I don't think the lead blogger posted anything yet, so I will go ahead and post a blog. I am going to talk about Briar Rose. At first I wasn't too interested in reading the book, it didn't really catch my interest or attention right away. But once I read on I understood how the book was laid out by switching off talking about the past and the present. I like how the chapters switch off from the past where the grandmother is telling the story to her grandchildren, to the present where Becca is trying to figure out where her grandmother's castle is and any other mysteries about her life. It flows really well and makes you want to keep reading. I didn't want to put the book down since I wanted to figure out the ending, since every chapter is a clue that gets Becca closer to figuring out more about her grandma's life. Before Gemma dies, she says to Becca, " Promise me you will find the castle. Promise me you will find the prince. Promise me you will find the maker of the spells." (16) I wonder if Becca will really find all those. It is interesting Gemma never gave her any clues, but just left behind a box for her to figure it out. So I am excited to read the rest of the book and figure out if Becca does find the castle and see what else she figures out about her grandmother's past.

Zipes pgs. 81-98

Zipes discusses the Americanization of the Grimm fairy tales by Wanda Gag and compares that to Disney. The Americanization of Grimm’s’ fairy tales happened during the great depression. Since fairy tales tend to be Utopian and everyone at the time was looking for hope, this is very logical. Gag wanted to bring something from her childhood to the world. Gag’s style was more American then other people who had rewritten Grimm’s fairy tales. Americanizing the stories however did show how the times and cultures differed. She wrote them in much the style of a storyteller to a child. Zipes states that Disney and Gag cared more about their own concerns in creating their stories then that of the children. Gag’s tales showed Americas concerns and her own personal needs. This makes sense since everyone who tells a story, fairy tale or other have no choice but to tell it in a way that they relate to. If they can not relate to it then they can not pass on the moral or message behind the story. If you don’t understand what you are writing then it’s hard to express the how different the American culture had become and how different the world is.

Class Blog

This is one of the weblogs for ENGL 342, Spring 2007.