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[kemcc103-blog]

The classic version of “Cinderella” that we all know so well has many apparent themes relating to family relationships due to the abuse and neglect by her step-mother and step-sisters. In the French version of the tale, “Donkeyskin”, we see an even more disturbing familial relationship when the king announces that he wants to marry his daughter. This type of familial intermarriage is a taboo in most societies today. As you could imagine, Donkeyskin was terrified of this idea and ran. Researching this social issue is interesting because it has given me a better understanding of the situation and an explanation of how this idea may have come about.

[tuerv103-blog]

They always come up with weird names for these tales don’t they? Sounds like you have a rather interesting, but horrifying topic to research. What is your thesis for this paper? I’m rather intrigued as to what you come up with from 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. 

[tuerv103-blog]

My rough intro, notes included.

In “Bluebeard” and “Bluebeard’s Egg”, the classic tale and the contemporary retelling, the two young brides are incredibly dependent on their husbands. They both depend on the Bluebeards of their stories physically, financially, and emotionally. In the end neither can be said to have anything resembling a happy marriage. In “Bluebeard” the bride was nearly killed by her husband. In “Bluebeard’s Egg” the bride’s husband turns out to be a serial adulterer. Both wives share two things: their complete dependence on their husbands and their rather unhappy marriages. Does a correlation between the two exist here? (insert example of a low marital dependence, happy marriage here. Find another article on this). Therefore, complete marital dependence can cause abuse and unhappiness in the relationship.

[aldarrow4-blog]

Writing an Annoted Bibliography

I feel that creating an annotated bibliography was a quite a bit of work. The first part was finding the sources. This part was not my favorite. It involved scrolling through hundreds of scientific journals to find the one or two that actually apply to my research question. The next part was reading through each journal and article. This was interesting to me. At times, the words were a little over my head but I enjoyed learning about past experiments and research. The final part was writing about each source I found. This did not take me as long as I thought. Hopefully, the annotated bibliography will set me up well for my research paper.

[tuerv103-blog]

I can definitely see what you mean about the words being over my head. Some of the stuff I had to sift through was very clinical. I never knew you could quantify happiness in marriage, but the researchers I came across sure did a bang up job with it. Anything memorable you came across in your search? 

[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.

[tuerv103-blog]

Ugh, I wish. I found enough articles for my annotated bibliography, but I’m unsure as to if I can use them all for the researched argument paper. Everything I had to research brought up a ton of articles, even with narrowing it to several keywords and messing with the other settings. What all articles did you find for yours? Mine came out to be rather depressing, but they should be useful. 

[tuerv103-blog]

Ugh

I've finally gotten all my articles lined up. Writing this annotated bibliography has been a bit of a hassle. I've been exploring info about about the "Spousal Dynamic" and "Spousal Abuse", and there seems to be too many articles at times. It's taken me at least three searches to even get close to a reasonable number of articles for one phrase! Then I have to sort through those for a relevant article to my topic. Took me a couple hours straight just to find everything I needed. Thankfully I finally sussed up some relevant articles, so I should be good. It just took me forever. Ugh

[skhas103-blog]

Bluebeard vs. Fables

In the world of Fables, created by Bill Willingham, fairy tales are real. Following their exile from the “Homelands,” the fairy tale characters, known as fables, struggle to fit into a modern Manhattan, where they must live their lives protecting who they really are. The story follows Bigby, better known as the Big Bad Wolf, on his investigation to find Snow White’s missing sister, Rose Red. One of the main suspects in the case is the infamous Bluebeard, who was known to tempt his wives with access to a forbidden room and kill them if they entered. Willingham does a fantastic job in showing how Bluebeard’s dreadful past catches up with him and draws him as the center of attention in a case that we later find out he had no part of, however Willingham fails to capture the dangers of temptation that has become synonymous with the tale of Bluebeard.

[tuerv103-blog]

I like how you introduce the new Bluebeard. He seems to be a lot different in this new version. I'm going to have to check the book out and read just to find out what happens. Not sure whether I'm cheering for him to get away or for his capture.

[skhas103-blog]

Bluebeard vs. Fables

In the world of Fables, created by Bill Willingham, fairy tales are real. Following their exile from the “Homelands,” the fairy tale characters, known as fables, struggle to fit into a modern Manhattan, where they must live their lives protecting who they really are. The story follows Bigby, better known as the Big Bad Wolf, on his investigation to find Snow White’s missing sister, Rose Red. One of the main suspects in the case is the infamous Bluebeard, who was known to tempt his wives with access to a forbidden room and kill them if they entered. Willingham does a fantastic job in showing how Bluebeard’s dreadful past catches up with him and draws him as the center of attention in a case that we later find out he had no part of, however Willingham fails to capture the dangers of temptation that has become synonymous with the tale of Bluebeard.

[tuerv103-blog]

I like how you introduce the new Bluebeard. He seems to be a lot different in this new version. I'm going to have to check the book out and read just to find out what happens. Not sure whether I'm cheering for him to get away or for his capture.

[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.

[tuerv103-blog]

I actually disagree. I didn't find the wife to be changed much at all. She was more cunning, true, but she was essentially the same as in the first story. Bluebeard on the other hand... He seemed to be the most changed. The original Bluebeard would have eventually found a reason to kill his wife even if she had not opened the door. He was a serial killer. This new one does not seem like that. (Sorry if this text is bold. Typing on phone)

[tuerv103-blog]

New Intro!

The story of Bluebeard has always involved a hint of mystery and danger. In the original itself that mystery and danger arose from Bluebeard himself. He hid away a single room from his wives, driving them mad with curiosity. When that curiosity finally got the better of them, he killed them and threw their bodies in the room. A rather gruesome tale, with the only happy ending being the eventual death of Bluebeard, but most retellings have  stuck to this same formula, rarely deviating too much from it. It’s true that some stories skip all the blood and gore that was essential to the first story - some choosing to switch the dead wives with divorced ones from Bluebeard’s infidelity, but none do so much as what Joyce Carol Oates does in her rendition, Blue-bearded Lover. She basically switches the entire concept on its head. It’s true that Bluebeard still kills his wives and has his little murder dungeon tucked away, but she has the young bride tame this fearsome beast of a man instead. Not many retellings go this route, but Ms. Oates does it rather well. By changing this one choice of the bride’s, she changes the whole story. How does this change effect the story though?

[erste103-blog]

Introduction Draft 1

[tuerv103-blog]

Nice intro! But where is your public/personal anecdote?

[courtneymelvinuaenglish103-blog]

Image

I recently went through one of the largest rushes in the nation for Greek life. Greek life itself has many good aspects of it, as I am finding out more every week—charity, community, and commitment to name a few. On the other hand, Sorority Recruitment struggles to match this depth of meaning. I found much of recruitment to be centered around appearances and image. In the Grimm Brothers’ Cinderella, a young girl, her step mother, step sisters, father, and the prince of the kingdom all play a part in a very interesting, slightly disturbed, and extremely shallow story that strongly depicts the ideals of beauty that dominated the culture at that time. The interesting part was, this story was published in 1857, 1058 years ago, and yet I still see an incredibly strong value placed on beauty and image in today’s society. Humans’ undying obsession with appearances can be seen not only through a week of sorority recruitment and a fairytale story written over a thousand years ago, but in everyday life through the media, the social interactions we have, and even through the thoughts that run through our head on a daily basis, if we’re being honest.

[tuerv103-blog]

Neat ancedote! I never would have thought of comparing Greek life to Cinderella, but it definitely seems to work here. Using beauty image is also a great idea. I can see how that relates to both today's society and Cinderella. Sounds like you got it all planned out.

[tuerv103-blog]

Intro Draft #1!

Here’s the beginning of my first intro. I think it works for now.

“My life was never filled with a story as particularly gory and traumatic as the tale of Bluebeard. I have no closets full of dead wives, magical bloody keys, or homicidal husbands. However, I have let my curiosity get the better of me at times.  I’ve never discovered anything nearly as terrible as what the younger sister finds in her husband’s closet, but I’ve definitely run into my fair share of trouble for my curiosity.  Thankfully, as the younger sister found out, I usually have someone looking out for me enough to pull me away from this trouble.”