Perrault and Robinson Versions of Puss in Boots

1670 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Comparing and contrasting fairy tales

Perrault and Robinson Versions of Puss in Boots

Puss in Boots, like many folk and fairy tales is found in varying versions of the same story. Two of the many versions of this tale which are still told today are the classic version by Charles Perrault and one retold by Harry Robinson, an Okanagan Native Storyteller. Robinson's version was recorded and then transcribed and may be found in 'Write It On Your Heart - The Epic World of an Okanagan Storyteller.' This paper will examine and compare the content of both these tales with regards to plot and attempt to explain why the differences and similarities occur with regards to characters and places.

Though both versions share a common goal of assuring a good life for the son who inherits the cat, the reasons vary considerably from version to version. In Perrault's tale, the son is destitute and the cat sets out to ensure his master's survival and comfort. Robinson's version, on the other hand, portraits a cat that seeks to right a wrong and return to his master that which was stolen from his family. A significant difference between the two tales is the number of events that take place.

The openings to these two tales are very different from one another. In Perrault's tale, the father is already dead and the children are about to split their meagre inheritance: a mill, an ass and one cat. Robinson launches instead into an extended preamble identifying the story to be told along with some pertinent facts concerning its source. He identifies its source as being non- Native. "This is white people stories." (Robinson, 282) Unlike Perrault's poor miller, Robinson's father figure is identified as a well-to-do rancher with lots of cattle, several horses and many acres of cultivated fields. In fact, the farming operation is so large that there are many farmhands to tend to the various tasks (Robinson, 283). The father is very much alive and continues to be an integral part of the story for one third of the tale.

Perrault's sequence of events is compact and straightforward. Once the sons have divided the assets, the two oldest siblings are removed from the tale. The cat requests some boots and a bag and sets off to provide for his master. Upon snagging each day's catch, he presents it to the king as a gift from his master whom he dubs the Marquis of Carabas.

Show More
Related

  • Comparing Rappaccini's Daughter and the Movie, (Film) The Truman Show

    442 Words  | 1 Pages

    The basic premise of the two plots is the same. Both stories deal with the capture of a young person who is to be groomed to live in a private, controlled environment to make them happy, but where they are never able to leave.

    Read More

  • Message of Hope in East of Eden, Cannery Row, and The Grapes of Wrath

    2984 Words  | 6 Pages

    When I look at Caleb Trask, I see a man from the book East of Eden to admire.  Although he was a man with many faults and shortcomings, and a man with an unnatural sense of cruelty, he was also a man who had a deep longing to be perfect and pleasing to his family, a man who craved his father's attention, and a man with a better heart than any other character in the book.  When I look at Mack I see a man with more soul and more kindness than any other person on Cannery Row.  He isn't ashamed of his poverty or life as a bum, and he embraces who he is, for all of the good and bad.  He goes to exhaustive lengths to give his friend, Doc, a party.  He is compelled to do this because he sees what Doc does for the people of the community, and he wishes to give him something in return.  That kind of spirit and gentleness cannot be bought with any amount of money.  When I look at Ma, in the novel, The Grapes of Wrath; never have I read of such a strong person, male or female, who so single-handedly kept her family together. While reading the book I became disheartened at what this woman had to endure and persevere through: death, family desertion, starvation, and sickness.  I was also encouraged by her. Ma was a role model of integrity, or rather, she was a reminder of the ease in which I live from day to day-she was the epitome of courage and diligence.  John Steinbeck uses three seemingly different characters to convey the same message, one of hope and perseverance.

    Read More

  • The Puritan Family

    806 Words  | 2 Pages

    Edmund S. Morgan's The Puritan Family displays a multifaceted view of the various aspects of Puritan life. In this book, we, the audience, see into the Puritans' lives and are thereby forced to reflect upon our own. The Puritan beliefs and practices were complicated and rather "snobbish," as seen in The Puritan Family.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Movie 'Puss In Boots'

    1463 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the movie of “Puss in Boots”, there are some group formation among the character in the movie. From the movie, Puss and Humpty Alexander Dumpty has showed the characteristics of a group. Both of them are good friends since they are in the orphanage house. When Puss firstly discovers the magic beans, he feels very curious about it. After getting know the plan from Humpty, both of them have agree to achieve their dreams together, whereby they wish to find the magic beans together and spend their whole life easily. We can see Puss

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Lindahl's Jack In Two Worlds

    2099 Words  | 5 Pages

    A comparison of Old World and New World storytelling styles is outlined by Lindahl as a gateway to understanding how Jack found homes in certain communities of North America. The typical märchen is woven around a conflict between home and the open road. The tales start in an ordinary place where Jack and his mother worry about the source of their next meal. Only after Jack takes to the open road to provide for his family does the story change to involve magic. Usually, the further Jack ventures from home, the more magic he encounters. In European portrayals, Jack’s return to home results in an ordinary life without magic, now enhanced by his found wealth. Linda Degh recognized that the great European storytellers were not homebodies,

    Read More

  • Racial Discrimination in the Criminal Justice System

    1131 Words  | 3 Pages

    Racism in its most general sense can be defined as “social practices which (explicitly or implicitly) attribute merits or allocate values to members of racially categorized groups solely because of their “race” (Banks, 2013, p. 65). Individuals that are introduced into the criminal justice system are still citizens no matter the color of their skin. As a citizen of the United States you are afforded certain rights and protections while progressing through the steps of the criminal justice system. Unfortunately, not all individuals are treated the same once they are introduced into the system. Once an individual is introduced into the system, a series steps begins. As each of these steps is approached, decisions need to be made by the law

    Read More

  • Carbon Dioxide Environmental Effects

    1361 Words  | 3 Pages

    Since the release of this first mass-produced of the hybrid vehicles the government has been doing a lot of things possible to be involved and also to regulate the purchasing’s of HEVs and PHEVs. Today, the President Obama has created a New Energy For America to plan for changes to its way the United States uses energy. The plan does include a section on the hybrid vehicles and plug-in hybrids. Soon the tax credits will be ended for its regular hybrid electrics vehicles. Now it is known, due to the rapid rate of the HEV sales the government has also withdrawn its tax rebates on HEV models, by giving exclusive tax cuts on EV and PHEV models, which based on its total electric charge that the battery pack can hold. Since then, HEV cars were popular among environmentally conscious drivers.

    Read More

  • The Ethical Foundations of Starbucks and Humana

    1701 Words  | 4 Pages

    Starbucks mission statement is …”to establish Starbucks as the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world while maintaining our uncompromising principles as we grow. The following six guiding principles will help us measure the appropriateness of our decisions:”

    Read More

  • Starbucks Case Analysis

    1309 Words  | 3 Pages

    As we know, Starbucks has made a name for itself making and selling coffee and specialty coffee drinks. It has made its biggest impression by becoming the espresso expert and public educator of how to make the perfect espresso; "Roasters" of the company are trained for one year.

    Read More

  • Three Trickster Tales

    1897 Words  | 4 Pages

    Anansi in “How Stories Came to Earth” must capture each animal before he is able to get the stories from the sky-god. He does this in a chronological-like order. He captures each animal in steps. In his first step his wife “[tells] him a plan” (Kaleki 40), then he tricks the animal, next he captures it, then lastly he brings the animal to the sky-god. He repeats this order of events every time until he captures all the animals and is able to get his stories. In “Master Cat,” the cat uses steps as well in order to get what he wants. The cat is trying to convince the king that his master is actually a rich gentleman. Not only does the cat impress the king, but also the princess who becomes interested in the cat’s master. The cat does this by starting small. He first brings the king gifts. He then threatens people by saying that they will “...be cut into little pieces until [they] look like chopped meat” (Perrault 49), so that they will tell the king that his master owns a lot of land. Finally, he lastly impresses the king with the ogre’s giant castle by saying it is his master’s. This concludes the king’s decision that the cat’s master is actually someone important. In these two trickster tales, a similar pattern in the way that they accomplish their goals can be seen because

    Read More

  • Starbuck’s and the Environment

    952 Words  | 2 Pages

    Coffee is a worldwide cash crop of which demand has exponentially increased over the years. “Coffee is (after oil) the world’s second most important traded commodity” (Cleaver 61). Competing coffee brewing companies wage war on offering the freshest, best tasting coffee the market has to offer. With such stiff competition there must be enough coffee beans deemed to be good enough in quality to supply the increasing demand. Starbucks can be considered one of today’s top competitors if not thee top coffee manufacturer presently in business. This successful company has had a huge impact on the coffee industry as well as the world. They have gone through great length to provide consumers with an excellent product as well as create a legacy that shows how to best go about running a massive corporation while keeping the environment clean and healthy.

    Read More

  • Perverseness In The Black Cat

    1550 Words  | 4 Pages

    “I do not expect or ask anyone to believe the wild, yet ordinary story I am about to write. I would be mad indeed to expect it.” The Black Cat begins with the narrator in jail, awaiting his execution, explaining how his alcoholism changes his personality from a kind person who loved animals to an abusive one, he tells us how he kept from abusing his beloved cat, Pluto. One night however, the love turned to hatred as in a drunken rage the narrator took out one of Pluto’s eyes. As time goes on the narrator’s alcoholism worsens and he begins to think irrationally, having thoughts of hanging Pluto just for the sake of wrongdoing, eventually his perverseness wins out and he does the deed. Throughout the story the narrator finds a second black cat in a tavern where he takes home as he finds the cat’s striking

    Read More

  • Fairytales and Folktales

    2801 Words  | 6 Pages

    For centuries, fairytales have been used for instruction; to teach children what is expected of them as they age and what terrors behold them if they do not comply with the guidelines laid out for them by their culture/society. Many of the tales were purposely frightful in order to scare children away from strangers, dark corners, and traveling off the beaten path into the dark thicket. Charles Perrault first began writing fairy tales in the late 17th century to educate his children. The morals of those tales often center on what is expected of young women; that they should remain ‘pure’ and ‘docile’. He wrote the tales in a time period when fairytales or ‘jack’ tales were looked at as instructional lessons. They were also widely told around the fire, as entertainment, for adults. Angela Carter adapted Perrault’s classic tales in the 1970’s; changing the victim...

    Read More

  • Schultz's Case Study: A Brief Background Of Starbucks

    1431 Words  | 3 Pages

    Starbucks is a worldwide company, known for is delicious brews of coffee and seasonal varieties of tasty drinks for any occasion. Starbucks opened with two main goals, sharing great coffee with friends and to help make the world a little better. It originated in the historic Pike Place Market of Seattle, Washington in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl and Gordon Bowker. The creation of Starbucks’ name came from the seafaring tradition of early coffee traders and the romance evoked from Moby Dick. At the time, this individual shop specialized in the towering quality of coffee over competitors and other brewing services enabling its growth to becoming the largest coffee chain in Washington with numerous locations. In the early 1980s, the current CEO Schultz saw an opportunity for growth in the niche market. After a trip to Italy he brought back the idea of a café style environment of leisure and social meetings to the United States we now see in Starbucks locations today. Schultz ultimately left Starbucks to open his own coffee shop, Il Giornale which turned out to be a tremendous success. Fast forward a year later, Schultz got wind that Starbucks was going to sell all their components of Starbucks including their stores and factories, he immediately acquired the funds to buy Starbucks and linked both operations. Within five years he was able to open more than 125 stores starting in New England, Boston, Chicago, and gradually entered California. He wanted Starbucks to be a franchise system based on the mission of telling the truth and emphasize the quality,

    Read More

  • Strength, Weakness And Swot Analysis: A SWOT Analysis Of Starbucks

    1941 Words  | 4 Pages

    A person can’t go anywhere today without seeing Starbucks. There are coffee stores all over the world, Starbucks inside Target’s and military installations, to Frappuccino’s and teas sold in grocery stores and gas stations.

    Read More

More about Perrault and Robinson Versions of Puss in Boots

Open Document