Oscar Chen, Period 7, 9/19/22

 

• Literacy & Learning

• Write about your thoughts regarding any of the fiction or non-fiction covered in class.

• Reflect on any new information you have learned in English class by considering how that learning influences your critical perception.

• How is what you’re learning applied to any other classes/the world around you?

Media, especially fantastical fictional works of literature has always played a large role in shaping the way I go about my life. From “The Rainbow Fish” by Marcus Pfister to Shel Silverstein’s “The Giving Tree” to Reginald Rose’s play “12 Angry Men”, literature has always defined how I view the world. It was the first exposure to proper writing(as opposed to examples taught in elementary English classes) and a window to more advanced vocabulary and diction for each grade level. But perhaps most importantly, it was a glimpse into how the world operated.

That brings us to today’s classes about old fairy tales and modern myths. Learning that it is a fact that folklore from all over the world was a product of regular people’s lives opened doors I never knew existed. It made me look critically at the works I’ve read in the past and the deeper meaning behind often innocent stories. For example,  both “The Rainbow Fish” and “The Giving Tree” were initially read as children's stories, but on a second glance tackled lessons about generosity and the toxic cycle of people pleasing. On the other hand, it has also given new meaning to pieces that originally weren’t even too happy. “12 Angry Men” spoke about prejudice and the injustices of the court system. What I recently realized was that it wasn’t only that, it was also demonstrating how personal problems severely affect others, along with a look at the diversity of mid-1900s courts, or lack thereof. 

Reading the many versions of Cinderella I initially thought was a waste of time was eye-opening. “How different could they be?” I thought to myself before opening Maria Tatar’s “The Classic Fairy Tales”. Immediately after reading the introduction to the Cinderella stories, I realized the mistake I’d made, thinking that I knew Cinderella. The stories expanded on points of the French version of Cinderella, that I passed off as inconsequential. Each iteration provided a new “edit” until halfway through I doubted I was reading the right thing. However, thinking holistically, all of them were undoubtedly Cinderella at their core. As a result of the radical changes, many integral parts of each story get lost from one version to the next. The most shocking revelation for me was the prolific incestuous thoughts targeted at our titular Cinderella, with even reconciliation on the table, all of which were absent in the Cinderella I knew. 

This made me think about other fairy tales I “knew” and the many versions of them I would never get to experience. It doesn’t even stop at fairy tales. Nursery rhymes aren’t impervious to double meanings either. Examples of this include “Ring Around the Rosie”, and “London Bridge is Falling Down”, the latter seeing a surge of attention in light of recent events. Both mask talk of death and disease under the guise of playground chants. It reflects the times they were written and popularized, by showing the abundance and commonality of tragic deaths at the time. What made me think about those, is the news of Queen Elizabeth’s passing. More specifically, it is what her private secretary is instructed to tell prime minister Liz Truss: “London Bridge is down”, kicking off a week-long mourning period for the UK.