Question 1:
I chose to read "The Tale of Jemima Puddle -Duck", this story was an interesting take on the original "Little Red Riding Hood". Jemima Puddle-Duck is a duck that is trying to hatch her own eggs, like LRRH, Jemima goes into the woods and meets a "gentlemanly" wolf, or in this case a fox. She foolishly trusts the fox and is almost tricked into her and her eggs death, that is until the household dog comes to her, but sadly not the eggs, rescue. I enjoyed this story because it was not as gruesome or disturbing as the other stories. The general moral of not trusting strangers is much more clear in this story. There are still some traces of a sexist view on women in this story. Jemima's reference to the fox as a gentleman shows that women are easily convinced into trusting people if they are charming. There are several warning signs that Jemima witnesses that should have tipped her off to not trust the fox. For example the fox invites Jemima to a dinner-party he asks her to bring some ingredients to go with the OMELETTE, which are made with eggs. The narrator says, "Jemima Puddle-Duck was a simpleton; not even the mention of sage and onions made her suspicious" (Potter). This statement is a generalization that simple country women do not have good common sense. This idea that women are naive is confirmed when the male dog comes to the rescue.
Question 2:
Jemima Puddle-Duck experiences both internal and external conflict. The obvious external conflict between the fox and Jemima is not completely apparent until the end when the fox officially reveals his sinister motives. The internal conflict with Jemima is not as obvious, or at least to her. When she meets the fox she takes note of how polite he is and how strange his shed of feathers is, but she simply brushes off both of those uneasy feelings. Then when the fox mentions the ingredients for the omelets she is completely oblivious. The next internal alarm does not go off unit she is actually at the fox's home and he speaks very abrupt and harsh with her, but again she dismisses it.
i also liked the part about the feathers. even after seeing them- clear evidence that others before her had fallen to this "man", she doesn't flee. this, as you said, is a testament to her ignorance and lack of common sense.
ReplyDeleteI liked your point about the "sexist view of women". I think all of the versions of Little Red Riding Hood have a sexist view. But this version was even written by a woman, Beatrix Potter! You'd think if a woman wrote a story, she wouldn't include sexist views of her own gender.
ReplyDeleteKathryn,
ReplyDeleteYou write, "She foolishly trusts the fox and is almost tricked into her and her eggs death, that is until the household dog comes to her, but sadly not the eggs, rescue." The fox is a great stand in here for the wolf and is so often regarded as sly/deceitful . . . and very clever.
You also write, "Jemima's reference to the fox as a gentleman shows that women are easily convinced into trusting people if they are charming." This is a strong interpretation of the metaphor. If this is so, there's certainly a sexist implication in that women are likely to overvalue the charming and the dashing, paying less or no attention to what lies beneath. This, of course, suggests that her discernment is either poor or that she too much values shallow characteristics.
In terms of why a woman might write a sexist story, well, the reasons are myriad. Rather than "selling" or upholding something sexist, it may be that she's illustrating, drawing attention to, such a viewpoint . . . in order to critique it. The use of stereotypes and sexism does not automatically equate the author with views and attitudes present in the story. Of course, it's always difficult to discern what an author "means" specifically unless we have an explanation from the author (convenient, but not usually the case). There's a fun, short rewrite of Cinderella that actually rewrites (rather than revising or tweaking) the tale that I thought you might enjoy: "And Then the Prince Knelt Down and Tried to Put the Glass Slipper on Cinderella’s Foot":
I really didn’t notice that he had a funny nose.
And he certainly looked better all dressed up in fancy clothes.
He’s not nearly as attractive as he seemed the other night.
So I think I’ll just pretend that this glass slipper feels too tight.
According to student María Ayelén Guillén:
"The different treatment Viorst gives to a traditional fairy tale princess asCinderella may be aimed as a criticism of the female role typically portrayed in this typeof stories. Eggins (2004) proposes an analysis of genres in the light of the cultural work done through them. In this respect, Lieberman argues that the fairy tales usually read bychildren “serve to acculturate women to the traditional social roles” (1986: 185) one of these roles being that of an inherently passive being. In Viorst’s poem, this Cinderella ishighly active and autonomous, contrary to what would be expected from a princess or alady in distress. One of the possible intentions of this contrast between a traditional princess and this new Cinderella may be to raise awareness of the cultural work done by and the effect it has on the [social, cultural] role of women."