Week 14 Reading Diary: Lang's Fairy Tales I

This week I chose to read Lan's Fairy Tales I from The Brown Fairy Book.

The Master Cat, or Puss in Boots: This was an interesting story. Puss in Boots was a very clever character, giving his owner many great things. His owner didn't like him at first but Puss in Boots definitely proved him wrong.

The Dirty Shepherdess: The fact that the prince tried to find the only person's hand who would fit the ring reminded me of Cinderella a bit. The whole story is basically a small tweak of Cinderella, the princess has terrible parents, spends most of her life cleaning/shepherding, and the only identifying thing about her is the ring.

How the Dragon was Tricked: The story isn't just how a dragon was tricked. It is also about how a greedy king met his gruesome fate allowing the clever young man to have whatever he wanted. I think the story goes a little bit overboard with the way that the young man kills the dragon's wife.

The Young Man Who Would Have His Eyes Opened: This story is the definition of curiosity kills the cat combined with ignorance is bliss. The old wizard in the story even said that "Blindness is man's highest good." Saying that life is better not knowing some things.

Kisa the Cat: I did not expect the cat to be a princess. Part of me was also bummed that Kisa was only doing this good deed to break a curse and not out of the goodness of her cat heart. I understand that she would rather be a princess than a cat but still.

Storytelling Week 13: What Goes Bump in the Night.

It all began on a calm foggy night. All I could see of the moon was a large fuzzy silhouette that gave of just enough light in order to see no more than five feet in front of the car. As I travelled down the dirt road riddled with trees close to each side.

“How much further is it?” asked my brother Alex.

“Shouldn’t be long now.” responded Jacob.

Strangely, we continued the ride in silence for the next couple of miles. When the three of us get together it is normally a non stop rag fest. Being friends since the sixth grade, the filter on our speech has ceased to exist. The longer the silence lasted, the more my thoughts created an anxious tension in my driving.

“You ok?” asked my brother, obviously sensing the tension.

“Ya, I’m ok, just a little nervous about how dense this fog is.” I said slowly, trying to keep my attention on the road.

“I haven’t seen anything this dense since I talked to my little sister this morning!” said Jacob jokingly.

I smiled to myself knowing that joke could have been a lot worse that what it was. When the line is drawn, Jacob likes to find it and then take leaps beyond it.

After passing a four way stop sign and getting back up to speed, my brother turned his head around quickly as if he had seen something. I quickly looked at the rear view mirror on that passenger side that Alex was sitting on to see if I could see anything as well. All I could see was a short black mass as we sped away from it.

“Did you see something?” Jacob asked warily.

“Not sure.” responded Alex. “Could have just been my imagination, but I thought I saw something move across the road really quickly.  

I drove on, thinking only of the few dozen miles left in the trip. Ten minutes passed as we continued in the eerie fog. Suddenly we heard a piercing screech off in the distance.

Alarmed, I asked if either Alex or Jacob could see anything thing through the wall of condensation that surrounded us on all sides. As soon as I asked this, I heard a loud thump come from the top of the car causing me to serve back and forth along the road.

Looking up through the windshield, I could see a pair of talon riddled feet and a large wing that looked as if it belonged to a bat, a disproportionately big on at that. The car continued to swerve due to me overcompensating in trying to get us straight again. Eventually we came to a screeching halt thanks to the back end of my car and a large tree.

(Jeepers Creepers: Thoughless Deviant Art)

The last thing that I remember hearing before I passed out was another large thump on the top of the car.

Author’s Note: While reading the Dante’s Inferno unit, it reminded me of a time that me, my twin brother Alex, and my now roommate Jacob were going to a friends house in the boondocks near Moore. The fog was so bad that we literally couldn’t see 5 feet in front of the car. I decided to include a creature in the story that probably would have come from Dante’s Inferno. The description of Geryon in the story Descending on Geryon’s Back and the description of Satan in the story Satan allowed me to come up with the creature in this story.

Bibliography:

Book Title: Dante’s Divine Comedy

Book Author: Tony Kline

Year: 2002

Story Title: Descending on Geryon’s Back

Source: Descending on Geryon’s Back

Book Title: Dante’s Divine Comedy

Book Author: Tony Kline

Year: 2002

Story Title: Satan

Source: Satan

Week 13 Reading Dairy: Dante's Inferno

I chose to read Dante's Inferno this week. I have heard much about this book but have never seized an opportunity to read it.

Dante and Virgil: Learned about who Dante and Virgil where. Interested to see how Dante's trip goes.

The Gate of Hell and Charon: The idea of a ferryman for the dead reminds me of the 3rd Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

Limbo: It is unfortunate for the people who lived before the creation of the proper way to pray to God. They were given no chance to prove themselves and end up in a hopeless situation.

Poets and Philosophers, Heroes and Heroines: I like how Dante reacted to seeing all of the great people before his time. In todays society it would be like a young girl seeing Taylor Swift. In some ways that saddens me though.

Paolo and Francesca: I was confused about how Dante knew who the couple was. I am assuming it must have been a well known story throughout the land.

Cerberus and Plutos: I couldn't help but to think of the Cerberus character from the Disney Hercules movie when I read this story.

Fortune and Phlegyas: I did like Virgil's explanation of Mother Fortune. She is unpredictable and you will eventually lose. The picture that went along with the description was also a nice touch, showing that you can't always hang on to that wheel.

The Fallen Angels: I was confused as to why the fallen angels would not let them in.

The Furies and the Heretics: I didn't realize that Furies are deities specific to vengance. Now the notes at the beginning of this story makes more sense.

The Minotaur and the Centaurs: I had originally thought that Centaurs were half man half horse. It was good to see that someone was "willing" to help them.

The Harpies and Capaneus: I found it a little gruesome that the sinners in this story were stuck in what I understand to be boiling blood.

The Old Man of Crete and Geryon: I liked the idea that there was a statue somewhere in the world that fed water to the circles of hell. That stream also helps shape the geography of the circles of hell as well.

Descending of Geryon's Back: This was a really cool concept. I am sure that was a thrilling ride.

Jason and the Demons: To be honest when I first read the title of the story I thought about the Jason that comes from Camp Crystal Lake. I was surprised that it was so easy to get the demons to help them.

Caiaphas: Based on the notes, I assumed that the metal coats that the tribe was wearing was equivalent the lead that was coated on the victims of Emperor Frederick II. That would not be a pleasant way to die.

Ulysses and Diomede: I feel sad for the Ulysses' family that he took another trip around the world.

The Giants: I am not sure if the giant Nimrod mention in this story is the same Nimrod from the Noah unit at the beginning of the semester. He wasn't a giant, but I wonder if there is any correlation. Virgil also makes a comment about how one language still does not rule the world. That seems to reflect The Tower of Babel story where God mixes up the language of the people so they cannot complete the tower.

Ugolino: This story saddened me deeply. I would not wish that upon anyone.

Satan: I thought the way that Satan was described was quite interesting. I also thought that the inclusion of Brutus in one of Satan's mouth was fitting to his sins.

Week 12 Storytelling:

It had been an exhausting day of crying, sleeping, and pooping, but I was finally home. Sitting in the lukewarm water of the bathtub Mr. Ducky was right along side me as we were swimming towards the battleship up ahead. When we reached the battleship, which was covered with green army men that were bad guys, we submerged ourselves underneath the water for a short period of time. waiting for right moment. As soon as that moment came, we leapt out of the water so high that we were able to get on to the ship's deck with ease.

Suddenly I felt myself being pulled out of the water and then immediately being wrapped up in a towel. I thrashed back and forth trying to escape so I could get back to Mr. Ducky and the super secret mission that we needed to accomplish to no avail. Eventually the towel was taken off of my head, and I found myself to be dry. As I started to soar through the air with everything whizzing by I put my arms out like I was flying. Out of nowhere I heard a loud cry for help coming from downtown, also known as my bedroom.

(Super Baby: Flikr Jacob Davies)

I flew there as quick as I could, but first, I had to change into my crime fighting outfit (i.e. my onesie). After I had donned the appropriate attire I was ready to figure out the source of the cry for help. Scouring downtown, my eyes quickly fell upon what I knew to be the source of terror. It was my evil twin brother on the other side of the room playing with Legos, he is always up to no good. Before I even knew what had happened, both of us were transported into this crib-like fighting arena.

When both of us had met eyes I said to him, "You know that we have to share this crib tonight right?"

He quickly responded, "I shared a 'room' with you for the last nine months! It isn't going to happen again anytime soon!"

Without giving me a chance to respond, he made the first move trying to punch me with his right hand. I quickly blocked it but was knocked a bit back. I tried to counter with a kick from my left leg, disappointed when it only found air as my brother had moved out of the way. I had severely underestimated his speed and needed to be smarter with my choice of attacks as the battle progressed.

As the battle raged on, bit by bit we started to land blows on each other. We were both evenly matched and I could tell that both of us were beginning to get tired. Finally I saw a weakness in his defence and went for it. I strung together many hits on him with both my fists and my feet and knocked him out of the crib. I don't remember much more than that. I was so tired that I immediately went to sleep in the crib that I was in.

Author's Note: The four stories about Tweedledum and Tweedledee gave me the inspiration for this story. When I read those stories, I felt like the two of them were twin brothers just like me and my twin. In one of the stories, Tweedledum and Tweedledee (end), they get ready to fight each other over a broken rattle. This story reminded me of one of the first nights that me and my brother were back from the hospital. My brother Alex, had tried to kick me out of the crib. To this day, we joke that he had gotten tired of being cramped while we were still in my mom and decided that he didn't want to sleep next to me ever again. I tried to imagine the story in my own eyes.

Bibliography:
Book Title: Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There
Book Author: Lewis Carroll
Book Year: 1871
Story Title: Tweedledum and Tweedledee (end)
Source: Tweedledum and Tweedledee

Week 12 Reading Diary: Through the Looking Glass

This week I have chosen to continue the Alice in Wonderland unit and read the Through the Looking Glass unit.

The four or so stories that included Tweedledum and Tweedledee were quite fascinating. Those stories reminded me of the some of the times spent with my twin brother. From hanging out together, to having fights we have experienced much of what Tweedledum and Tweedledee showed in just those short stories.

I like the occasional inclusion of poems. When I read the unit, they introduced this upbeat reading style that quickened up that pace at which I was reading. I almost felt more energized after I read one of the rhyming poem sections like The Walrus and the Carpenter

Humpty Dumpty's character was a lot more snide and sarcastic than I expected him to be. Based off of the nursery rhyme that I have always heard, I have pictured him to be this helpless egg creature that falls down. In this Humpty Dumpty however, he is a pretty intelligent character (aside from occasionally making up new words).

Week 11 Essay: Assesing Alice in Wonderland

This week I read the unit Alice in Wonderland.

It was a good reprieve from the normal units that I have read in this class. This unit, instead of being a bunch of different units combined, was basically one continuous story. I enjoyed the character development that happened with Alice. You see her begin as a young and naive girl that doesn't think about her immediate actions. As she moves through the different chapters you begin to see her progress her thinking. The more "weird" things that she begins to see, the more desensitized she becomes to them.

I feel like this book serves as a way to comment on the progression of the close mindedness that society has come. I have been talking to my roommate recently about how different societies, lets say the Native Americans as an example, were a communal society. "It took a village to raise a child," to quote my roommate. We used to be a society with white picket fences where everyone knew their neighbor. Then the large grey fences with no holes started coming into view. As this continued through society, people began to know less and less about their neighbors.

(Privacy Fence: Flickr Doug Agassi)

In multiple chapters, Alice says multiple times that she had begun to come accustomed to the "weird" things that happens. From the Cheshire Cat vanishing, the baby turning into a pig, and the strange way that the different characters acted. I think that society has begun to reject what isn't defined as acceptable. Inherently, people have begun and continued to accept things about society that are "just the way it is."

I think this unit has made me reflect on some of the things that society has turned in to. I was surprised that I started to think about these things when reading a unit that is normally regarded as a children's story. I would definitely recommend this unit to others to read.

Week 11 Reading Dairy: Alice In Wonderland

This week I chose to read Alice In Wonderland.

It was a nice refresher from the other units that I have read. Instead of being broken up into many different stories that aren't all apart of a continuous story, this unit has multiple stories that encompass the chapter of a book. I enjoyed the extra detail that could be included because it was a continuous story.

The Caterpillar character has always intrigued me. In Advice from a Caterpillar, Advice from a Caterpillar (cont.), and Advice from a Caterpillar (end), he is just as confusing and strait forward as any of the others that I have read. I like the way that the Caterpillar makes Alice wait each time he starts to smoke the hookah. Alice is a very impatient girl, and her interaction with him forces her to look at things in a different light.

The cinema version of Alice in Wonderland with Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter was great. When I read A Mad Tea-Party, A Mad Tea-Party (cont.), and A Mad Tea-Party (end) I felt that Johnny Depp's performance was done quite well comparatively. The conversations that Alice and the Mad Hatter had were all over the place and had no real logic involved.

I think my favorite chapter was The Queen's Croquet Ground. In The Queen's Croquet Ground, The Queen's Croquet Ground (cont.), and The Queen's Croquet Ground (end) there is a lot of random things happening. I chuckled many different times whenever the chapter talked about the miss happenings with tr the hedgehogs and the flamingos. I did not care much for the queen herself. She has always been a crude character.

I was  little upset that the chapters skipped around, but I can definitely understand that it would have been a bit ridiculous to include all of the chapters in the book for us too read in one unit. Overall I really enjoyed reading this unit.