Story Notes: Alice in Wonderland, Part A

For Week 14's reading, I decided to jump into the Alice in Wonderland Unit. Admittedly, I have never actually read the original story, so I went into this reading with fresh eyes.

I really enjoyed this story! In many other stories, I have always seen references to Alice's story. After reading Part A, I can start to see why it is mentioned so often in pop culture! Aspects like fantasy and wonder is ever-present in the story. If I do decide to write a story using this theme, I may just write a version of Alice with my own spin!

Bibliography: Alice in Wonderland. Lewis Carroll. Link.

(Alice getting Tea!:

UN-Textbook)

Reading Notes: Aesop's Fables (English), Part B

For Part B of this week's reading, I am continuing with some more English Aesopian Fables. Like I have said in my previous posts, I am a huge fan of Aesop's Fables, so to continue with more of these readings will always be fun.

This half of the reading was an extremely enjoyable read. I am ashamed to admit that I just now recently realized that most (if not all) of the stories are written as miniature poems. For my storytelling this week, I might try to write a poem as well. The only problem, I believe, will be trying to reach the minimum word count.

Bibliography: Aesop's Fables, Smart, Boothby, Davies. Link.

(The Crow and the Pitcher:

UN-Textbook)

Reading Notes: Aesop's Fables (English), Part A

For this week, I was very surprised and excited to see that the English/Celtic Unit also had a sub-unit that covered some more of Aesop's Fables. There were a few, new stories in this story, but my favorites were some of the reoccurring stories from the first time I was introduced to Aesop's Fables (I think it was in the first couple of weeks). The main thing that I got from these readings were the differences you can see in language. For Lang's writings, it is written in a more modern form of english that is much easier to read. Regardless, these readings were very entertaining. At this point, I am still trying to figure out exactly what I want to have my next writing about!

Bibliography: Aesop's Fables, Smart, Boothby, Davies. Link.

(The Lion and the Mouse:

UN-Textbook)

Reading Notes: King Arthur, Part B

For Part B of my reading, I decided to continue with the King Arthur Unit. I had so much fun reading and learning about King Arthur's legend.

In Part B, we deviate from King Arthur's development as a king and focus on his knights on their quests for the Holy Grail. I really enjoyed this half of the reading, but I have to admit that it does not really help with my previous idea in writing a story that focuses on one character and follow him throughout his lifetime. I think I have decided to go ahead and use this idea and move forward with my storytelling option.

Bibliography: King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table. Andrew Lang. Link.

(The Death of King Arthur:

Timeless Myths)

Reading Notes: King Arthur, Part A

For this week's reading, I decided to read the King Arthur Unit. I have always been a fan of King Arthur and his stories. I like how, after centuries of storytelling, this story is still relevant. Things like Kingsman and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword are all recent movies that have sought to keep this story within the minds of this generation.

The greatest aspect that I took from these readings is the development of Arthur. We get to meet Arthur as a young common-man, watch him fall in love and marry, and see him develop as a noble king. Since many of our stories that we write are, at most, one-thousand words long, it will be hard to incorporate the same level of character development in our stories. However, it isn't exactly impossible. At this moment, I can see myself writing about a young man, maybe a drop-out, who joins the military and watch him evolve into a high-ranking officer. I am going to wait until after I have read the rest of the unit before deciding, however.

Bibliography: King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table. Andrew Lang. Link.

(King Arthur, upon discovering Excalibur:

The Telegraph)

Reading Notes: California and Old Southwest, Part B

For Part B of my readings this week, I continued with the California and Old Southwest unit. Like Part A of the unit, Part B focuses on nature and explains the origins of some notable occurrences in nature. Things like El Capitan (which I just learned was a rock formation and is the reason why Apple's OS El Capitan gives users the default wallpaper of the rock formation), mescal, lightning and thunder are told as why and how they were created. From the readings, I have to say that the origin of lighting/thunder and why mescal are so big is my favorite stories. At first, you don't really know where the story is going to take you, but in the end the story tells you that the children's adventures signify the notion that "lightning does not strike twice". 

For my writings, like I said for Part A, I wish to write my own origin story for something very common. As of right now, I think I might write about the origins of earthquakes and how they are caused by bears falling down! 

Bibliography: Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest. Katherine Berry Judson. Link.

(El Capitan:

Wikipedia)

Reading Notes: California and Old Southwest, Part A

For this week's reading, I have decided to read the "California and Old Southwest" unit. Last semester, I was lucky enough to take a Native American Studies course here at OU, so I was exposed to a few of these stories in that course. I really liked the theme that all of the stories had, which was the subject of creationism. In last week's reading, it was the Inuit, if I recall correctly, whose legends stated that the raven was the one who created most of life. In this week's reading, it was the Navajo's, a prominent Native American tribe at the time, stories we are focusing on. Based on the readings, it looks like they believed nature and it's animals were existent beforehand, and that they were the ones who contributed to create life. Animals like the fox, the coyote, and the spider all created life and explain things about life today, like light, fire and other things from nature.

The aspect that I would like to take out of these readings and to incorporate into my writings is idea of taking something that we already know and changing the back story of it. In this weeks readings, for example, fire was stolen by the fox to distributed to the humans suffering from the cold.  In Greek mythology, we know that fire was stolen by Prometheus was the one who did that. In my writing, I don't see why I can't take a known, beloved story and just simply changing one aspect. This shows that everywhere in the world, the stories are all the same, the characters are just different.

Bibliography: Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest. Katherine Berry Judson. Link.

(The Fox and Prometheus are one in the same:

Year Here)

Reading Notes: Alaskan Legends, Part B

For my Reading Part B this week, I wanted to shift away from the Native American Marriage Tales to read some Alaskan Legends, most notably, the first half. It is not because I did not enjoy the Native American Marriage Tales, but that these Alaskan Legends just seemed really fun and interesting reads.

The first half of this unit focuses on the Raven, who is shown to be the creator of Earth's numerous life forms. I think it is a really interesting take on creationism, especially since growing up in a Western society, the belief that God is the one creator is the dominating belief. I think it is especially interesting that these stories made the Raven the creator, just because it seems so random and the fact that many other cultures associate the Raven with death as oppose to life.

While reading this unit, I felt that I could transfer these themes into one of my writings by writing something that is close to Bruce Almighty. In Bruce Almighty, we are surprised when we see Morgan Freeman playing as God. I feel that I can do something like that, but make the creator some other unsuspecting animal, like a Corgi.

(A raven, just like in the stories:

Wikipedia)

Bibliography: Myths and Legends of Alaska. Katherine Berry Judson. Link.

Reading Notes: Native American Marriage Tales, Part A

Reading these stories, the one that popped out to me was the story of The Piqued Buffalo-Wife. I don't know if you guys are familiar with Studio Ghibli films, but that was the vibe I got from the story. The story follows a man who tries to get his son back who had transformed into a calf. In order to get him back from the Buffalo Chief, he was tasked with spotting him from a group of other calves. In one Studio Ghibli film, Spirited Away, the protagonist is faced with the same test. I am thinking that I can rewrite this story, but have it end just like Spirited Away. I have always been a fan of the Studio Ghibli films, so I think it would be really fun to revisit them by incorporating that style and their stories into my own writing. It also gives me the excuse to just binge on all the movies!

(Spirited Away:

Daily Dot)

Bibliography: Tales of the North American Indians. Stith Thompson. Link.

Reading Notes: Aesop (Winter), Part A, Extra Credit

For my extra credit reading, I decided to revisit a favorite unit of mine. I really enjoyed Aesop's fables, so it was really fun to read more fables from a different writer.

Like other of Aesop's fables, Winter's stories revolve around personified animals whose experiences are meant to teach the reader a life lesson. Some of my favorites included The Two Goats and The Tortoise and the Ducks. Both stories revolve around how vanity and pride lead to the downfall of the protagonists. In the case of The Two Goats, the titular goats were so stubborn in trying to outrank each other, both fell to their demise instead of simply stepping aside for one another. In The Tortoise and the Ducks, a tortoise is finally able to travel freely through the help of two kind ducks. Everything goes smoothly until the the tortoise opens his mouth to gloat, since his bite was the only thing that kept him midair, as he was biting onto a stick that the ducks were carrying.

For my future writings, I would like to try to incorporate a lesson into them. I have noticed reading other people's readings that they have done just that, so I would like to try it as well!

Bibliography: The Aesop for Children. Milo Winter. Link.

(The tortoise, before his death:

UN-Textbook)

Reading Notes: Stories from Tibet, Part A

For this week's reading, I chose to read the stories from the Tibetan unit. I am glad that I made this decision, since so many of the Tibetan stories revolve tricksters: a favorite theme of mine. Some of the stories that really jumped out to me was the story of The Tiger and the Frog. The Frog, despite his obvious size disadvantage and fear of the Tiger, was still able to fool the Tiger through deceit and fear. As I write this, I can imagine my story for this week be one that has the Frog be like Batman and the Tiger, and other large woodland creatures be criminals of Gotham City.

Another story that I really liked was that of The Story of the Donkey and the Rock. I was truly shocked by the ending, since we find out that the King fulfills the role of the trickster by embarrassing everybody who attended the trial for a donkey and a rock. I can imagine myself retelling this story, but by having the king be an advertiser for a big fight.

Either way, I feel that I have a good basis for my upcoming story!

Bibliography: Albert Shelton, Tibetan Folk Tales, Link.

(Imagine this coming at you at night, evildoers.

Marv Un App)

Reading Notes: Stories from Congo, Part B

Like Part A of the reading, Part B's reading centers around very dark, twisted stories. However, the main differing between the two lies in the fact that Part B's readings use the theme of Tricksters within many of it stories, a theme that we have seen in many of our other readings. This goes to show just how common the Trickster character is throughout the world. 

As I said, Part B utilizes the trickster character to propel the story and teach lessons, but the readings can be interpreted as almost macabre due to the violent ways the stories play out. Since I was able to form some sort of background for this week's story already, I doubt I will incorporate both the subject of a trickster AND have my story so dark.

Bibliography: Notes on the Folklore of Fjort, R.E. Dennet. Link

(Above is the African Leopard, present throughout many Congolese folklore:

Wikipedia)

Reading Notes: Stories from Congo, Part A

This week's reading was especially macabre, but interesting! Many of the Congolese readings that we were provided bypass the norm we are accustomed to. Where relations between lovers and family members are considered to be of the utmost importance, the Stories from Congo show that those closest to you can also be the cruelest. Some stories that revolve around the "Vanishing Wife" show that sometimes bonds shared through blood can be not as strong as those shared by lovers. Other stories show that lovers can be overly jealous. We saw examples of this of one wife trying to kill the other's child, only to have killed her own child by mistake.

The one redeeming story within this half of the section is the last story, where despite two brothers not seeing eye-to-eye, the elder brother ends up saving his younger brother's wife. This leads to their reconciliation.

For this week's story, I feel that I could use two brothers as a protagonist who are united when something horrible happens. To stay with this week's theme, I plan to make the main antagonist one of their jealous wives.

Bibliography: Notes on the Folklore of Fjort, R.E. Dennet. Link

(Estranged brothers:

ABC)

Reading Notes: Sinbad, Part B

Now that I am finished with all of Sinbad's seven voyages, I feel that I have a better knowledge of its themes and ideas. Admittedly, Sinbad reminds me of that meme of Tom Hanks where he is the last person you want to travel with (Cast Away, Captain Phillips, and Sully to name a few). With this thought, I feel that I can write a story as Tom Hanks. With Sinbad's stories being a first person recount of his voyages, I feel that I can write my stories as Tom Hanks recounting all of his movie parts as if they were real!

Many of Sinbad's adventures were life threatening and included much luck and coincidence, something I feel that can be duplicated in my stories. I am thinking that it could be very similar to that of Forrest Gump, but it would just include him being ship-wrecked, crashing landing a plane, and being held hostage by pirates. For those of you who do not know the story of Sinbad, many of what I just said actually occurred in the story! With this said, I feel that I have a pretty good basis for my story!


Bibliography: The Voyages of Sinbad, The Arabian Nights: Andrew Lang. Link

(Never travel with this man:

Pinterest)

Reading Notes: Sinbad, Part A

I have to admit, I really enjoyed this week's reading: Sinbad's Seven Voyages. It felt like a great fusion of Hercule's 12 Labors and Homer's Odyssey. The main things that really stood out to me and that I feel that I could implement into my own stories would the fact that the stories were told in a first-person perspective and almost all of the stories turned out the way they did due to luck. I believe a first-person perspective will almost always be a better device to develop your protagonist, so using it for one of my stories will allow readers to better relate and learn to love the character. As for the fact that luck played so heavily in the stories, I feel that I can use the theme where my character is INCREDIBLY lucky and create the most outlandish situations for which he/she has experience. For my story, I feel that I can recreate Sinbad's tales, but have him experience things that are funnier and not as traumatizing. I think I will wait until I have finished reading about the rest of his voyages before creating my stories.

Bibliography: The Voyages of Sinbad, The Arabian Nights: Andrew Lang. Link

(One of the man-eating giants Sinbad faced in his voyages:

UN-Textbook)

Reading Notes: Santal, Part A

A few weeks ago, we had the pleasure of reading about tricksters. Tricksters live up to their name and use their ability to fool others for gain. Sometimes they come out as victors, but in this Unit, many fell because of this trait. I've written in many of my previous posts that I am not a big fan of "unhappy" endings, but I actually enjoyed this week's stories because of the fact that those tricksters met a deserved ending. The story that jumps out specifically is the story of "The Jackal and the Crow". It can be argued on which of the titular characters was the trickster, but regardless, neither survived by the end of the story. Another tale told the story of a dishonest mother tigress, whose dishonesty eventually leads to her child leaving her. One last aspect that I really liked from these stories was the fact that a few of these stories did not follow along the cliche of tricksters being wild animals and humans being victims. In a few of the stories, we see the human characters pulling a few tricks out of their pockets to get out of bad situations.

Using these notes, I feel like I can create a story myself that has a human hunter using trickery as a way to lure his prey to their demise. Right now, I am trying to figure out a way to show his downfall, an aspect that I've noticed in many of these stories. Right now, I think I can have the story end with the hunter being so overconfident with his catches, that his cage is overfilled and breaks, causing all of his capture animals to turn and attack and kill him.

(Hunter whose pride befalls him:

PicQuery)

Bibliography: Folklore of the Santal Parganas, Cecil Henry Bompas; link.

Reading Notes: Adam and Eve, Part B

This week's reading revolves heavily upon Adam and Eve. Where Part A of this week's reading focused mainly on the creation of Adam and Eve, Part B shows all the hardships that both Adam and Eve had to endure after being casted out of the Garden of Eden. I enjoyed Part B since it shows how powerful God is within the Bible. This can be seen by his ability to cast such terrible luck upon the banished Adam and Eve. For my storytelling this week, I can spin this around and make the work less macabre. Instead of simply being tortured so that they may seek redemption, my story can revolve around a man plagued by misfortune in a lighthearted way. As I have said in previous posts, I am not a fan of such dark writing. I prefer light hearted tones, and I feel like this story can be twisted that way. Instead of being biblically punished, my version of Adam or Even would have to endure gum on their shoes, a hangnail, or maybe discovering the fact that they had nose full of boogers their whole day!

(This might as well have been Adam in the readings Part B!

ImgFlip)

Bibliography: Book of Adam and Eve, link.

Reading Notes: Adam and Eve, Part A

The idea that God is an omnipotent character is a common theme that is present in many stories outside of the Bible. That is why it is no surprise that he is just as grand and powerful in his depiction within the Bible, especially compared to Adam and Eve. The thing that I enjoyed, however, is the fact that in many of the stories Adam is shown to be just as wise as God himself. It especially surprised me in The Ideal Man, where Adam was able to answers some of God's question so confidently and logically. The theme that I am pointing out is where the undermined character, who everybody does not expect to be intelligent, surprises the readers with his/her intelligence and thinking ability. I feel that the use of this theme since it allows writers to create a more relatable character who isn't perfect, all the while creating foils/antagonists against the characters as non-believers or bullies.

To expand on this idea, I feel that my storytelling for this week could be a party of the ideal man, where God can be Alex Trebek and Adam can be a contestant in Jeopardy!. The difference is that I plan on making Alex Trebek so vehement in his want for the contestant to lose. Think: Slumdog Millionaire in Biblical times!

(Adam and Eve, with Adam being so ideal:

Stephen Miller Books)

Reading Notes: Homer's Odyssey, Part B

Homer's Odyssey is one of my most favorite stories from Greek mythology, however, in every iteration that I've heard of this story it was always an abridged version. Most of these abridged versions have always shown the story from a third person perspective. That is why I enjoyed Kline's translation. We are given a first-person view of Odysseus' thoughts and sights. I feel that I can apply that to my storybook, since it is a fairly simple technique to incorporate into my writings. A first person perspective allows us to see the character pass all the attributes that others know him for. Odysseus was a renowned leader and warrior, feared and respected by many of the time. Watching how he reacts to and handles many of the monsters and situations he and his men are pitted against, this fame was earned. However, our interpretation is solely based on the situations' outcomes. Just off the top of my head, I remember reading his interaction with the cyclops. Before rereading the story, I knew that Odysseus confidently chided at the cyclops AFTER escaping from the cave. However, in the story, we see how Odysseus is actually frozen in terror as he and his ram crept pass the blinded monster. Naturally, we only focus what the outcome was, not what happened during the situation. 

 From a first person perspective, we get to see the human side of Odysseus. We are exposed to his terror while dealing with these otherworldly situations. As aforementioned, Odysseus was known for being a leader and warrior, but a severely underrated attribute of his was his ability to mask his fear. I believe that using a first-person writing style will undoubtedly add a deeper layer to your protagonist. Another great example of where the first person perspective really deepened Odysseus' character was his encounter with Charybdis. In this story, we see just how haunted and disturbed by the lost of his men to this terrible creature. Although I don't seek to make my story as dark as this, I hope to make my character as exposed as Odysseus was in this situation.

(Charybdis, in all his terror:

Mr. P's Mythopedia)

Bibliography: Homer's Odyssey, translated by Tony Kline. UN-Textbook.

Reading Notes: Aesop's Fables: Lions (Part 1-2)

I've chosen to focus my notes on the first two readings due to the fact that they can be applied so heavily to one of my storybook topics that I've written about previously. In both parts of Aesop's Fables: Lions, the Lion is depicted in a different fashion than we are accustomed to (or at the very least, I am accustomed to). Lions are generally depicted as the fiercest, most feared animal of the wild, yet in a few of Aesop's stories, the Lion is seen in a different manner. As a matter of fact, the Lion is shown more as a victim in some of the stories. In Androcles and the Lion, the Lion is show to be a victim who is in need of saving from a small thorn. In another story, The Lion in Love, the Lion is depicted to be a victim of love, with two different narratives either ending in embarrassment or death. I really like this style of writing that gives us a different and unusual look into different characters that we already know. I've seen this style of writing in different comics, like where Superman is depicted as a scrawny, sheltered man instead of the muscular hero that we all know. I hope to write something similar into my storybook project, where Hercules transforms from one of the strongest, most revered demigods of all Greek/Roman mythology into a meek delivery boy with no real physical prowess. My goal is to create a character that is recognizable to the reader, yet make it so that this version of the character is far from being the character that we all know. The Lion being shown as vulnerable captures this unique style that I hope to be able to apply to my own story.

(The Lion in Love:

Myth-Folklore UN-Textbook)

Bibliography: Aesop's Fables by Joseph Jacobs; UN-Textbook link.