Blog Post # 1
“We are likely to accept these stories as being on the same level of reality as the kitchen stories. It’s only when we are older that we are taught to regard one kind of story as real and the other kind as mere invention” (Atwood 1399).
This quote really resonates with me because I was a child that was “likely to accept these stories as being on the same level of reality” as the stories I heard my parents tell each other (Atwood 1398). I remember being that child and when I had to learn the difference between reality and fiction. As a child, my parents read stories to me about everything. Dragons, handsome princes, damsels in distress, and princesses were common topics in the stories that my parents wove for me. My favorite stories were about the Little Mermaid. I believed that magic and fairy tales were true. Stories that I told my friends and pictures that I drew always involved some sort of magical and fantastical plot. Going to Disney World when I was at that point in my life only reinforced my belief that my storybooks were true. I had met the characters in person, so how could they not be real? But eventually everyone has to grow up and learn that things like magic and fairy tales are not true. Fourth grade was the point in my life where I began to differentiate between reality and fantasy when I was told that Santa Claus was not real. Now I have a 3 year old sister named Sophie. She shares in my childhood love of stories and princesses and is always asking me to read her stories about Anna and Elsa from Frozen. She is another child that believes her books are on the same level of reality as the stories she hears our parents tell. As I watch her grow, I hope that she can hold on to her child mentality for as long as she can because when you believe in magic anything seems possible.