My final paper topic

I think I'm going to write about dreams. Mainly focusing on Alice and Oz. It should be really interesting I think. And fun.

My dream

Since everyone is sharing their dreams, I will share a few of mine.

DREAM 1:

I am in a white dress, getting married. My family and friends are all around me helping me get ready. I look at myself in the mirror, I look pretty, but am confused. What is going on? How did I get here? And most importantly, who am I marrying?

My mom comes up to me and pulls me away from everyone else, I try to question her but she is talking. She says "your father and I are so happy. We didn't think you were ever going to get married and we are so happy that you finally are." I try to tell her that I don't know what is going on, but she won't listen. The pastor comes in and tells us it's time.

The flower girl enters first, then my bridesmaids, then the door shuts and the music starts. My dad looks nervous, he's starting to cry tears of happiness. The doors open and we start to walk down the isle. There are flowers everywhere, it looks like a fairyland. Then, I look up to the front and see...
Ryan Rowe.

The prom king from my junior year of high school. He is a good guy, a great guy, but I haven't thought about him since graduation. Strange, I think. Then he meets my eyes and looks so excited. I think, huh, it's like he knew we were getting married and I didn't. My dad says in my ear, "I know that you aren't happy about this, but your mom and I think it's the right thing to do." I ask "am I pregnant?" He laughs and says "no. Your mom and I think he will be a good match for you. We know that you have reservations, but that's too bad." I gasp, and look at him horrified. He just smiles a tight-lipped smile and urges me forward.

I shove away from him and run out the doors of the church, into a brier patch. The thorns are stabbing me and pulling at my dress, but I keep running. Suddenly there is a wall in front of me, I turn and it's behind me too. Panicked, I look around and it is surrounding me. Then I wake up.

I have had this dream at least 3 times a week for the last month. I have no idea what it means, why I'm having it over and over and why Ryan Rowe.

DREAM 2:

I had this dream the night before my lit crit test. I had been up until 4 studying and I made a joke about how if you don't know the answer, it's probably either 'Walter Pater' or 'anagogy.' And the dream....

My friend Zack from back home came to visit me, and since I hadn't seen him in a long time I was really excited. He came up to me, gave me a hug and asked me how I was. I said 'anagogy!' He was like, um ok... and then he asked how school was going and I replied 'Walter Pater!' Suddenly we were in the backyard of my best friend Leslie, in the pool (that she doesn't have btw) swimming and her parents Bob and Mary Lou came outside to say hi. She said that she was going to call Leslie and see how she was. I said 'Does she know the answer to anagogy and Walter Pater? Have her call me!'

And then I woke up. Strange? I think so!

Marriage as an abduction

This is a post that I did for Classical Lit that I found relative to the Fairy Tales we have been discussing:

Hades and Prince Charming....
Are Hades and Prince Charming, alike? Or very different?Both 'abduct' their loves and take them off into the sunset. It can be argued that Hades did it against Persephone's will, and the Princess' that Prince Charming rescue want to be taken, but do they really? Because it is not possible for us to ask them, we must infer. For Cinderella, Rapunzel and even Sleeping Beauty, the Prince was rescuing them from a life of captivity and slavery. Cinderella was forced to cook and clean for her evil step family, Rapunzel was kept captive in a castle, and Sleeping Beauty didn't want to marry the Prince, she was in love with someone she met 'once upon a dream' (although they were the same person, she didn't know that yet). But for Princess' like Belle, Snow White and Mulan, they were perfectly happy before they were taken. The Beast made her stay locked in his castle and didn't let her leave, the Prince was too late in rescuing Snow White, because the hunter had already done that, and was probably happy living with the dwarves. And Mulan didn't need to be rescued because she rescued him, which probably means she could rescue herself too. I'm beginning to think that Prince Charming isn't quite as magical as I once believed him to be, and I'm thinking that he maybe is more like Hades than we ever could have imagined as children!

Sunderland

When I first realized that this book not only was 300 pages long, but a graphic novel, I was not impressed. I really thought that I was going to hate it, but once I started reading I couldn't put it down! I love how Talbot used history, pictures, and a fascinating storyline to keep me riveted. He not only is a brilliant author, he is an amazing writer as well. I marked so many pages that it is unreasonable for me to talk about all of them, but my favorite was story 'Jabberwocky,' not only because the wonderfully used aspects of intertexuality, but because it was hilarious and fun! For black and white, it was incredibly detailed and eye-catching. The story of a young boy fighting a monster and proving himself is timeless, but this one is particularly great. I just love the poem I think. This is certainly some great nonsense if I do say so myself.

Jabberwocky

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!

The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun

The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:

Long time the manxome foe he sought—

So rested he by the Tumtum tree,

And stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood,

The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,

Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,

And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! and through and through

The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!

He left it dead, and with its head

He went galumphing back.

"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?

Come to my arms, my beamish boy!

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"

He chortled in his joy.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.

Through the Looking Glass

My very favorite part of this book was not even in the book at all, it was the poem at the beginning called 'Christmas-Greetings [From a Fairy to a Child], and it goes as such:

LADY dear, if Fairies may

For a moment lay aside

Cunning tricks and elfish play,'

Tis at happy Christmas-tide.

We have heared the children say---

Gentle children, whom we love---

Long ago, on Christmas-Day,

Came a message from above.

Still, as Christmas-tide comes round,

They remember it again---

Echo still the joyful sound

Peace on earth, good-will to men!

Yet the hearts must child-like be

Where such heavenly guests abide;

Unto children, in their glee,

All the year is Christmas-tide.

Thus forgetting tricks and play

For a moment, Lady dear,

We would wish you, if we may,

Merry Christmas, glad New Year!

Not only is this poem festive to the season, it is beautiful and magical. I love Carroll's imagination; he could take the form of a fairy and write to a child. This makes him like a child himself because he could believe like one.

Wonderland

I must confess that as a child this was my least favorite Disney movie. I'm not sure if it was my mom's dislike that influenced my own, or really my own. But while reading this book for the first time, I realized it was because the Disney version is crap, and the books is amazing! I think my favorite parts were the 'mixed up' poems that she recites.

How doth the little crocodile...

How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!


How cheerfully he seems to grin,
How neatly spreads his claws,
And welcomes little fishes in
With gently smiling jaws!

As opposed to:

How doth the little busy bee...

How doth the little busy Bee
Improve each shining Hour,
And gather Honey all the day
From every opening Flower!


How skilfully she builds her Cell!
How neat she spreads the Wax!
And labours hard to store it well
With the sweet Food she makes.


In Works of Labour or of Skill
I would be busy too:
For Satan finds some Mischief still
For idle Hands to do.


In Books, or Work, or healthful Play
Let my first Years be past,
That I may give for every Day
Some good Account at last.

I really enjoy how he takes a didactic tale about working hard and changes it into nonsense.

You are old Father William...

'You are old, Father William', the young man said,
'And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head --
Do you think, at your age, it is right?'

'In my youth', Father William replied to his son,
'I feared it might injure the brain;
But, now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,
Why, I do it again and again.'

'You are old', said the youth, 'as I mentioned before,
And have grown most uncommonly fat;
Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door --
Pray, what is the reason of that?'

'In my youth', said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,
'I kept all my limbs very supple
By the use of this ointment - one shilling the box -
Allow me to sell you a couple?'

'You are old', said the youth, 'and your jaws are too weak
For anything tougher than suet;
Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak -
Pray, how did you manage to do it?'

'In my youth', said his father, 'I took to the law,
And argued each case with my wife;
And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw,
Has lasted the rest of my life.'

'You are old', said the youth, 'one would hardly suppose
That your eye was as steady as ever;
Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose -
What made you so awfully clever?'

'I have answered three questions, and that is enough,'
Said his father, 'don't give yourself airs!
Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
Be off, or I'll kick you downstairs!'

Shockingly I couldn't find the poem this was parodying. That doesn't mean it doesn't exist, just that my google didn't find it. This is a really interesting concept for me, that Carroll was parodying something when he had nothing to parody.

Tis the voice of the Lobster... from Alice

'Tis the voice of the Lobster: I heard him declare
"You have baked me too brown, I must sugar my hair."
As a duck with its eyelids, so he with his nose
Trims his belt and his buttons, and turns out his toes.

When the sands are all dry, he is gay as a lark,
And will talk in contemptuous tones of the Shark;
But, when the tide rises and sharks are around,
His voice has a timid and tremulous sound.

I passed by his garden, and marked, with one eye,
How the Owl and the Panther were sharing a pie:
The Panther took pie-crust, and gravy, and meat,
While the Owl had the dish as its share of the treat.

When the pie was all finished, the Owl, as a boon,
Was kindly permitted to pocket the spoon;
While the Panther received knife and fork with a growl,
And concluded the banquet by ---

Tis the voice of the sluggard...

’Tis the voice of the Sluggard: I heard him complain,
‘You have waked me too soon! I must slumber again!’
As the door on its hinges, so he on his bead
Turns his sides, and his shoulders, and his heavy head.

‘A little more sleep, and a little more slumber!’
Thus he wastes half his days and his hours without number;
And when he gets up he sits folding his hands,
Or walks about sauntering, or trifling he stands.

I passed by his garden, and saw the wild brier,
The thorn, and the thistle grow broader and higher:
The clothes that hang on him are turning to rags;
And his money still wastes, till he starves or he begs.

I made him a visit, still hoping to find
He had took better care for improving his mind:
He told me his dreams, talk’d of eating and drinking;
But he scarce reads his Bible, and never loves thinking.

Said I then to my heart, ‘Here’s a lesson for me!
That man’s but a picture of what I might be;
But thanks to my friends for their care in my breeding,
Who have taught me by times to love working and reading!’

This one is funny because The Sluggard is a christian song that he changed into a lobster tale.

My Moral

If beauty is what's treasured most,

And those who have it never cease to boast.

Then where is wit and intellect?

Does this grace have to effect?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Fairy in this tale didn't understand

What Cinderella should have known was the master plan.

What good is royalty to you

If you have the brains of an ewe?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Beauty is the most essential

Does this have marriage potential?

And what is grace if you have no words?

A lame and tasteless curd.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It does seem instead that beauty is the benefit,

Certainly not brains or wit.

As Cinderella should have known,

Her life will certainly be blown,

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If all she cares about are outward things,

And shiny, shiny, shiny bling.

You certainly do not need help,

If these things are forever felt.