Nathalie Joseph

Growing up my idea and version of fairytales were the typical “happily ever after” endings. The fairytale Snow White that I recall from my childhood, was the queen giving Snow White the poisonous apple that sends her into a sleep like death that only can be broken by a kiss. The ending was also very different as well if not even more grim. The child friendly version ended with the prince saving her but instead the versions read today ended in a slow and painful death for the queen; this version she was sentenced to death by hot iron shoes and forced to “dance” until her death. I now see that fairytales are way more grim that what we have been conditioned to, the actuality of fairytales are very similar to that of myths or legends in a way. I only say this because stories like myths and legends are almost always grim, and you can compare this to the original “fairytales”. Lastly, I’ve also observed that Fairytales is very misleading as to what the story is about and how it ends.

The sentence from the student’s essay is too vague, by just stating that the story examines the narrator and the complexity of human condition doesn’t give insight as to how that is being done. For starters we know the narrator is anonymous and they don’t tell us how the narrators acts or even displays any signs of his complex actions. I would instead say The story “Araby” illustrates how a crush or longing for someone creates a sense of obsession. In the story the narrator shows cases of obsession and stalking. “I ran to the hall, seized my books and followed her. I kept her brown figure always in my eye and, when we came near the point at which our ways diverged, I quickened my pace and passed her.” – Araby. This quote is significant because it shows the lengths the narrator went to, to be in her presence. Another example would be caring so much that he gave his hopes up going to the Bazaar to give her a gift.

“The most handsome drowned man” by Gabriel Garcia makes a reader understand the use of imagination/ imagery. The village women use their sense of imagination to create a version of this unknown deceased man that washed up on the shore to a noble man who has the qualities of being called “Esteban”. This man had the ability to transform the village and the people as well. This is very similar to how stories have an impact on its readers, by providing distinctive  description to allow the audience to paint a vivid image in their head that goes along with the story. I believe that this is the first story of the course for possible reason that the professor wants the class to dive into their imagination and connect to the stories to come. This also can help the reader to understand the story from the authors perspective, like a puzzle.