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fandomhigh2008-09-18 12:37 am
clevermsbennet.livejournal.com) wrote in fandomhigh2008-09-18 12:37 am
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Literature, Class 3: Period 3, Thursday, September 18
"Five hundred years before the birth of Our Lord," Eliza said, jotting a few words on the chalkboard, "a man named Aesop wrote some fables. Allegedly, that is, and many of them may only be credited to him by default; I feel it's important to say that up front. Since this was approximately twenty-five hundred years ago, it even manages to predate old-fashioned sorts like myself." There was a twinkle of amusement to go with this. "Although I recognize not all of you are from this world, so I should not expect all of you to know Aesop's Fables. Although you'll recognize the tropes; that is, after all, the point."
"Fables are simplistic stories in which there is a very clear moral. There is one tale about a boy who cries "wolf!" to alarm the villagers of a wolf attack when there isn't one; predictably, when the day comes that a wolf does attack, no one believes the boy's shouts. Another story involves frogs who wish for a king. Their first king, a log, is dull and boring, so instead Zeus -- who is the deity for all of these stories -- provides them with a stork, who promptly eats a number of the frogs. The moral there is, of course, be careful what you wish for."
"Fables are similar in some ways to fairy tales, but there's a marked difference between the two. Fables are much clearer that there's a moral to each tale; in fact, Aesop had his in a separate paragraph, just after each tale. In this sense, fables are crafted, whereas fairy tales seem to evolve. They come out of our collective thought processes. We take our hopes and fears and dress them up in fantastical elements, witches and elves and fairy queens. Most fairy tales do have a moral, though it isn't the point to the story in the same way as it is with fables."
"For example, the story of the red-cloaked girl. She is traveling to Grandmother's house, and she is warned to stay to the path, lest she wander in the forest and fall prey to wolves. Of course, she fails to listen, and confides her destination in a well-hidden wolf. He beats her to her grandmother's cottage and devours her grandmother, and lies in wait for the red-cloaked girl herself. In some versions of the story -- as there are many, you'll find -- a hunter saves the girl; in others, she outwits the wolf, and in some, she is eaten just as her grandmother was. The moral may not be expressly laid out, but it's apparent: in straying from the path, she has damned herself, and the possibility of redemption seems to vary with who is telling the tale." She smiled at her students. "I needn't point out the more allegorical aspects of the story. While wolves do lurk in forests, this is at its base a story of a young girl falling under the sway of a dangerous creature, and it seems more pointed towards her virtue than her life."
"More recently, fairy tales have been thought to be stories expressly for young children, and with that shift, the stories have undergone some fundamental changes. The tiniest sea-maiden, for example, did not win her human prince's hand in marriage; in the original tale, he loved another, and, unable to kill the one she loved, she was transformed into sea-foam. Removing the gruesome aspects of these stories may seem a good idea to nervous parents, but if there are morals lurking under the surface, if these stories are truly about our own unspoken horrors and dreads, then replacing all unpleasant consequences with the same bland happy ending destroys the significance of each."
Eliza looked around the class again. "I know many of you are from worlds that are not like this one, but if these stories really are universal, then perhaps you've your own versions to share. Many cultures in this world came up with similar stories, the same stories, so much so that there is now a classification system for folkloric tales. Number 310 is all of the stories involving a maiden trapped in a tower, while 518 is quarreling giants who lose their magical objects. There are plenty of archetypes to go round, if any of you have more to suggest?"
"Fables are simplistic stories in which there is a very clear moral. There is one tale about a boy who cries "wolf!" to alarm the villagers of a wolf attack when there isn't one; predictably, when the day comes that a wolf does attack, no one believes the boy's shouts. Another story involves frogs who wish for a king. Their first king, a log, is dull and boring, so instead Zeus -- who is the deity for all of these stories -- provides them with a stork, who promptly eats a number of the frogs. The moral there is, of course, be careful what you wish for."
"Fables are similar in some ways to fairy tales, but there's a marked difference between the two. Fables are much clearer that there's a moral to each tale; in fact, Aesop had his in a separate paragraph, just after each tale. In this sense, fables are crafted, whereas fairy tales seem to evolve. They come out of our collective thought processes. We take our hopes and fears and dress them up in fantastical elements, witches and elves and fairy queens. Most fairy tales do have a moral, though it isn't the point to the story in the same way as it is with fables."
"For example, the story of the red-cloaked girl. She is traveling to Grandmother's house, and she is warned to stay to the path, lest she wander in the forest and fall prey to wolves. Of course, she fails to listen, and confides her destination in a well-hidden wolf. He beats her to her grandmother's cottage and devours her grandmother, and lies in wait for the red-cloaked girl herself. In some versions of the story -- as there are many, you'll find -- a hunter saves the girl; in others, she outwits the wolf, and in some, she is eaten just as her grandmother was. The moral may not be expressly laid out, but it's apparent: in straying from the path, she has damned herself, and the possibility of redemption seems to vary with who is telling the tale." She smiled at her students. "I needn't point out the more allegorical aspects of the story. While wolves do lurk in forests, this is at its base a story of a young girl falling under the sway of a dangerous creature, and it seems more pointed towards her virtue than her life."
"More recently, fairy tales have been thought to be stories expressly for young children, and with that shift, the stories have undergone some fundamental changes. The tiniest sea-maiden, for example, did not win her human prince's hand in marriage; in the original tale, he loved another, and, unable to kill the one she loved, she was transformed into sea-foam. Removing the gruesome aspects of these stories may seem a good idea to nervous parents, but if there are morals lurking under the surface, if these stories are truly about our own unspoken horrors and dreads, then replacing all unpleasant consequences with the same bland happy ending destroys the significance of each."
Eliza looked around the class again. "I know many of you are from worlds that are not like this one, but if these stories really are universal, then perhaps you've your own versions to share. Many cultures in this world came up with similar stories, the same stories, so much so that there is now a classification system for folkloric tales. Number 310 is all of the stories involving a maiden trapped in a tower, while 518 is quarreling giants who lose their magical objects. There are plenty of archetypes to go round, if any of you have more to suggest?"
Re: Discussion Topic #2: Morals? [LIT-3]