Monthly Archives: February 2018

The Wicked Stepmother

I read  The Wicked Stepmother (India). This story is kind of similar to the Cinderella story but in kind of version of a ancedote. In this story there was a family who loved each other and one day the husband and the wife promised each other not to eat anything without each other otherwise if one of them breaks the promisepromisethey would turn to goat. And one day the wife tried her kid’s food(baby food) while feeding them when her husband was not home. So she turns into a goat because she broke the promises. And her husband found out when he got home, he tied his wife in his house yard.

Years later he remarries and his second wife (stepmother) treats hus kids badly and she gives them very little food. Later on the goat find out about it and give her kids food securely from the stepmother. And the stepmother gives a birth to a one eyed daughter. When her daughter starts to talk and walk she sends her daughter to play with kids and find out how her stepsiblings secretly eat food. So when stepmother finds out that the goat gives her stepchildren food, she tries to kill the goat andpretends tobe sick and  tells her husband that she needs to eat goat meat in order to get better.

When her stepchildren hears it, they run and tell to goat about it. The goat tells her children its better to die instead of living this type of life. So they kill the goat, stepmother and her daughter eats all meat, her stepchildren eats the bone. One day when her stepchildren were washing their face on the river one of the stepdaughter’s nose rind falls in the water. So, the fish eats the girl’s nose ring and the kind of the country orders fish for his lunch and servant catchs the fish from river and serves the king and when king finds a nose ring from his plate he tell to find to wh does the nore ring belongs to. When he finds out the ring belongs to the girl, he calls her to his kingdom and he falls in love with her beauty and marries her and supports her family.

Flurry

Definition(noun): a gust of wind, brief light of snowfall, a short period of things happening at once.

Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flurry

In the short story “Bia Lowe: I Always Write About My Mother When I Start To Write.” The word flurry was used in the third paragraph and it said. “But at that moment, as I watched her reel in a flurry of smells and powders, I must have felt myself to be quite separate from her.” When I first read this sentence I didn’t think too much of the word because I felt it wasn’t important to understanding the sentence. Now that I actually look up the word I feel that it gives the reader of more vivid picture of what is going on. As I understand it is she/he, the main character saw and smelled her/his mom put on the makeup and perfume and it happen to come together around her mom to make a beautiful sight. To better explain it is a picture bellow.

Image result for flurry of snow

Pretend that the snow around is the powder and smell, if it had a physical form and the baseball player is the mom.

The Story of “Tam and Cam“ – from Vietnam

The story that I chose was “The Story of Tam and Cam” from Vietnam. Some aspects that are familiar in other cinderella stories are evident right away. Tam, the protagonist of the tale, is locked away in her room, while her father and new bride celebrate their marriage by hosting a banquet in their house. Later on in the story, the father and Tam’s new step mother have a new baby girl named Cam. The stepmother loves Cam and despises Tam. Soon, Tam’s own father starts to hate Tam because of the lies that his wife had been feeding him about Tam.

We later learn that Tam is physically abused by her step mother, and made to do physically grueling work in hopes that Tam accidentally dies. From these events, the reader can make the connection to other Cinderella stories where the protagonist is neglected, abused, and has a wicked family.

One aspect that was unfamiliar was when Tam was reincarnated into a songbird. Not only that, but she was also reincarnated into a tree and a fruit later on in the tale.  

What I found most surprising of this tale was when Tam died. When I watch, read, or listen to a story, I have become so accustomed to the main character never being able to be killed, even when the situations they were in would almost certainly guarantee death, so this part of the story was very unexpected.

The most telling part of this tale was when Cam wanted to become as beautiful as Tam. Cam asked Tam how to become as white as her. Tam suggested taking a bath in boiling water to become as white as her. This was very telling of the beauty values of Vietnam, and suggested to me that white skin is considered very attractive in Vietnam.

Puritanical

Puritanical(adverb)- of, relating to, or characterized by a rigid morality.

Source-https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/puritanical

I found the word puritanical while reading the story There Was Once by Margaret Atwood. The word is on page 70 in the third paragraph. I’ve never really heard the word before and I was curious to know the definition.

“There was once a girl of indeterminate descent, as average looking as she was good ,who lived with her wicked-”

“Another thing. Good and wicked. Don’t you think you should transcend those puritanical judgmental moralistic epithets? I mean, so much of that is conditioning, isn’t it?”

Now looking back at that part of the reading knowing what the word means I understand what the writer was trying to go for. The word puritanical is basically another word for strict religion and strong faith. The author was trying to show that it shouldn’t be good vs wicked because that’s seen in most typical pieces of literature and the good ones always have a strong connection to moral behavior.

“The Little Red Fish and The Golden Clog“

So I decided to read “The Little Red Fish and The Golden Clog“–from Iraq. It’s a great twist to the original story. Obviously it follows the original story of curses, Prince Charming and evil step mothers. What is different is this little red fish. I personally feel like it symbolizes her mother. This little red fish saves and takes care of this young woman. I love the twist to this story is that the young woman finds her prince and the other sisters are left with their mother but when one of them do get married the mother ends up ruining her. Karma came back and bit her! This story is obviously a little different because it talks about different cultures like small details like henna, the classical dress wear and the way of living. Also it was very similar like going to the ball and having the symbolic object that grants you desired things. In this story it’s the little red fish. I feel like theres a lot of symbolism in this story. What surprised me was how the other sisters ended up. I feel like this showed how humble and kind she was because she went through all this mistreat and never said anything. She is the one that came out with the best outcome. So overall i enjoyed this story because she came out with happiness while the others were stuck in the house with their nasty mother. Also she forever remembers her mother through that fish. I wish the father played a bigger role. i also love how they have animals play a stronger role on her happiness, getting a snow white feel. Overall great story and a great second read

Transcend

Transcend (verb) – to rise above or go beyond the limits of

Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/transcend

From “There Was Once” by Margaret Atwood

I came across this word while reading “There Was Once” by Margaret Atwood. It appears towards the end of the reading as the author talks about word usage, it caught my interest because I had an idea of what it meant but didn’t know it’s exact definition so it threw off my understanding of what the reader was trying to say.

“Another thing. Good and wicked. Don’t you think you should transcend those puritanical judgmental moralistic epithets? I mean, so much of that is conditioning, isn’t it?”

After reading the definition of the word I better understand the context of how the author was using it in that part of the text. As seen in the quote, they used it to describe how they should improve on the words they used previously by using better words to express their message. The words “good” and “wicked” weren’t good enough so they decided to go above and beyond to use better words, or to “Transcend” their word use.

Wroth

Wroth >>> : intensely angry : highly incensed : wrathful.

When i was reading one of the Cinderella versions  The Baba Yaga  by Aleksandr Afanasyev, I came across this word and it was unfamiliar. This was the context

“As soon as her father had heard all about it, he became wroth with his wife”

While reading the story I could understand what the word meant generally, but I wanted to make sure I was on the right track. Due to the mistreatment from the girls stepmother the father became really angry and took action. I guess you can remember the word Wroth as Wrathful which also means angry or having intense anger.

 

Dagger

Dagger (noun) – a sharp pointed knife for stabbing

Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dagger

From “Yeh-Shen, A Cinderella Story“ by Aai-Ling Louie

While reading the story written by Aai-Ling Louie, Yeh-Shen, A Cinderella Story I happened to glance a part of the story that surprised me. The use of the word Dagger surprised me because I didn’t think this story of Cinderella would have such a word in it.

“Yeh-Shen was given the worse jobs and the only friend she had was a beautiful fish with big golden eyes . Each day the fish came out of the water onto the bank to be fed by Yeh-Shen. Now Yen-Shen had little food for herself but she was willing to share with the fish. Her stepmother hearing about the fish disguised herself as Yen-Shen and enticed the fish from the water. She stabbed it with a dagger, and cooked the fish for dinner. Yeh-Shen was distraught when she learned of the fish’s death.”

This part of the story surprised me because we all know the story about Cinderella how her stepmother and her daughters treated Cinderella poorly because she was beautiful. Then she wants to go to the ball but isn’t allowed so she visits her mothers tree and meets the fairy godmother. But in this story from China it is much different. Louie uses the fish as a replacement of the fairy godmother. The death of the fish made Yeh-Shen sad and what was left of the fish which was the bones was what gave her the dress and golden shoes.

Cinderella Story

I read the Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper by Charles Perrault. The whole story I was familiar with and I knew. I didn’t think it was the Disney movie version when I first started reading it. I liked the little moral at the end of the reading because it is true. The moral states “Beauty in a woman is a rare treasure that will always be admired. Graciousness, however, is priceless and of even greater value”. I agree with this statement. The step-sisters were so rude and snobby. They will never value nothing compared to Cinderella. Although Cinderella was treated horrible by her step mother and sisters, she was always kind to them and always valued what was given to her. The step sisters and mother aren’t gracious for what Cinderella’s father has provided for their family. I found Cinderella so kind since she forgave her step sisters for treating her badly.

http://www.furorteutonicus.eu/germanic/ashliman/mirror/type0510a.html#perrault