Gregory Maguire’s, Egg and Spoon, is a mystical story set in Russia weaved with fairy tales and adventure . Elena Rudina, the youngest of three, finds home in a poor village while Luka, the oldest, gets whisked away to serve in the Tsar’s army and Alexei serves a local merchant who left the merger village. Elena is abandoned with her sick mother and a set of marystosha dolls. Cat, on the other hand, travels with her great-aunt to St. Petersburg where she is to meet the Tsar and his godson, Anton. On the journey, Cat’s train stalls in Elena's village, and there the girls marvel over an astounding fabergé egg, which is to be a gift to the Tsar. The egg depicts the ice-dragon, Baba Yaga, and the Firebird. However, as the train starts, Cat is launched into Elena’s …show more content…
Cat, while following the train tracks, happens upon Baba Yaga’s house. There the fabergé egg appears to be missing the Firebird. Baba Yaga decides that this is a sign that magic is dying so they immediately set off to see the Tsar. During this, Elena manages to escape the train and happens upon the Firebird but a hen snatches a feather from the Firebird and both birds go up in flames, leaving an egg which Elena takes. In St. Petersburg, Elena winds up attending the Tsar’s ball; at the same time, Cat and Baba Yaga meet the Tsar and Anton. After breaking Elena out of prison, Baba Yaga, Cat, Anton, and Elena embark north on a journey to find the missing Firebird’s egg. There they meet the ice dragon who refuses to help them and complains that, as a result of human greed, he woke early from hibernation. To make a shelter against the wind, they sow the dragon's teeth but end up with a regiment. A boy from a baby tooth, agrees to wind the fabergé egg, which plays a lullaby to put the ice dragon to sleep only after Baba Yaga agrees to adopt him and the others promise that they will do their part in helping to decrease the amount of human
The fairy tale begins with a miller betrothing his daughter to the first suitable man who comes along. The man choosen happens to live deep in the forest, and fills the daughter with dread everytime that she sees him. One day, the suitor demands that his bride come visit him at home. When she tells him she does not know the way, he says he with spread the path to his house with ashes. Nodoubt this fictional element is meant to invoke sadistic images of Nazi Germany and the use of ashes of cremated concentration camp inmates for road construction. The daughter does follow the path with great unease, however, as she follows the path she marks it with peas. She finally comes to the house, and is promptly warned by a bird that she is entering a house of murderers. The girl enters and house and finds it almost entirerly deserted. However, in the basement she finds an old women who repeats the bird’s warning. The crone then prphesizes that the girl will marry death and her bridegroom only seeks to kill her, cut her pieces up, and eat her. As the two prepare to escape, the bridegroom and his band of theives return with maiden [virgin]. The old woman hides the girl behind a large barrel. From her hiding place, she whitnesses the thieves give the maiden three glasses of wine to stop her heart. They then rip her clothes off, and hack the body into pieces with axes. On of the murders notices the girl wears a gold band, but cannot pull it off her finger. He cuts off thefinger which flies from the table and lands in the girls lap. Before the thieve can look for it, the crone offers them some wine, which she has laced with a sleeping potion. The thieves fall prey to the potion and sleep deeply. The g...
“Winter lies too long in country towns; hangs on until it is stale and shabby, old and sullen” (“Brainy Quotes” 1). In Edith Wharton’s framed novel, Ethan Frome, the main protagonist encounters “lost opportunity, failed romance, and disappointed dreams” with a regretful ending (Lilburn 1). Ethan Frome lives in the isolated fictional town of Starkfield, Massachusetts with his irritable spouse, Zenobia Frome. Ever since marriage, Zenobia, also referred to as Zeena, revolves around her illness. Furthermore, she is prone to silence, rage, and querulously shouting. Ethan has dreams of leaving Starkfield and selling his plantation, however he views caring for his wife as a duty and main priority. One day, Zeena’s cousin, Mattie Silver, comes to assist the Frome’s with their daily tasks. Immediately, Mattie’s attractive and youthful energy resuscitates Ethan’s outlook on life. She brings a light to Starkfield and instantaneously steals Ethan’s heart; although, Ethan’s quiet demeanor and lack of expression causing his affection to be surreptitious. As Zeena’s health worsens, she becomes fearful and wishes to seek advice from a doctor in a town called Bettsbridge giving Ethan and Mattie privacy for one night. Unfortunately, the night turns out to be a disastrous and uncomfortable evening. Neither Ethan nor Mattie speaks a word regarding their love for one another. Additionally, during their dinner, the pet cat leaps on the table and sends a pickle dish straight to the floor crashing into pieces. To make matters worse, the pickle dish is a favored wedding gift that is cherished by Zeena. Later, Zeena discovers it is broken and it sends her anger over the edge. Furious, Zeena demands for a more efficient “hired girl” to complete the tasks ar...
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton is designed to be read like a fairytale. The novel contains many archetypes of a classic fairytale. These archetypes are brought to life in Starkfield, Massachusetts by the three main characters: Mattie Silver, Ethan Frome, and Zeena Frome. They can be compared to the archetypes of the silvery maiden, the honest woodcutter, and the witch. These comparisons allow the reader to notice similarities between Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome and the classic fairytale Snow White. The character Zeena Frome from Edith Wharton’s novel, Ethan Frome, resembles the evil witch from the fairy tale Snow White.
In The Eggs of the World, Toshio Mori writes about 3 men meeting, one rich, one a poor drunkard, and the narrator. The point of view Toshio Mori uses in this story is peripheral first person. This use of a somewhat uncommon way of writing and viewing a story gives a look at events that is objective while not being unfeeling. Peripheral first person gives balance between personal stake in the matter, but not so much as to lose objective view. This viewpoint also gives new looks on the characters surrounding the author, giving both personal opinion and removed observation. Lastly, peripheral 1st person gives a twist on which facts may or may not be included in a narrative. In The Eggs of the World the use of peripheral 1st person influences the characterization and either including or omitting specific facts while balancing between personal involvement and objective observation.
Anne Sexton’s poem “Cinderella” is filled with literary elements that emphasize her overall purpose and meaning behind this satirical poem. Through the combination of enjambment stanzas, hyperboles, satire, and the overall mocking tone of the poem, Sexton brings to light the impractical nature of the story “Cinderella”. Not only does the author mock every aspect of this fairy tale, Sexton addresses the reader and adds dark, cynical elements throughout. Sexton’s manipulation of the well-known fairy tale “Cinderella” reminds readers that happily ever after’s are meant for storybooks and not real life.
The story begins with both girls being dropped off when they were both eight years old in the orphanage, St. Bonny’s. Having the similarity of not being real orphans with beautiful dead parents in the sky the girls instead were dumped because their mothers didn’t want them. Twyla’s mother was not fully capable to take care of Twyla or as she states in the story her mother “danced all night.” As for Roberta’s mom, she was always sick. In the orphanage the girls become roommates and grow a bond because no one else wanted to play with them, the girls did not lack of having adventures together. For example, Twyla and Roberta enjoyed spying on the “big girls”, on the 2nd floor who pushed them around, who wore lipstick and penciled their eyebrows and liked to smoke and danced. Besides the girls spying on the “big girls”, they would also get a good laugh at laughing at Maggie, a deaf woman who would clean and cook in the orphanage, who couldn’t defend herself. While in St. Bonny’s, Twyla and Roberta witness Maggie get tripped and kicked by the older girls on the 2ND floor. Although ...
The story begins with Weetzie and Dirk. Weetzie a young with Bleach-blonde flat top hair, skinny and an interesting sense of style with an obsession with Indian culture. Her Friend Dirk that has blue eyes and when first introduced as having a black Mohawk and is also gay. Though both beating at their own drum, both have similar hopes looking up to Hollywood since it serves as the main plot of the story and the actress Jane Mansfield that Weetzie Bat looks up to and last but not least both want to have happiness, love and a lasting relationship that seems to be quite difficult for Weetzie and Dirk to find the right boys but instead find “ducks” instead of swans to help complete their happy ending. Dirk’s grandmother, Fifi gives a golden magic lamp that contains a genie. (17-18) Weetzie
Powder, a short story written by Tobias Wolff, is about a boy and his father on a Christmas Eve outing. As the story unfolds, it appears to run deeper than only a story about a boy and his father on a simple adventure in the snow. It is an account of a boy and his father’s relationship, or maybe the lack of one. Powder is narrated by a grown-up version of the boy. In this tale, the roles of the boy and his father emerge completely opposite than what they are supposed to be but may prove to be entirely different from the reader’s first observation.
Pigeon’s Egg Head (The Light) Going and returning from Washington was painted by George Catlin in 1837-39. It is a 29 x 24 inch oil painting on canvas, which is a medium size picture that anyone can mount on their modest wall. The two men facing in opposite directions from each other are the most visible figures from a distance. But if one is to look carefully close to the artwork, he or she will notice small details which are positioned to help the viewer communicate with the subject of the painting and the fact that the subject is one instead of two persons. The colors are not very bright, nor are they very dark. They are just right in between. This painting portrays the extraordinary changes an Assiniboine warrior underwent by comparing
This novel, although funny on the surface, is the Alice in Wonderland of Spain. His imagination of ups and downs through turns within turns, along a crazy roller costar that his characters take and retake over and over again four hundred years ago. This is a classic story filled with adventures that seem as if they will never end. Don't let anyone tell you this book is old-fashioned.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a story about a little girl who comes into contact with unpredictable, illogical, basically mad world of Wonderland by following the White Rabbit into a huge rabbit – hole. Everything she experiences there challenges her perception and questions common sense. This extraordinary world is inhabited with peculiar, mystical and anthropomorphic creatures that constantly assault Alice which makes her to question her fundamental beliefs and suffer an identity crisis. Nevertheless, as she woke up from “such a curious dream” she could not help but think “as well she might, what a wonderful dream it had been ”.
The fairytale Little Red Riding Hood by Charles Perrault is a story that recounts the adventure of the protagonist Little Red Riding Hood as she fulfills her mother’s wishes to bring a package to her ill grandmother. Perrault’s short story conveys influential life themes on the idea of male predation on adolescent women who fall victim to male deception. Perrault successfully portrays these themes through his use of rhetorical devices such as personifying the actions of the antagonist Wolf predator as he preys on the protagonist Little Red. Perrault illuminates the central theme of upholding sexual purity and being aware of eminent threats in society in his work. Roald Dahl’s poem, Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, is an adaptation to
Neil Gaiman’s “Snow, Glass, Apples” is far from the modern day fairy tale. It is a dark and twisted version of the classic tale, Snow White. His retelling is intriguing and unexpected, coming from the point of view of the stepmother rather than Snow White. By doing this, Gaiman changes the entire meaning of the story by switching perspectives and motivations of the characters. This sinister tale has more purpose than to frighten its readers, but to convey a deeper, hidden message. His message in “Snow, Glass, Apples” is that villains may not always be villains, but rather victims.
Margaret Atwood's “Bluebeard's Egg” is a story centred upon a woman called Sally, describing her relationship with her husband, Ed, and her best friend, Marylynn. The story is told in a third person perspective, a “God-like” figure that takes us through the whole narration, but only revealing the thoughts of one character, Sally. In the story “Bluebeard's Egg”, the main conflict is within the protagonist, Sally; that is, her external self versus her internal self. Sally's external self does not act according to her internal self. In other words, Sally does not express her emotions and thoughts due to the many concerns that she has, both psychological and environmental.
‘She wanted to warm herself,’ the people in the town said. No one had the slightest suspicion of what beautiful things she had seen” (**). The little maiden saw the stars in Heaven, and one fell down and formed a long trail of fire (**). Before the maidens cold and freezing death, she dreamed of the roast goose steaming with stuffing, the apple pie, dried plums all sitting on a pure white table cloth (**). The matches brought comfort to the little girl for a little bit, but the short stick burnt fast. Lighting the match for the little girl was a small get away, away from her very miserable life. “The little maiden stretched out her hands towards them when-- the match went out” (**). Dreaming and visualizing the Christmas trees, roast goose, and the warm stove was a way for the maiden to cope with the harsh conditions she was living