Washington Irving uses humor and hyperboles to satirize tempered women in his short story, “The Devil and Tom Walker.” To begin, Irving uses the exaggeration, “a female scold is generally considered a match for the devil.” This hyperbole is an exaggeration of a woman’s scold. Irving’s use of the hyperbole helps to satirize tempered woman because it compares a woman’s scold to the devil, which ridicules the woman. In addition to hyperboles, Irving uses humor to satirize tempered women. After noticing signs of his wife’s struggle with the Devil, Tom Walker jokes, “‘Old Scratch must have had a tough time of it!” This phrase creates humor because it is humorous how Tom mentions that the Devil was the one struggling when his wife fought with him…
Fairy Tales have been continuously changing through history based on social norms and ideologies of the author on how society should be. Ever since the first written version released by Charles Perrault, Little Red Riding Hood has been remanufactured time and time again to fit the cultural views of the society it was created in. Not only do these different versions display the social norms of the audience it was created for, but also to challenge and critique the social constructs that are in place. Fairy tales all come with messages that impact the reader in some way, whether it teaches you lessons on how to behave, or shine light on problems that need to be addressed. Thesis: In “The False Grandmother”, Italo Calvino challenges the hegemonic…
In "Countess P's Advice for New Girls" by Natasha Tretheway from the book Bellocq's Ophelia, the author characterizes herself as a whore named Ophelia who works in a whorehouse in Storyville, New Orleans. In the poem, Countess P. was the madam of the whorehouse in which Ophelia worked and was explaining to her how to act around the men that would come to use the service provided. It contains 7 stanzas that were made up of tercets and each line was approximately 10 syllables. The author uses literary elements such as similes and important line breaks to catch the attention of the reader and make it seem like she really is the character in the poem. Among the poems we read using this theme, this poem had a quiet, subtle and calm tone.…
Every so often, there comes a story so popular that it survives many decades and is common in many cultures. Growing up here in America, I was always told the story of Little Red Riding Hood. Because of the way American structure is set up, the story in this culture teaches the people told the story a lesson as well as has a happy ending. The American story of “Little Red Riding Hood” isn’t the only version of this story. As previously mentioned, there are stories that survive many decades and last through many cultures; this is one of them. However, they all have different names. There are also: Little Red Cap, Little Red Hood, The Grandmother, The True History of Little Golden Hood, Grandmother’s Nose, and Little Red Hat. These stories come from many different areas such as Germany, Poland, Italy, Austria, and France, and they have many different authors. There are two things that do stay the same throughout every retelling of this story, the characters and idea. There is always a little girl, her grandmother, her mother, and the wolf. Additionally, in every retelling, it involves the little girl having to go to her grandmother’s house to deliver something to her. However, the actions taken by the characters and their personalities change in every telling of the story. Although every version of Little Red Riding Hood has a similar idea, the characterization and moral of the story alters based upon what time period and location it was written in because of the influences of the country of origin’s stereotypes, ideals, and…
The majority of women of the world want to believe that they’ll find themselves a prince charming and have that perfect life until the day they die. Sexton puts all of these dreams into a realistic perspective that brings her audience back to reality. The poet mentions: “You always read about it:/the plumber with twelve children/who wins the Irish Sweepstakes./From toilets to riches./That story” (Sexton 620). The way the poet ends with “that story” shows the loss of hope that she feels from life and those happy ending stories. The audience gets these emotions from her writing in a very strong and raw way, she’s not afraid to speak the truth and take everyone reading her poems down with her. Her feministic ways come across her words like swords, and anyone who reads any of her poems will blatantly get this idea of her.…
Fairytales: when someone says that word, the first thing that might come up in your mind is probably kid’s reading Cinderella. Fairytales’ simplicity and accuracy in delivering a moral to young kids and adults is wonderful. We’d give an adult a eerie look if we caught them reading a kids book on the train to themselves. The reason behind our thought is cause it’s a kids book why would an adult read it but behind all this is the difference of interpreting stories for adults and children. Stories like Juniper Tree, Snow White, and Little Red Cap include hidden messages through violence and imagery and dialogue. Fairy tales teach children how to grasp the meaning and power behind storytelling. In this paper I will discuss the vast ways in which a child and adult interpret fairytales. Its…
With many variations of fantasies, "Happily ever after" is reoccurring in every fairy tale. "Cinderella" by Anne Sexton is a different variation of the classic tale. The author sets up her version of Cinderella with four anecdotes sharing how others can go from poverty to riches or gritty reality to fantasy. Sexton changes her happily ever after ending by satirizing the message the story gives. By doing so, Sexton would like the reader to know the difference between a fairy tale and reality. Anne Sexton deconstructs the ending of her retold fairy tale by using sarcasm to change the reader's expectations of the story and myth.…
The imagery used in this poem helps the reader to picture the author as nonhuman, and doing nonhuman activities. When Sexton describes feeding the creatures in the forest, such as the worms and elves, she creates a nonhuman and unordinary character. Even though this character seems inhuman and odd, one can analyze the poem and realize that Anne Sexton is referring to her own life and personal experiences. When Sexton states that she “fixed the suppers for the worms and the elves: whining, rearranging the disaligned,” she is describing how she made dinner for her…
Sexton uses irony through her sarcasm as well. Perhaps, it changes the reader's views on the classical fairy tale. Cinderella is described as, "Cinderella was their maid. / She slept on the sooty hearth each night / and walked around looking like Al Jolson" (Line 30-32). Al Jolson who was a white man, who impersonated a black man, is compared to Cinderella. However, dressing up as a black man was Jolson's choice, and being their maid dressed in grime was not Cinderella's.…
Michelangelo, perhaps the most gifted sculptor and painter of all times, once said that "geniuses stand on the shoulders of other geniuses." As Michelangelo built upon the brilliance of his predecessors, Anne Sexton does the same with her poem "Cinderella". Fairy tales originated as oral traditions and were passed along and sculpted by thousands of story tellers. Each raconteur changes elements in the story to fit their individual needs. Sexton reinvents "Cinderella" as a poem and integrates the story with her own opinion and commentary. Sexton's version of this classic story contrasts the rosy images of human happiness conjured by fantasy with the banality, decay, and despair of everyday life. She conveys this message with a sadistic tone and modern language, while drawing upon her own hardships and American culture.…
Within the short tales that begin this story, wolves are portrayed as dangerous and evil creatures. One of those stories talks about wolves and men interchanging forms. As the story progresses, a woman’s husband becomes a wolf and runs away. Instead of grieving for a long period of time, she simply “dried her eyes and found herself another husband.” Another story talks about a wolf that attacked a young girl, yet she was rescued by those who heard her screams. Both of these instances show women overcoming the wolves, who are symbols for men. This creates a sense of dominance and supports feministic ways.…
The wolf is in fact cunning to make a little girl his target, and have her tell him where grandmother’s house is. Would it seem a bit off if a…
Little Red Riding Hood, a children’s fairy tale that many people know, is a story about a young girl visiting her grandmother. The Oedipus Complex, an idea brought up by Sigmund Freud, refers to a rivalry with the parent of the same sex. According to Bruno Bettelheim, a psychologist and writer, Little Red Riding Hood and The Oedipus Complex have a lot in common. In Bettelheim’s analysis on the Brother’s Grimm version of the Little Red Riding Hood, he relates Little Red’s ignorance with a subconscious rivalry with her grandmother. Bruno Bettelheim’s analysis of Little Red Riding Hood and Oedipus Complex is largely unconvincing due to its lack of practicality, weak connections, and over analysis of Red Riding Hood.…
In the world of scholarly fairy tale analysis, Maria Tatar is a prominent figure. Tatar is strongly opinionated regarding these tales and believe that the meaning of them is often misrepresented- fairy tale’s do not teach objective morals and values to children, but rather provide a platform to express the contrast of anxieties and desires to further succeed through life’s struggle. Using Tatar’s claim regarding desires and anxieties as an analysis tool to help understand complicated variants of the world’s favorite fairy tales is a rewarding and and educational process. Delving into a story that most assume they already “know” in a conceptually different way expands the mind and makes prominent issues that may not already be clear just…
One must first delve into the history of Little Red-Cap in order to understand the sense of wonderment the tale emanates. The fairy tale is written by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, two German brothers renowned for their collection of folktales. This compilation of tales and creation of Little Red-Cap are a way to recall the “basic values of the Germanic people through storytelling” (Zipes). The story of a little girl going to visit her grandmother signifies the morals of people of German culture. By using the form of a fairy tale, the Grimms can convey to readers the moral principles that…