of beer a lot too. In celebration and in tricking others into doing what they want them to do, beer was mentioned a ton. The parents only seem to care about riches and have their family come second, especially the fathers. Like The Book of Thoth, Nefer-ka-ptah just uproots his family and moves them for his own selfish reasons. Also, while he is away searching for the book, he leaves his wife to worry and starve on the beach! The worst part is that because of the father's actions, his wife and son both die. All of these are horrible examples to set for children. On a more positive note, in doing all of these things, the children learn that they can and should stand up for themselves. That is a very good thing in life to do, but there are limits.

Now for the children, they had some bad tendencies too. Granted, the children have bad tendencies because they see their parents have given them wrongful guidance, but it's still bad. In The Tale of King Rhampsinitus, the brother kills his other brother! In an instant, without hesitating or argument! And then he was totally cool with carrying his brother's head out of the room. Then, he was calm, cool, and collected when he had to take his brother's body off of the wall. I just can't even imagine doing that to my sister. The vengeance that these children portrayed throughout this unit was very unsettling.

I cannot imagine any stories being written like this for contemporary stories. I feel like mythology was a very sadistic place and time for everyone. I wonder if real life was this way for the people that lived when these stories were created. Stories often reflect real things; it just makes a girl wonder!  

Essay Week 3: Adam and Eve Assessment

Adam and Eve Assessment 

(Adam and Eve after eating the Forbidden Fruit, Source: Wikipedia)

Growing up in a Presbyterian Christian Church, the creation story and Adam and Eve is nothing foreign to me. I really enjoyed how I already knew a background to this unit; I knew what to expect. The stories from the King James Bible Translation were the stories that were most familiar, word for word familiar. I enjoyed them, but I also really loved the versions of Ginzberg like The Fall of Satan and Lilith, these two were really different! I had never heard the version of Eve naming herself Lilith and disobeying what God wanted, I used this story a bit in my storytelling this week. I liked that he made Eve have an actual personality and not just be a push over. 

I don't think there was any other background information that should have been provided for me, at least. Maybe for someone that is not familiar with the Genesis story or the Bible a bit of a prelude to what they were about to read would have been good, but not for me! I think the fact that I knew the story helped me get through this unit because of the language; some of the old English makes it difficult to get through in a good pace. I know I get frustrated tripping over "thou", "shalt", and "doth" all the time! 

What if there was a different translation of the Bible used? Instead of  the King James, maybe a more contemporary version, so the words are better to comprehend. Also, in They Die a First Time, I had no idea that Adam and Eve came close to death so many times! God revitalized Adam at least five times in this unit. That was news to me. Very interesting news none the less! It made me feel their agony that much more. 

I'm not yet sure what my overall goals are for this class, so I'm not sure how this unit fits in with them, but I definitely learned a lot and a universal goal I have is to learn. I also learned that there are so many different ways to look at a story and to alternate its contents. Even with a story as famous as the creation story. 

I loved the collaboration of parts so much! Gives me hope that I can achieve really awesome storytellings with everything I read this semester! 

Essay Week 2: Visions of Women

Visions of Women

Today's society has a very harsh view of women: How fat are we? How skinny? How tall, how short, how curvy, how straight? What shoes should we wear with what outfit? Should we be in the workforce and the kitchen simultaneously? How much makeup should we wear? There are so many normative questions and stereotypes attached to every woman in society and we see these requirements constantly on TV commercials, magazines, and with celebrities. There is no escaping it. Women are held to stereotypes with little to no leniency. Reading Apuleius's Cupid and Psyche this week showed me that these stereotypes were even attributed to women in the 2nd century. Realizing this also gives me little hope for change in current times for how women are held simply as visionaries.

For starters, Venus was the embodiment of a stereotypical woman on her period. She had so much rage and anger and hostility, the stereotype of a woman's wrath being over dramatic and slightly silly was blatantly evident in this Classic Greek story. Venus was also held to a standard of beauty; no one would worship her if she were ugly. This adds on to my fact that women are typically expected to be seen and not so much heard. I do give kudos to Venus for making herself heard, that woman was a force to be reckoned with and no one was going to stop her.

Moving on to Psyche. Even though Psyche was unorthodoxly a main character in the story, she still was not the brightest bulb in the pack. She actually was pretty dumb. She did not need to look at her husband's face; he told her so many times not to. And the ramifications of doing so were horrible! She was so inept to risk that! Then the second huge mistake Psyche made of looking in the jar of beauty which she also was told not to do, so dumb. Psyche did not seem to be smart or have a mind of her own, but she definitely had the looks. This goes along with the ideal of women being trophy wives yet again; no brains required. Psyche was so submissive the entire time with everyone, always doing what she was told unless huge consequences loomed over her. One other thing, Psyche couldn't go to heaven without Cupid's hand in marriage. This implies that women cannot be spiritually whole without a man. Psyche never once stood up for herself. The vision of women portrayed here is very offensive.

Finally, the manipulative and horribly vengeful acts of Psyche’s two sisters are a bad light for women, too. The actions of revenge to the death to their little sister were atrocious! That shows that women will do anything to get themselves up in the world, no matter who they have to step on. This whole story was just overall bad publicity for women.

The roots of women being simply a thing to see in society and not heard are very deeply anchored in history. Granted, things have improved for females as time has gone on, there are still so many negative stereotypes against us, it is appalling! I'm not usually a feminist by any means in my mind, it just is shocking sometimes to see how differently men are viewed from women today. I couldn't help but pick up on this reoccurring trend throughout this story!

(So original, I know. "Girl Power! Sisters Before Misters!" [Pitch Perfect quote] Source: Wikipedia)