Review Of Margaret Atwood 's Bluebeard 's Egg

The short stories, “Turned”, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “The Good Corn”, by H.E Bates provide strong examples of how the representation of characters influence’s the reader’s perception of a text. Both stories depict similar characters: a middle-aged, childless wife, her husband and an 18-year old girl who works for them. They are both about a similar situation: man cheats on wife with girl and girl falls pregnant. However, the author’s of the text are from very different backgrounds and this is reflected in their stories. Although there are many similarities between “The Good Corn” and “Turned”, the values reflected in these stories, their resolutions and the reader’s perception of them are vastly different due to the contexts of

Narrative power is a unique thing in that it does not matter what the story says or the truth to it but rather how it is conveyed; how does the story create meaning and understanding for the reader. It is one thing to read the novel for the facts but it is another thing to understand why the facts were told the way they were; the importance behind the facts. Authors achieve this by using copious different points of view including: second person, third person-limited, third person-omniscient, and in the example of The Enchanted, first person. First person point of view is where the story is told through the experiences of an individual within the story. The author of The Enchanted, Rene Denfeld, slightly alters this in the sense that she

'Stone Mattress' is a collection of short stories by Margaret Atwood that all have a very similar recurring theme. Though the four short stories analyzed are unrelated, they all examine the evils that exist in in modern society. Through this collection of short stories, both realistic fiction and fantasy, Atwood sheds light upon the evils that all people are capable of. Upon reading the short stories, the reader is able to connect with the characters, as the scenarios and characters are are relatable and engaging. The realistic fiction pieces within the novel such as The Dead Hand Loves You, Stone Mattress and The Freeze-Dried Groom narrate characters in situations that could very easily occur to anybody. It is no doubt that the internal dialogues

Green Eggs and Ham is a timeless tale which has remained in both the hearts and minds of readers due to the author’s unique utilization of repetition, imagery, and tone. Throughout the story, the narrator constantly repeats the phrase, “I do not like green eggs and ham” (Seuss 12). The repetition of this phrase, and others of similar meaning, intensifies the character’s distaste while also embedding the significant text into the reader’s mind. Along with repetition, the use of imagery distinguishes the book. The specific descriptions, such as “in a house” and “with a mouse,” allow readers to create vivid images, enhancing their enjoyment of the story (Seuss 19). Additionally, the transition from an annoyed tone to one of amazement establishes

Fairy Tales are known for their rich symbolism. The story, “Blue Beard” by Charles Perrault is a much darker fairy tale that readers are not used to. The story is about a mass murderer. Blue Beard is a wealthy man. His wives keep disappearing. One day, his current wife enters a room off-limits to her as she is so overtaken with curiosity. In the room, she uncovers the dead bodies of his past wives whom Blue Beard killed for entering the room. Though she does not say anything, Blue Beard learns of her discovery. He is intent on killing his wife, but her brothers appear and kill Blue Beard, leaving his wife the sole heir to Blue Beard's massive fortune. The story represents a much darker fairytale where Perrault connected Blue Beard’s beard to

When things happen it is like you are in her head. This point of view is called first person. Beatrice is the main character, and the book is written from her point of view. the point of view is reflected in the text when Beatrice is thinking, because they are her thoughts, and when she says things like “I” and “Me”. This reflects her point of view because if you are in her head you are reading what she is thinking. When the book is written in first person you can see what the persons opinions are, and how they feel, and that helps the book be more in depth.

This charming story reverses the typical roles within a children’s book. With underlying issues of stereotypes, independence and empowerment, it fills children with imagination and teaches them the importance of being strong, smart, and the realization that beauty comes from within.

Snow, Glass, Apples is written as a short story meant to mirror the Brother Grimm’s story Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. This short story, however, is told in first person from the perspective of the Queen. This alteration the classic Snow White story offers a look at the tale in a way the reader is not used to. No longer is the Queen just this one dimensional evil character most people have grown comfortable with. Instead, Gaiman challenges what is considered typical for the antagonist and offers the complexity the evil Queen’s character often lacks.

Conversely, Orenstein maintains that, by focusing on only the historical dimension of the tale as opposed to its larger social context, Darnton misses vital elements of the tale’s broader themes as well as the changes which occurred in the transition to the male-dominated written tradition. Orenstein begins by noting the wide breadth of oral cognates to “Little Red Riding Hood” which had been discovered across Europe and in Asia (Orenstein 69). Citing the work of folklorist Paul Delarue, she establishes that “Charles Perrault - whose 1697 text is the presumed source of the Grimms’ “Little Red Cap” - had dramatically revised the original folk tradition” (Orenstein 71). Most significantly, Orenstein observes - and criticizes Darnton’s lack of observation - that when authors began to put these stories onto paper, “the sense of female authorship - literally, female authority” (Orenstein 83) disappears from their tales. Fundamentally, Orenstein advances an interpretation of Little Red Riding Hood as a hero story whose “heroic heroine” (Orenstein 82), her cleverness, and most significantly her triumph over evil have all but vanished from the popular literary tradition.

'Alice in Wonderland' by Lewis Carroll seems a first a simple fairy tale, but in fact its meaning is a lot more profound. This novel criticizes the way children were brought up during the Victorian era. Carroll presents the readers with the complications these offspring must endure in order to develop their own personalities/egos, as they become adults. For Alice, Wonderland appears to be the perfect place to start this learning adventure. A way to understand her story is by compering it to the world as if being upside-down. Nothing in Wonderland seems to be they way it’s supposed to. The first lesson, Alice must learn in this peculiar journey through Wonderland is to achieve separation from the world around her and to stop identifying herself through others, in order to discover who she

Children fairy tales are some of the first books we’re introduced to growing up. Typically, the princess is saved by the heroic prince and they lived “happily ever after”. Some may think our life should be like a fairy tales while others don’t. These tales created gender roles in which appeared to be very important. In the Grimm Brothers fairy tale, “Hansel and Gretel”, the parents leave the children in the forest to starve due to not having enough money to buy food in order to sustain life. The children later find a house deep in the woods where an old, evil witch lures them in and tried to eat Hansel and Gretel. They eventually kill the witch and find their way home to their father with no stepmother to be found as she has died while the children were away. In the fairy tale, “Hansel and Gretel” gender and feminist criticism are highlighted throughout the tale by defining characteristics, consequences from their actions, and societal roles and expectations that were both prominent in German history and modern society.

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll endures as one of the most iconic children 's books of all time. It remains one of the most ambiguous texts to decipher as Alice 's adventures in Wonderland have created endless critical debate as to whether we can deduce any true literary meaning, or moral implication from her journey down the rabbit hole. Alice 's station as a seven year old Victorian child creates an interesting construct within the novel as she attempts to navigate this magical parallel plain, yet retain her Victorian sensibilities and learn from experience as she encounters new creatures and life lessons. Therefore, this essay will focus on the debate as to whether Alice is the imaginatively playful child envisaged by the Romantics, or a Victorian child whose imagination has been stunted by her education and upbringing.

Her relationship with the wealthy, charming Rodolphe Boulanger is a diversion from tedious country life as well as an intentional subversion of the establishment of marriage and an attempt to undermine her husband’s authority. After her first conjugal transgression, Emma distinctly feels “the satisfaction of revenge” and “savoured [sic] it without remorse, without anxiety, without worry” (161). Though her husband Charles is guiltless of cruelty or vice he is representative of a patriarchy that is entirely neglectful of the emotional, psychological, and intellectual needs of women and assertive of its superiority and power. She is expected to fulfill the duties of a simple-minded, submissive, and sexless creature who is devoted to the comfort of her family and upkeep of the home. By pursuing a sexual relationship with Rodolphe, Emma invalidates the authority of the prohibitive government institution over her actions and demands autonomy in the face of a banal provincial life.

The narrator is unknown to the readers but describes Catherine’s, and other characters inner thoughts, that would otherwise be reserved to them. Although it is Catherine that is made the main focus, “Catherine’s feelings, as she got into the carriage, were in a very unsettled state; divided between regret for the loss of one great pleasure, and the hope of soon enjoying another”, her narrative representation is sympathetic and pleasant but the third-person structure also allows for Catherine’s nature to be presented without confusing the

In the story of Alice in Wonderland we follow Alice down a rabbit hole into a land of pure wonder, where the logic of a little girl holds no sway. In Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, we witness exactly the opposite as Emma Bovary, a most romantic creature, is purposely cast into a harshly realistic world. In either case, a creature is put into an environment unnatural to her disposition, yet in Flaubert’s example, Emma shares the world we inhabit, and thus the message her story brings is much more pertinent. To convey this message, Flaubert replicates not a world of fantasy, but rather the real world, with all its joy, sadness, and occasional monotony intact. Then he proceeds to dump an