Conclusion


Well, this is it. My final blog post. Over the past several weeks, I have learned a lot of interesting things about fairy tales and was exposed to a variety that I had no idea existed. At the beginning of the semester, I mentioned that I was excited to read tales from other cultures and was very happy that this is exactly what we ended up doing. Of the atlas of tales that we read, I think that my favorite were probably the Native American and Arabic ones for their beauty and humor. I also really enjoyed the modern short stories, films, and cartoons that we analyzed for their relationships to the classic fairy tales. It was fascinating to see how these tales continue to permeate our culture and I even found my favorite tale of the ones we have read this semester in Oscar Wilde’s “The Nightingale and the Rose.” The critical theories articulated by von Franz and Bettelheim were very interesting too. I especially liked Bettelheim’s notion of fairy tales as something that children can use to work through the challenges of growing up and von Franz’s discussion of how archetypal experiences can become fairy and folk tales. Overall, I really enjoyed this class and cannot wait to tell some of the new tales I heard to my little cousins next time they ask we to tell them story.


Thank you, Dr. Esa!

Image result for dark forest path
                                www.nc-mag.com/2012/04/what-happens-on-dark-forest-path.html

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What are Fairy and Folk Tales?

Image
If we are going to be spending the next several weeks discussing folk and fairy tales, I think that it will be useful to try and first define what exactly we mean by these two terms. Based on what we've read so far and the discussions we've had in class, it seems that there are at least two main features of folk and fairy tales which we might examine in order to help us to get at what they are and how they relate to each other and to other pieces of literature.  The most important feature of both a folk tale and a fairy tale is the presence of magic or other fantastical elements in the story. A folk or fairy tale might, for example, involve characters such as witches or fairy godmothers who can perform magic and make impossible things happen, or it might include strange creatures such as ogres or talking animals. Typically, the story will also involve a regular person (often a young person) interacting with the magical elements of the world. Bettelheim argues that these ma...
Read more

Introduction

Image
My name is John McEachern and I am writing this blog as a part of Dr. Esa's class on folk and fairy tales at McDaniel college. Although I am taking this class mainly to fulfill an honors elective requirement, I chose this class specifically because I have always had an interest in myths, legends, and folk tales. When I was younger, I had a particular fascination with stories of mythical creatures and I have a lot of great memories looking for them in the woods during by older brother's baseball games. I don't really believe in these kinds things anymore, but I still love to read stories about ghosts, magic, and monsters and think that their is an inherent value in the sense of thrill, mystery, and wonder at the world that such stories impart. In this class, I am looking forward (first of all) to reading fairy and folk tales every week and feeling these emotions as I do so. I am also looking forward to learning how to view fairy tales from a literary perspective and lea...
Read more

The Poetry of Arabic Folktales

Image
This week, McDaniel Arabic Professor Carol Zaru came in to tale to our class about Arabic folktales. Much like in the other cultures that we have looked so far, the Arabic tales were told both for entertainment and to pass on certain moral lessons. Arabic tales for entertainment include the stories of the Thousand and One Nights and the stories of Joha, a simpleton or trickster character who has spread and been adapted by cultures throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and the Mediterranean. Stories about him are often short and humorous, reminding me a little of some of the Jewish stories we have read, such as "A Dispute in Sign Language" or "Chelm Justice." Another kind of Arabic story features two jackals named Kalila and Dimna. These tales originated in the court of an Indian king, but spread across the Middle East as tales which provide the hearer with wisdom and moral knowledge. One feature of Arabic tales I found to be particularly interesting is the rol...
Read more