Carina Liu, Period 2, 10/7/22

Literacy & Learning

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

Fairy tales are basically common knowledge. Everyone is told fairy tale stories as a kid, and everyone knows them, but seem to forget about it once they get older. Personally, I experienced this. In this class, I’ve read multiple versions of the most popular Cinderella from different cultures, and I was shocked at the difference from the original version that I was most familiar with. Although all fairy tales have the same formula, it is surprising how different the endings can be, and how the way the character is portrayed represents their culture. For example, a common theme in a few of the versions of Cinderella was that the father wanted to marry the daughter. Right now, this is not socially acceptable, but the way this was so common shows how different culture was back then compared to today. Through these different versions of Cinderella, I was able to take a look into the different cultures.

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

In English class, the new information that I found the most interesting were the critical theories. Each theory had different interpretations of the same story. Before learning the critical theories, I only analyzed texts from a general perspective. Learning about all the ways that I can analyze a story such as from a Marxist point of view, or a feminist point of view has improved my experience with both my writing and reading overall. By knowing how different people can view the same topic from different perspectives, I noticed that I am able to write in a more refined and well-rounded way.

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

While taking this class, I realized that mythology is closely related to psychology. There is a really strong correlation between literature and psychology. Myths are written as society’s outward manifestations of inner conflicts and desires. At first, before psychology was as widespread as it is now, myths were used to explain science, and the way that nature worked, including human beings. Before there was an explanation, these stories were what people relied on. Myths are based on human emotion and that they come from the subconscious mind. Cultures all around the world had similar fears, questions, and wishes which to them were unexplainable. In addition, psychologists can use these old tales to learn more about how people from different cultures in different time periods thought. Overall, having knowledge from both mythology and psychology has helped me to read and understand the same familiar myths in a different way