Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty are only some that can come to mind when thinking of characters who only do good in the stories they are in. Many classic protagonists are portrayed as the embodiment of pure good. They always do the right thing and are successful in the end. The exceptions to this archetype can always produce great stories with developed characters that interest readers. It is a universal fact that no one in stories is perfect, but authors can make a bold choice when they decide to have the main character less perfect, or even villainous. When flaws are present in a protagonist, readers are drawn to the story, given a new point of view, bringing new concepts and ideas to the audience that they may not have thought of before. ***Flawed protagonists can differ from how imperfect …show more content…
In “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, the protagonist tries to help his disabled brother, Doodle, learn to walk and run. It is explained, “When Doodle was five years old, I was embarrassed at having a brother of that age who couldn’t walk, so I set out to teach him” (Hurst 418). Doodle’s brother helps slightly for personal gain, but has a good heart trying to help his brother learn to walk. After Doodle has begun to walk, his brother tries to get him to do more. The two get caught in the rain one afternoon and trying to get home, the narrator explains that “the faster I walked, the faster he walked, so I began to run...I heard Doodle, who had fallen behind, cry out, ‘Brother, Brother, don’t leave me!’...He didn’t answer so I placed my hand on his forehead and lifted his head. Limply, he fell backward onto the earth” (Hurst 426). The narrator has good intentions, trying to help his brother learn to more dependent, but he pushes Doodle too far, resulting in Doodle’s death. Both Doodle’s brother and Montresor are flawed and have their own problems that wouldn’t be present in the stories of characters like
Cinderella is a childhood fairytale that we all love and remember. It is a tragedy that turns into love and happily ever after in the end. In contrast to this popular story, Anne Sexton's version of Cinderella is a dark and twisted version of the classic fairy tale. It takes on a whole new perspective and is fairly different from the childhood fairytale that most of society knows. The poem takes less of a focus on the happy ever after in Cinderella and makes it into vivid bloody and violent images. She retreats more toward the pain and neglect. The poem is not based off the Disney version of Cinderella, but rather original dark version by Brothers Grimm. Sexton uses a very sarcastic and
In “The Scarlet Ibis,” the author, James Hurst, uses indirect characterization, mainly through the narrator’s internal thoughts and feelings, to convey the theme that disabilities are not flaws in an individual, and that they are mere differences that make each individual unique. Early in the story, the author explains that Doodle, the narrator’s brother, has a deadly heart condition which prevents him from participating in activities such as running, jumping, swimming, and even walking. When Doodle is not expected to live when he is born, the narrator says that he does not want an “invalid” brother, but instead, wants a brother who can run around, jump, and play with him. Even the rest of the family does not believe that he is going to survive, and they do not even name him until he lives for three months. Later in the story, the narrator thinks, “...but he learned to crawl
The setting of “The Scarlet Ibis” helps prepare the readers’ state of mind from the very beginning. In the first place, the story takes place at the end of World War I and represents the internal conflict the narrator has as he struggles between guilt of his younger brother’s death and the acceptance of his brother’s disabilities. With this in mind, the narrator is abashed over Doodle’s inability to walk because he thinks disabilities are shameful, and he wanted a brother who was athletic, outgoing, and adventurous. For this reason,”When Doodle was five years old, I was embarrassed at having a brother of that age who couldn't walk, so I set out to teach him (Hurst 417).” The narrator admits to going out of his way to train Doodle to walk because he has so much pride that it is getting in the way of more important goals, meaning he would rather have a “normal” brother than a happy one. The poor treatment of his brother ultimately leads to Doodle’s death. Furthermore, he forces Doodle to do things unwillingly, such as touch his own coffin and train him to be “normal”. The narrator traumatizes his little brother to think a certain way in order to become accepted by society. Even
The metaphors used in the short story reveal to the reader the insecurity the brother has within himself. The brother works hard with Doodle to try to get him to walk, and once they succeed he feels great confidence in himself. Doodle struggles to move great distances, so getting him to walk further develops the brother pride. After he succeeds in getting Doodle to walk, he learns something new about his relationship with Doodle as well as learning “that pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death” (5). The pride Brother has for himself causes him to push Doodle to work harder to achieve the goal of walking. He tells himself he is doing this for Doodle, that he wants Doodle to feel good about himself. However, the brother wants to feel good about himself by developing a non-disabled brother. While Doodle does start to walk, the reader sees how the brother disregards Doodles’ feelings in the process. Like seeds, which are the start of any vegetable, plant or flower, pride is the start of a life, or a vine, that can lead to one of two outcomes, one that leads to a more self confident life, and another that causes pain and suffering in others. Through the use of metaphors the author reveals the narrator’s own insecurity and how it causes him to make decisions for the wrong reasons.
In “the Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, Brother’s motivation to teach Doodle to walk and to try and teach him to run, climb, swim, and row a boat is because of his pride- he’s ashamed to have a crippled little brother. Brother was pride’s slave, “Doodle walked only because I was ashamed of having as crippled brother” (Hurst, 319). This shows that Brother only taught Doodle to walk because he was ashamed of having a crippled brother. Brother cries when people hug him for teaching Dooble to walk because he’s embarrassed that he was embarrassed of Doodle and that’s the only reason that Doodle can walk. Brother successfully taught Dooble to walk but felt shameful that pride was the only reason that Doodle knew how to walk but when he fails to teach
James Hurst is the author of the short story “The Scarlet Ibis.” In this short story, the Narrator has a little brother, which he has always wanted, but his brother is a little off. Over time, the narrator tries to pull his little brother, who he named Doodle, out of his “not all there” state. He teaches him how to walk first, and when he succeeds, he is filled with pride. He then tries to teach him how to do other things afterwards, such as swimming, climbing, and rowing. However, Doodle was not meant to be able to do all these things, and because of the narrator’s own selfish pride, he overworks Doodle to the point of death. The issue in this story is that the narrator believes in himself a little too much, so he thinks he can do anything.
Adeline explores the idea that even in adverse conditions, a happy ending is possible. Even from the first word of this book the readers are being lead to believe that adeline had a difficult childhood. By using "Cinderella" a very well known name as part of the title followed by the words "secret" and "unwanted" giving us a sneak peak at how she was treated by her family.
Despite a mixed critical reception by contemporaries, the 1959 film Sleeping Beauty marks one of the greatest artistic achievements of the Disney studio during its early decades. Featuring fantastically detailed backgrounds and character designs that blend period sensibilities with both traditional and modernist forms, the work is markedly more stylized than previous projects. Places and protagonists alike are executed in a dramatic and almost architectural style, which implies the lines seen in late Gothic and early Renaissance artworks. Mid-century aesthetic sensibilities also heavily influenced the film’s design. Specifically, the novel widescreen format and stylized designs for the main characters speak to the conventions of the later modernist period. Disney’s Sleeping Beauty is the direct result of adapting medieval visual culture to fit with the artistic sensibilities of post-war America.
In the beginning of the novel, Pip is a young boy that lives in an
The past has a great influence on present culture. However ideas and themes of the past can change with time. This is true with the ideas associated with the medieval castle. These castles, which once served as a military fortress as well as a residence, are now often associated with the fantastical, popular images people can have of the middle ages. Sleeping Beauty's castle at Disneyland is a good example because it represents an idea to many people of what a medieval castle may have looked like. However the Disney castle is not an exact representation of a medieval castle. The differences in style and architecture between the Sleeping Beauty Castle and a medieval castle reflect each castle's varying
According to dictionary.com, a folktale is said to be, “a tale or legend originating and traditional among a people or folk, especially one forming part of the oral tradition of the common people”. What many people don’t realize is our beloved fairy tales, such as “Sleeping Beauty” have been derived from folktale. “Sleeping Beauty’s” folktale is exceptionally different from the modern day version that Disney has provided us with. Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty” and one of the original French versions of “Sleeping Beauty” differ in that they hold a separate plot, reach a contrasting crowd, and are from opposite times, but their basic theme holds true.
Rewrite a fairy tale from the perspective of one of the minor character in the story.
So, you’re finally over your ex (or trying to be at least) and you’re ready to move on to bigger and better things? Are you the kind of person who prefers to stay in with your honey but occasionally likes to go out with your significant other? You like flowers and the thought of your boo bringing you a bowl of hot soup and green tea while you’re sick as a dog, preferably when you think you’re dying on your death bed. You want to be cared for and treated like the woman you are. You like the door held open for you and sweet kisses on your forehead. You want to be wined and dined and actually know that you mean something to somebody. You want him to hold your hand while walking on ice so he can catch you if you fall. You want him to make an effort. Well, then it’s time to wake up Sleeping Beauty. Welcome to 2015, the year the dating scene has revolutionized to, “Wanna come over and watch Netflix and chill?”
There are many versions of the Sleeping Beauty, each one could seem differently for every person that reads it because of the use of the words and the connotations that people give them. This also leads up on to what people think the words could mean and it just starts controversial arguments. In this story the idea of sleep is known to be a lot of things, aside from that, there are also some problems with the relationships between the princess and prince. Some are when the princess has to wait an immense amount of time for someone special to come into her live, there is also the idea of where sleep symbolizes the whole time period between being young, all the way to becoming an adult. Both which are good reasonings from the story.
Most of us grew up watching and reading the stories of Cinderella, Snow White and, Sleeping Beauty all of which were produced by Disney. But what if I told you that the versions you grew up watching and reading are far from the original versions depicted by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, better known as the Brothers Grimm. In their tale of “Cinderella” there was no fairy godmother, the step sisters cut off portions of their feet to fit into the slipper and none of the animals talked or sang, but rather plucked out the step sister’s eyes as punishment for the mistreatment of Cinderella. Which begs the question, what inspired the brother’s to write these types short stories, which are so not what is recognized today as a “fairy tale”?