Author: ee155202

NO-CARD
12/6/15

E.C. “Girls Will Be Boys” – Tom Sawyer & Chandler Bing

In Mark Twain’s Adventures of Tom Sawyer, the titular character is a feisty young boy, “typical” of that time period. He follows the gender binary, as shown in chapter 3 when he becomes infatuated with Becky on sight. He takes one look at her and “pretend he did not know she was present, and began to ‘show off’ in all sorts of absurd boyish ways, in order to win her admiration” (Twain). This falls into the stereotype of boys having to go out and impress girls while still “looking cool”, assuming the girl will automatically fall head-over-heels for his obvious act.

In modern times, this is one of the most common gender binaries to be “messed with”. An example would be one of the most memorable episodes of “Friends”, when Chandler can’t propose to Monica because he’s crying too hard, so Monica kneels down to propose to him. They eventually end up doing it together, with Monica initiating the surprise and Chandler finishing the proposal, thus messing with the traditional “man proposes to woman” approach. I’m attaching the clip below for reference.

Crane, David, and Marta Kauffman. “The One with the Proposal: Part 2.” Friends. Dir. Kevin Bright. NBC. Los Angeles, California, 18 May 2000. Television.

Twain, Mark. Adventures of Tom Sawyer. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Project Gutenberg. Gutenberg Press, 20 Aug. 2006. Web. <http://www.gutenberg.org/files/74/74-h/74-h.htm>.

12/5/15

Racial Innocence – “Liberty’s Kids”

When I was growing up, one of my favorite shows was the PBS historical fiction series “Liberty’s Kids”. There are three main characters- a British girl named Sarah, a young French boy named Henri, and the lead, a white teenager named James. Henri is the plucky, unintelligent kid with an exaggerated French accent while Sarah is a slightly smarter damsel in distress. James is the one who is the start and end of plans, and is always in the center of the action.

Moreover, there is a recurring character named Moses. Moses is a freed slave from Africa- despite this, he has no accent to speak of. He works for Ben Franklin and seems content to go on adventures with the kids. In the episode I’m citing, he watches his brother get sold and then tries to free him. His brother resists, calling it “too dangerous” and both Moses and his brother submit to the will of their oppressors. Moses seems perfectly happy to be a freed slave in America and is not shown to be struggling or a second-class citizen at all. He agrees to let his brother take a deal, in which he is freed if he fights for the British army. This is seen as an opportunity on the show, whereas in real life this seems like a terribly unfair deal. I’m attaching the segment of the episode below for reference.

McIntyre, Doug, and Jim Staahl. “Librty or Death.” Liberty’s Kids. PBS. 5 Sept. 2002. Television.

10/23/15

Group D Binary Post: Privilege vs Chore

In the second chapter of “Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, Tom is stuck whitewashing the fence but soon gets Ben to do it for him by smooth talking him. Ben gives him grief for being stuck washing the fence, seen as a chore and therefore boring. However, Tom argues that it is the opposite- a fun privilege. Tom realizes that “…in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain.” (Twain). He makes it seem like a lofty task and not boring at all. It instantly seems desirable and soon Ben is doing Tom’s work for him. The binary here states that if something is a chore, it is completely unfulfilling while a privilege is fun and entertaining, regardless of the actual task.

 

Twain, Mark. “Chapter II.” The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Project Gutenberg, 2008. Print.

10/23/15

Early American- “Lucy’s Studies”

In chapter 11 of “Lucy’s Studies”, titled “A Conversation”, we follow Lucy speaking to Mary Jay about what she should focus on while studying. After Mary Jay suggests that Lucy speak to her mother, Lucy’s cousin, Royal, ends up bringing Mary Jay to Lucy’s home to speak to her parents herself. Lucy’s father explains that he prefers that Lucy, as a young child, should focus on arithmetic and reading/writing because they’re simple subjects, as opposed to something such as history or geography, which he says would be hard for a child to comprehend.

 

When reading this text, I instantly thought of the PBS cartoon “Liberty’s Kids”, which I watched avidly as a child. It follows three children who live through the Revolutionary War and interact with the founding fathers. Whereas Lucy’s father argues that a child cannot grasp history because “she cannot have any adequate idea of the truth, because the elements of it are beyond her capacity.” (Abbott 138), the protagonists of “Liberty’s Kids” deal with everything from the treason of Benedict Arnold to the injustice of slavery. He does not believe that a child could understand things like war and rebellion while the latter creates fictional characters to relate to children and going to lengths to make history easily understandable to young children like Lucy. At the end of the chapter, when Lucy tells her father that a duck’s feet wouldn’t make good rudders because they would crash on the ground, she demonstrates her capacity for critical thinking. Lucy proves that a child really could grasp difficult concepts, but in their own simple way.

 

Abbott, Jacob. “A Conversation.” Cousin Lucy at Study. Boston: B.B. Mussey, 1842. Print.

10/6/15

Group D Mess Post: Rollo and Morality

Interestingly enough, I came across a fellow classmate’s binary post about Abbott’s “Rollo at Play” that addresses the Right vs Wrong binary that used the exact passage I had in mind to use for a mess post. They refer to Jonas’ admonishment of Rollo and James on pages 22 through 24 as clear indications of right and wrong; however, I believe that this is a distinct attempt on Abbott’s part to show a gray area in right and wrong. Specifically, James starts out giving Rollo the option to “let [him] settle it, or [he] will lead [Rollo] home to [his] mother, and tell her about it, and let her settle it” (Abbott 22). Rather than deferring to Rollo’s parents right away as adults are taught to do in times of trouble, he gives Rollo, the young child, the ability to choose what will happen as a result of his actions. There is no direct course of action brought by Rollo’s misconduct; Rollo now gets to choose not what’s right and what’s wrong, but instead what is “better”.

Abbott, Jacob. “Forgotten Chapters of Boston’s Literary History.” Rollo at Play, Or, Safe Amusements, Boston. Thomas H. Webb & Co., 1838. Web. 6 Oct. 2015. <http://www.bostonliteraryhistory.com/chapter-4/jacob-abbott-rollo-play-or-safe-amusements-boston-thomas-h-webb-co-1838>.

09/14/15

Child as a Site of Desire: Hansel and Gretel

“Hansel and Gretel” is the story of two siblings who live in the woods. During a period of famine, their mother convinces their father to abandon the children deep in the woods. The children try to find the way back but get diverted along the way by a witch with an edible house that eventually tries to eat the children. The main adult desire at play is a desire for an easy solution to life’s problems.

The first example of this is the parents’ decision to leave the children in the woods. The woman argues that “…’all four of [them] will starve. All you can do is to plane the boards for our coffins.'” (Grimm). when the man tells her he cannot possibly leave his children. In a first world country today, this would not even be thought of as an option. However, it does seem like the easiest solution to their problems.

Later on in the story, Hansel and Gretel divert from their mission to get home and begin to eat pieces of the witch’s house. Though they were hungry and had little bread left, just following their trail of crumbs would have been the most responsible solution. The house made of cake represents the adult desire for convenience and getting a “break” from life.

In both instances, the desire for the easy way out wins out in the decision but also leads to misfortune. Though it reflects the short-term happiness adults find from wanting to take shortcuts, it ends poorly for each of the characters in the long run.

Hansel and Gretel by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, “Hänsel und Grethel,” Kinder- und Hausmärchen [Children’s and Household Tales — Grimms’ Fairy Tales], vol. 1, 7th ed. (Göttingen: Verlag der Dieterichschen Buchhandlung, 1857), no. 15, pp. 79-87.

Grimm, Jacob, Wilhelm Grimm, and D.L. Ashilman. “Hansel and Gretel.” Grimm 015. University of Pittsburgh, 7 Sept. 2011. Web. 14 Sept. 2015. <http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm015.html>.

09/8/15

How to Read Children’s Literature: Bluebeard

What a reader is asked to KNOW:

About Life

  • Blue is not a natural/normal color for human hair.
  • There was once a time when men were perceived as “dominant”, and wives had to listen to the rules of their husbands.
  • Swords are weapons used to kill.

About Language

  • Basic comprehension of English, i.e., reading from left to right, how sentences and paragraphs are formed to create thoughts.
  • Quotations and how they are used to separate dialogue from narration.
  • Language as it is used to express emotion.
  • Why “Blue Beard” goes from an identifying characteristic to a proper noun.

About Literature

  • How to differentiate “bad” characters from “good” characters, and how their actions differentiate them.
  • That identifiers can be used as nicknames.
  • How to spot elements of foreshadowing in the main character’s journey.

What a reader is asked to DO:

  • Put letters and words together into conscious streams of thought that relate to one another.
  • Comprehend the beginning, climax, and resolution of the given story.
  • Feel surprise at sudden character shifts and deception.

Who is the implied reader?

The implied reader of “Bluebeard” is a child. This assumption is owing to the fact that the writing is simple and straightforward, with limited (if any) use of simile, metaphor, or other literary devices. It is written in simple prose with very few characters having actual names. However, the child would need to read in the presence of an adult to better comprehend the darker themes of death and deception. A couple of potentially harmful results would be the child assuming that ALL wives had to listen to their husbands, and that people with blue hair/beards are untrustworthy.

09/1/15

Kolobok

Once upon a time there lived an old man and an old woman who were very poor and had nothing at all to their name. And they kept getting poorer and poorer till there was nothing left to eat in the house, not even bread, Said the old man:

“Do bake us a bun, old woman! If you scrape out the flour-box and sweep out the bin, you’ll have enough flour.”

So the old woman scraped out the flour-box and swept out the bin, she made some dough and she shaped a little round bun out of it. She then lit the oven, baked the bun and put it on the window sill to cool. But the bun jumped out of the window and onto the bench outside, and from the bench onto the ground, and away it rolled along the road!

On and on’ it rolled, and it met a Rabbit coming toward it.The little round bun (Kolobok)

“I’m going to eat you up, Little Round Bun!” called the Rabbit.

“Don’t do that, Fleet-Feet, let me sing you a song instead,” said Little Round Bun.

“All right, let’s hear it!”
“Here it is!

“I was scraped from the flour-box
And swept from the bin
And baked in the oven
And cooled on the sill.
I ran away from Grandpa,
I ran away from Grandma,
And I’ll run away from you, this minute I will!”

And off it rolled and away. By and by it met a Wolf coming toward it.

“I’m going to eat you up, Little Round Bun!” called the Wolf.

“Don’t do that, Brother Wolf, let me sing you a song instead.”

“All right, let’s hear it!”

“I was scraped from the flour-box
And swept from the bin
And baked in the oven
And cooled on the sill.
I ran away from Grandpa,
I ran away from Grandma,
And I’ll run away from you, this minute I will!”

And away it rolled.

By and by it met a Bear coming toward it.

“I’m going to eat you up, Little Round Bun!” called the Bear.

“Don’t do that, Brother Bear, I’ll sing you a song instead!”
“All right, let’s hear it!”

“I was scraped from the flour-box
And swept from the bin
And baked in the oven
And cooled on the sill.
I ran away from Grandpa,
I ran away from Grandma,
And I’ll run away from you, this minute I will!”

And away it rolled and away!

By and by it met a Fox coming toward it.

“I’m going to eat you up, Little Round Bun!” called the Fox.

“Don’t do that, Sister fox, I’ll sing you a song instead.”

“All right, let’s hear it!”

“I was scraped from the flour-box
And swept from the bin
And baked in the oven
And cooled on the sill.
I ran away from Grandpa,
I ran away from Grandma,
And I’ll run away from you, this minute I will!”

“Sing some more, please, don’t stop!” the Fox said. “Hop onto my tongue, I can hear you better.”

Little Round Bun jumped onto the Fox’s tongue and began to sing:

“I was scraped from the flour-box
And swept from the bin-”

But before it could go on, the Fox opened her mouth and – snap! -she gobbled it up.

(Author Unknown)

“Kolobok (The Little Round Bun).” Russian Crafts. Russian Crafts. Web. 1 Sept. 2015.

http://russian-crafts.com/russian-folk-tales/kolobok.html