Author: jk151431

5081190214808305
12/7/15

The Dog and the Wolf

A gaunt Wolf was almost dead with hunger when he happened to meet a House-dog who was passing by.

“Ah, Cousin,” said the Dog.
“I knew how it would be; your irregular life will soon be the ruin of you. Why do you not work steadily as I do, and get your food regularly given to you?”

“I would have no objection,” said the Wolf, “if I could only get a place.”

“I will easily arrange that for you,” said the Dog; “come with me to my master and you shall share my work.”

So the Wolf and the Dog went towards the town together. On the way there the Wolf noticed that the hair on a certain part of the Dog’s neck was very much worn away, so he asked him how that had come about.

“Oh, it is nothing,” said the Dog. “That is only the place where the collar is put on at night to keep me chained up; it chafes a bit, but one soon gets used to it.”

“Is that all?” said the Wolf. “Then good-bye to you, Master Dog.”

Moral of Aesops Fable: Better starve free than be a fat slave

 

Aesop, . ““The Dog and the Wolf”.” Aesop’s Fables. Lit2Go Edition. 1867. Web. <http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/35/aesops-fables/381/the-dog-and-the-wolf/>. December 07, 2015.

12/7/15

Alice and Leslie Knope

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland depicts a female protagonist who is subservient and is very much in a patriarchal society. For example, when Alice confronts the caterpillar who tells her to eat the mushroom and also gives her the instruction that “one side will make you grow taller, and the other side will make you grow shorter” (73). This instruction is very ambiguous. She doesn’t know what the food will exactly do to her, but without hesitation or question, she does as she is told. This is the stereotype of the servile woman being fulfilled.

A contemporary depiction of gender expression would be best shown through Leslie Knope on the famous TV show Parks and Recreation. Never before has a woman been so defiantly and clearly been a leader on her own television show, which allows her to follow her own path and make her decisions. The contrast between Knope and Alice is extraordinary; Leslie Knope highlights the infantile and subservient nature of Alice in the book by being herself such a powerful and mature woman character. Alice demonstrates that Leslie is someone whom she could strive to be, but is not there yet. The hope is that Alice can morph into Leslie as soon as possible.

 

 

Citation:

Carroll, Lewis. “Advice from a Caterpillar.” Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. New York: Knopf, 1988. 73. Print.

Parks and Recreation

12/7/15

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, there is a clear description of and introduction to the goblins at Gringotts Wizarding Bank. In the book, the goblins are described as having “swarthy, clever face[s], a pointed beard…very long fingers and feet”. While this description in the book in and of itself doesn’t necessarily convey a specific race, the way that the goblins are described in the movie can be defiantly considered a racial depiction.  Look at the picture below for a visual representation of the goblins:

Goblin

The goblins, especially as they are depicted in the movies, are virtually all hook-nosed, short, and unattractive. They also perpetuate a stereotype that the Jewish population has been considered a part of, which is that their involvement with the financial sector.

The allusions to race don’t exist only in the movies, however. Professor Binns, as the professor of History of Magic, alludes to the oppression of the goblin race for many years which has led to segregation, exclusion, and revolts. The references to the entirety of the Jewish race are too blatant to ignore. There are many stereotypes shared by the goblins with the Jewish population, from their appearance to their description.

The text communicates innocence to this entire idea because we are in a different world, first of all. Harry Potter is a children’s book set in a fantasy world where this kind of thing is commonplace: goblins do indeed look like this. According to Rowling, this isn’t a racist depiction, but an accurate depiction of what the bankers of Gringotts Wizarding Bank might actually look like. This is the fantasy world.

 

Works Cited:

Picture: https://www.google.com/search?q=gringotts&espv=2&biw=784&bih=767&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi6n7u608rJAhXMqx4KHdaCARwQ_AUIBigB#tbm=isch&q=gringotts+goblin&imgrc=dOjPEDtw0ulTYM%3A

Rowling, J. K. “Diagon Alley.” Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. New York: Scholastic Corporation, 1997. 100-01. Print.

10/28/15

Group C Mess Post

The privilege vs. chore binary that was introduced by a fellow classmate in a previous binary post is something that can be addressed with by talking about “The Planter’s Son” from The Rose Bud Wreath. In “The Planter’s Son”, Jim, the slave, doesn’t want to do his master’s bidding. He “grumbles” and “affects not to hear” his master’s orders (66). William is furious and goes to harm Jim, but is stopped by his brother. However, in so doing, William actually nearly fatally injures his brother. Jim, seeing all of this, comes up to William and says, ” ‘Nudder time me gwine to fetch to fetch Mass Billy horse’ “(69).  Jim, who is so full of guilt, tells his master that something like this will never happen again.

The binary introduced previously was that chores, as opposed to privileges, are completely unfulfilling and boring. After witnessing a traumatic event, however, Jim doesn’t believe that his chores are unfulfilling or boring. He is racked with so much guilt that his complaints about chores disappear. In that moment, the previously mentioned binary is complicated, because while the chore might still be boring as an obligation, Jim’s guilt from this moment will never cause him to complain about his duties again.

Otherwise, someone might die.

Gilman, Caroline Howard. “The Planter’s Son.” The Rose-Bud Wreath.Charleston .: Published by S. Babcock, 1841. 63-70. Print.

Group D Binary Post: https://blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/childish/?p=1230

10/19/15

The Steeple Trap vs. Mulan

“The Steeple Trap” contains four sections, each denoting the chronological order of events that occurs to this family and friends. First, the group tries to catch a squirrel, and the second section is about this group catching the squirrel, but subsequently losing it. The third section is about the group catching the squirrel, letting it loose in the wild, and trying to think of a clever way to mark it so that the group knows what squirrel they had caught. They dye the squirrel. The final section is really about the imagination of children, and how simple things like fire can supplement and build upon a child’s dreams.

This text reminds me of the animated movie, Mulan. Both stories have a central theme of persistence because of a desire to achieve something. For Rollo and James, more so than Jonas, they want to see the squirrel up close. They want to capture it and claim it. For Mulan, dressing up like a man and training harder than she previously thought possible are both necessary in order to prevent her weak father from joining the army. And both stories end up in a resolution that really has nothing to do with the original plot line: In The Steeple Trap, the boys lose the squirrel. However, the group has a beautiful bonfire and role play savages and indians. In Mulan, Mulan is sent home because she is found out to be faking her gender. However, the happy ending is that she marries her captain.

Both stories end their respective tales after incredible amounts of persistence and effort doing what they did. It’s just that the way they did it doesn’t coherently follow the original storyline.

Bibliography:

Abbott, Jacob. “The Steeple Trap.” Rollo At Play. Boston: Phillips, Sampson, 1855. 35-65. Print. 
10/12/15

Binary Post (Group C): The Truant Boy + The Truant Boy’s End

The obvious binary that we can see in the two parts of this story is Good v. Bad. Now, the binary is purposefully very broad, because within these very broad concepts are a lot of different and narrow-minded opinions that were indicative of the environment in which they were written.

One thing that stands out in this story is the idea of predestination.  The story pounds into one’s mind the idea that one mistake will inevitably lead to another, which will lead to another, and before you know it, you’re on a boat regretting your entire life’s purpose. Given the story’s context, which is some time in the 19th century, we can conceivably see that religion is the engine behind these thoughts. By not acting like a good boy would, or like a religious boy would, the path that Henry has taken is one that he can not come back from. His life will end in hell. This quote, which is on page 175 explains as much:

“Poor Henry! How much he was to be pitied! And, yet, he had no one to blame but himself, for his sorrows… if he would now truly repent…he might be happy. But…he had not resolution to break away from his wicked companions” (175).

The author of the story is urging Henry to repent, but we know that it is not to be happy, like the story says. It is to be freed from his unwinding path to hell. And so, the good v. bad binary that I mentioned before doesn’t actually seem to be the real binary. The story  masks what binary they are actually trying to equate with good v. bad. Good, to the story, means religious, and bad means not religious.

 

“The Truant Boy.” MESSRS. ABBOTT, Mount Vernon Reader, a Course of Reading Lessons, New York: Collins, Keese & Co., 1841. Collins, Keese, & Co., 1841. Web. 10 Oct. 2015. 
09/16/15

Child As A Site Of Adult Desire: “Fantastic Mr. Fox”

Roald Dahl’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox” is a beloved children’s story that tells the tale of a fox that discovers a way to feed his family by stealing from a chicken farmer, a goose farmer, and a cider brewer. Essentially, the story ends with the protagonist having done nothing to fix his ways, and his family and friends subsist off of the cleverness of this fox.

The desire in this story is clear. Adults are constrained by society. Stealing is a wrong practice, but Dahl justifies it by portraying the protagonist as a clever, debonair, and kind-hearted animal and the three farmers as villainous and nasty farmers. Because of this juxtaposition, the reader finds the story more palpable, but the essential act of what the fox is doing cannot be masked. We have the desire to steal, and especially from bad people. But society has stopped us from letting out our “animal side”. We have to hope other man-made constructs, like the justice system, will equal the balances and hurt those who deserve it. This is why it is our fantasy to harm those people who deserve it in our eyes.

To a child, then, the story is nothing but a clever fox who innocently steals to provide for his family and to harm those people who he believes deserves it. The children read this story and cheer on the fox, because they know who the good one is. They are taken to a fantastical world wherein foxes are clever and can talk to badgers, and the good guy always wins. An adult will read this story and cheer on the fox not because he’s clever, but because he can do the things that the adult can’t. He lives a fantasy through this clever fox who takes down the bad guy, because the good guy has to sometimes do bad things to make the bad guys pay. The problem is, society won’t let us. But we’d all love to be the fox.

 

Dahl, Roald, and Donald Chaffin. Fantastic Mr. Fox. New York: Knopf, 1970. Print.

 

 

 

09/8/15

How To Read Children’s Literature: “The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing”

What a Reader is Asked to Know:

About Life:

  • What a sheep is, what a wolf is, what a shepherd and his dogs are what they do, what a lamb is
  • What the relationship between the wolves and different animals (sheep and lamb in particular) is
  • What it means to wear a different skin of animal, especially that a wolf is clever enough to do so
  • What it means to prey on animals

About Language:

  • The importance of the capitalization of different character’s titles
  • In what perspective the story is being told
  • Vocabulary – certain words need to be understood to see the dynamic between wolves and sheep more clearly, such as “vigilance” and “deceiving”

About Literature:

  • That certain texts will describe things in a fictional way in order to depict lessons that are applicable to our reality – a fable
  • Reading and understanding the impossible, such as a wolf who is able to wear the skin of a sheep and effectively pass as a real one.

What a Reader is Asked to do:

  • Understand that this is a fable in which the reader will learn a lesson about life through the characters in the story.

Who is the implied reader of the text? What reader might know these things? What reader might be moved to do what is asked of them to do?

The implied readers of his text are children, based on the brevity and simplicity of the story. The story itself exploits the inherent predator-prey interaction between wolves and lambs. The wolf cannot get close to the sheep because of the protection provided by the shepherd and his watchdogs, so the wolf deceives by wearing the skin of a sheep to get closer to his prey and ultimately eat it. The lesson that is imparted to the implied reader is  “Appearances are deceptive”, but it is a lesson that doesn’t have to be given only to children, as adults who are reading it can understand and apply the lesson in everyday life as well.

09/1/15

The Ant and the Grasshopper

IN a field one summer’s day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart’s content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with great toil an ear of corn he was taking to the nest.
“Why not come and chat with me,” said the Grasshopper, “instead of toiling and moiling in that way?”

“I am helping to lay up food for the winter,” said the Ant, “and recommend you to do the same.”

“Why bother about winter?” said the Grasshopper; “we have got plenty of food at present.”

But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil. When the winter came the Grasshopper had no food, and found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing every day corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer. Then the Grasshopper knew:

 

“IT IS BEST TO PREPARE FOR THE DAYS OF NECESSITY.”

 

Jacobs, Joseph. “Aesop’s Fables.” 1909. The Harvard Classics. By Charles William Eliot. Vol. 17.

New York: P.F. Collier & Son, 1909. P.25. Print. The Harvard Classics.