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[bajoh103-blog]

Taking Their Autonomy Doesn’t Keep Kids Safe

In my researched argument, I looked at how the perception of childhood has changed over the past 200 years. I start right around the publication of the Brothers Grimm and go from there. It was super interesting to see the transformation that has taken place. From the Industrial Revolution that endangered children to the Enlightenment thinkers that praised them, there developed a dichotomy that people struggled with for centuries. We can still see the scars of these conflicting ideas when we look at children today. The average child is now protected, nurtured, and completely useless. We have robbed children of their agency in an effort to safeguard them from the real world. We must protect them, no doubt, but we must not forget that they are autonomous beings in society as well.

[mahof103-blog]

I find this interesting also, especially when the older generation says the young kids of today are such wimps.  Well who raised these wimps to be so soft?

[beachhbummerr-blog1]

Children should be more informed citizens they sit around all day playing with blocks. I like where your paper is going. 

[maran103-blog]

Looking into the steps of evolution of the modern childhood seems like a very interesting topic. It would be cool to find out what made growing up such a pampered process for most children, if it was a certain event or just everything lead up to this.

[beachhbummerr-blog1]

Snow White Researched

Throughout the history of time many fairytales, folklores, and legends about great power-hungry kings, pharaohs, conquerors, and a few queens that made their way to what they considered glory. Despite the opinions of people affected by their actions. Although, there has not been many women who ruled due to the traditional views and gender roles of women. Because women have been oppressed and forced to conform to very strict ideals and standards, any woman who wants to be on top must act in cruel ways in order to get there and make her dreams come true. There are a lot of fictional and nonfictional stories about a few female rulers who desired to be the best. The best example of a power hungry female ruler would have to be the evil queen or stepmother in the legendary story of Snow White. The best film variations of the original “Snow White” by Brothers Grimm are Snow White: a Tale of Terror, and Snow White and the Huntsman. Because of what the evil queen did to her stepdaughter, Snow White, to gain power and most importantly what she did to maintain her power, a crucial question must be asked. Is it better to be feared than loved? Because the evil queen saw Snow White as competition she had no other choice but to be cruel to her and therefore chose fear over love.

:*G

[tuerv103-blog]

Sounds like an interesting research paper you got here! “Is it better to be feared or loved” is an age old question, and I love that you’re going to use the tale of snow white to answer that. The evil queen definitely chose fear as her flavor of power, and I’d like to see how you expound on that. 

[maran103-blog]

Using the choice between fear and love seems like a perfect issue that appears in Snow White. For the evil queen the idea of ruling with love seems to never even cross her mind, I guess that’s why she is the “evil” queen.

[maran103-blog]

Developing Trust

The correlation trustworthiness and attractiveness has been seen all through out everyday life, from advertisements to the fairy tales we read in class. While researching to see how strong this correlation really was i was amazed to find out that almost 76 percent of female participants chose to trust the most attractive informant. This reinforced the idea that this correlation could have effected Little Red’s decisions when meeting the very charming and suave wolf.

[trtay103-blog]

So. Many. Articles.

After finding countless unless articles on varying subjects slightly related to my topic I find myself exhausted. How many people spend their every waking moments devoted to writing these things? I found a 488 page article on the effects of makeup on mans understanding of beauty… like… Who writes that? This is indeed a struggle. I finally find myself citing experiments full of math. Including an equation  “N of beautiful people X percentage of opinion= amount of beauty”… How does one derive this? It is a strange world out there folks. 

[mabig103-blog]

I found a lot of the same issues when researching for my annotated bibliography. There were so many sources that I went through and I also saw the authors putting quantitative qualities on personalities, I still don’t understand how no matter how many times I reread.

[evsor103-blog]

This was an issue for me as well. However, I found that the more I really read and loved for the right articles, the better readings I found. I believe that because I spent this time and effort looking for articles, I was able to find the perfect ones for my topic. 

[aldarrow4-blog]

This is very true. I believe that the hardest part of writing the annotated bibliography was not the writing part. It was the wading through thousands of scientific articles looking for the right one.

[maran103-blog]

I thought this was very funny. I found many similar articles that seemed to either be just ridiculous or seemed redundant, but once i found the right one i was so happy to finally be done and have a good article.

[evsor103-blog]

Writing an annotated bibliography is very different than writing a reflection or analysis. It is much more scientific and factual. I personally enjoy studying these topics. They are very interesting to me. I am studying intergenerational conflicts between women, especially mothers and daughters. This idea stems from the evil step-mother in “Snow White.” She has issues with Snow White and is jealous if her beauty. She is willing to do anything she can in order have her killed. This is how desperate she is to be the most beautiful woman around. This is not the only case of intergenerational conflict in fairy tales. This is why I have chosen to study it for my social science topic on my annotated bibliography. 

[courtneymelvinuaenglish103-blog]

I agree, studying these articles was actually enjoyable. Since we were allowed to choose our topics, I found one that I knew very little about and learning and becoming a little more informed about it was very interesting.

[aldarrow4-blog]

I also feel that writing an annotated bibliography was very scientific. It was hard to write creatively, because the template asked for many dry details.

[erste103-blog]

I agree completely. I also found that writing an annotated bib was a lot more dry than writing a reflect essay. The reason being is there was a lot less data and research during the the reflection essay. This is merely personal preference, however.

[maran103-blog]

I also thought that this much more factual bibliography will be very helpful. Especially for our final research paper. I believe that this will help to organize our thoughts to write a paper paper.

[maran103-blog]

Research

Our time spent in the library was very beneficial to me. Before this class i would have trouble finding very specific articles, but now i have been able to narrow my search down to double digits. I was able to do this by inputting at least 4 keywords and by using proper notations.

[mabig103-blog]

Into the Woods: Typical Cinderella?

In Into the Woods we get a classical representation of the typical Cinderella as told in Grimm’s version of the tale. There is a common girl who is covered in ash being mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters, fairly typical. She continues on to sneak out to the festival and every night steals away and hides from the prince. Everything goes as is expected until the third night of the festival where she gets stuck on the stairs of the palace and we are finally able to see the thoughts upon her decision. We know in this version that she purposefully left her shoe for the prince to find because of her own uncertainties. This addition to the regular story line allows us to see into Cinderella’s mind and have a better feel for the character. Although she is still the same in many ways I believe this retelling gives us a better sense of who Cinderella is.

[mahof103-blog]

I also agree; we can see what Cinderella and most modern women stand for.  They have more of a choice of how to deal with their lives and aren’t simply either running away from their problems or latching on to a prince that will set her life up with royals and riches.

[kemcc103-blog]

I thought the same thing after seeing this adaptation. Letting viewers hear Cinderella’s thought process is unique and helpful

[courtneymelvinuaenglish103-blog]

I agree and I think this adds more depth to the fairytale as a whole. The movie portrays Cinderella in a much better light than the original Grimm’s brother story. Even at the end of the movie when it turns out the Prince is still seeing other women after they are married, Cinderella leaves him. This is very different from the “happily ever after” ending we see in the story.

[maran103-blog]

This retelling of Cinderella added a full view of her feeling and thoughts. I agree that this along with the amount of the story that was kept the same makes this a very successful retelling.

[aldarrow4-blog]

The Progression of Women’s Role in Marriage

Society is always looking to progress and change.  It needs to adapt to the changing times otherwise it will fall out of date and die.  One aspect which is constantly changing in our society is human rights.  Looking back at history, it is easy to tell that times were different and certain people were treated in different ways.  In writings, film, and many other forms of expression, one can observe the progression of society.  Many fairy-tales have modern and original versions that can act as a foot prints to what society was like at the time it was written.  Writings give us many of these clues including social norms, class structure and more background to compare to the society of today.  One short story, The “Blue-bearded Lover”, modernizes the story of “Bluebeard” severely altering many of the key elements including the moral of the story. The author of the revision, Joyce Carol Oats, successfully revamps the tale of “Bluebeard” by keeping the Bluebeard himself unchanged but modifying his wife to depict the progression of women’s roles in marriage.

[maran103-blog]

The idea of the retelling showing a footprint of the times if a very interesting idea. With all of the retelling i have read this seems to hold very true. It would be interesting to see what the original author would think of the retelling.

[maran103-blog]

Intro to The Company of Wolves Rhetorical Analysis

The Company of Wolves by Angela Carter was written in 1979 as a part of The Bloody Chamber, a book with many short retellings of fairy tales. In this retelling the girl in the red shawl meets a handsome young man in the woods and makes a wager that she will beat him to her granny’s house. This young man turns out to be a werewolf, and is able to eat her granny before little red arrives. When she finally does arrive she realizes the danger she could be in and makes a sacrifice to save her own life. This story gives a little glimpse into the ideology of the writer Angela Carter. She had two marriages in her life time, and after the first she spent a part of her life in Tokyo, where she “learnt what it is to be a woman”(EGS). She was also an avid feminist, but was controversial in her approving views of Marquis de Sade, a writer who believed women should be viewed as more than just baby makers. Angela Carter was able to put her own views in The Company of Wolves, but she also kept the theme of unknown dangers with her own addition of cunning and strength to Little Red, making it a successful retelling of Little Red Cap.

[trtay103-blog]

Unknown Yet Beautiful

     While I doubt that many people who read The Tiger’s Bride are at risk of turning into a tiger, the tale poses a very interesting and common situation. Too many times people miss out on something that could be wonderful and beautiful just because they do not understand or because they let fear get in the way. Just as I faced my fear, the girl in the story opened up and let herself see past her predetermined ideas about the monster. As a result, we both found something wonderful. If people would look past their fear of the unknown and allow themselves to be vulnerable they might just find something they never expected. Looking back, the four years I spent in this show-choir were by far the best of my life. These years were filled with new experiences and countless irreplaceable memories, all of which I would have missed out on if I had let myself continue to be blinded by my fear of the unknown. From that point forward, whenever I felt nervous or unsure about a situation or felt scared of the unknown, I simply “shrugged the drops off my beautiful fur”(66).

[maran103-blog]

The quotation you used perfectly ends this  paragraph. I feel it helped to bring the whole thing together, while also adding impact.

[zovil103-blog]

The Beast Inside (and Out)

The world, as I’m sure we have all been told, is a balance of good and evil. Everyone’s innate flaws, though usually invisible to the naked eye, are subject to judgement the moment it is brought into the light. Whether we are desperately trying to fit in or desperately wishing to stand out, the ability to pick and choose which aspects of our personalities we want to incorporate into our outward appearance allows us to more easily become acquainted with one another. Imagine the difficulty faced when all of these flaws are made public and unable to be hidden. A similar problem is faced by the beast in Beauty and the Beast. The lonely beast waits for someone to see that, though his outside appearance seems abrasive and unappealing, on the inside he is a handsome, sweet prince who only wants someone to love. In a way, I believe that we all have difficulty translating our feelings into actions and words, but that it is made a lot easier when someone is willing to listen.

[maran103-blog]

Great introduction! “it is made a lot easier when someone is willing to listen.” I believe that is very true, showing how you feel is very hard and every bit of understanding helps to make it easier.

[maran103-blog]

Growing Pains Intro

Growing up, whether you want to skip right to the end, or feel it is going way too fast, is something everyone has to go through. Along the way there will be many obstacles to overcome, and sometimes you might get bit. For Little Red Riding Hood it was the devious fangs of the wolf that slowed her down, while for me it was the cold bite of winter. During my sophomore year I had never needed to wear anything to keep warm during any of my football practices, so I was in for a surprise when we were about to play one of our last games in twenty eight degree weather and a heavy rainstorm came through. While being very different circumstances the lessons in the Brothers Grimm “Little Red Cap” are being taught every day even if you do not expect it. Having been warned about the possible dangers, like Little Red Riding Hood, I still did not fully understand, and this happened to lead to one of the hardest parts of growing up, realizing even your parents are sometimes right, and just hoping for someone to find you and help.