Susan Honeyman’s “Gingerbread Wishes and Candy(land) Dreams: the lure of food in cautionary tales of consumption” discusses the complexity of food within literature, particularly in folktales, fairy tales, and cautionary tales. Honeyman explores the importance of food used to symbolize the “industrializing and consumerist culture”, in which a culture exists where food lures are used to provide themes concerning “expression or disempowerment.” A direct reference to how food lure is used in Chrisitina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market”, food is utilized here to emphasized the nature of the text as a “imperial text, gendered, and neurotically focused on food production and consumption.” The dialogue concerning food and the two characters, Lizzie and Laura,
Isobelle Carmody’s short story, “The Pumpkin-Eater”, portrays a middle eastern woman, a lone rider and former princess in the days of the crusades, retelling her story of her childhood living in a tower with her mother and maid, leaving to accept the engagement proposed by a prince, only to discover that in this, she is to be exchanging one prison for another. The discovery of self-reliance is seen through her leaving to take care of herself, to not be locked up and kept hidden away to preserve beauty. Foreshadowing of her journey is utilised through the drawing of tarot cards to set the story in motion. “I remember drawing the card of long journeying the year my firstblood came. The bird of my heart, caged for so long, beat its wings against my chest” The mention of her “firstblood”, a significant component to becoming a woman, as a normally hidden bodily function attends to the process of maturity, and the metaphor of the caged bird of her heart symbolises the anticipation and excitement to escape her tower prison to find love of her own. The drawing of this particular card acts as a catalyst to the protagonist’s story, providing reason for her to leave and start anew. The world the protagonist is confined to the tower, with her mother and her maid warning her from love, therefore, forming her basis of rebellion, challenging the views of the world seen through other’s eyes. “ ‘Was it love then?’
The essay “A Modest Proposal” written by Johnathan Swift takes a satirical view on how to solve the starvation issue in Ireland. Swift suggests an obviously satirical solution of eating children around the age of one. He used irony, ambiguity, and ethos to emphasize the satirical nature of the essay and present a captivating idea to the audience.
Jonathan Swift, a well-known author, in his essay “A Modest Proposal,” implies that the Irish people should eat children so that they can better their chances of survival. Swift supports his implication by describing how his proposal will have many advantages such as, eliminating papists, bringing great custom to taverns, and inducing marriages. He comes up with an absurd proposal to eat and sell the children to the elite so the Irish can have a brighter future. His purpose is to show that the Irish deserve better treatment from the English. Throughout his essay, Swift uses sarcasm, satire, and irony.
One of the strongest emotions inherent in us as humans is desire. The majority of the time, we are unable to control what we crave; however, with practice, we learn not all things we want are necessary. As a result of this mature understanding, we are able to ease our feelings and sometimes even suppress our desires. Something even more mature is understanding that when we give in to our desires, we become vulnerable. In a harsh, brutal world, vulnerability will not work to our advantage. In Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market,” she writes about a sister who succumbs to her desire and pays dearly for it while the other sister resists her desires and receives the ultimate reward of her sister’s life. By creating such a spectacular tale, Rossetti stresses the importance of being in touch with one’s desires and being able to prevail over their strong hold because in the harsh world we live in, we cannot afford to let our desire get the best of us.
Tatar, Maria. Off with Their Heads!: Fairy Tales and the Culture of Childhood. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1992. Print.
Goblin Market or “Black Market”? From the beginning it is evident, to most readers, that temptation is one of the major themes Christina Rossetti chose to write about in her poem “Goblin Market.” Temptation is one theme most people can relate to. The more interesting aspect of this theme is what is causing the temptation. This underlying topic I would argue would be the temptations for drugs.
Jonathan Smith goes to extreme measures to explain his new plan to raise the economic wellbeing of his country. He explains what age is too young and what age is too old, in order to eat the tenants children when they are at their prime juiciness. He also gives a list of suggestions on how to cook them, ?A young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled, and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee, or a ragout.? All of this talk about eating children comes as a surprise because previous to this disturbing suggestion, Swift is ironically discussing the plight of starving beggars in Ireland. The reader is unprepared for the solution that he suggests.
Over centuries of children have been enjoying the classic fairy tales of the Grimm Brothers and Charles Perrault. The fanciful plots and the vivid details allow children to be entranced by characters and adventures that can only be found in these stories. One of the most beloved fairy tales, which both the Perrault and the Grimms have their own separate versions of, is Cinderella. Cinderella is able to show how both versions are able to feed off the same plots while personifying the century and social economic situation in which they have lived.
Christina Rossetti's "Goblin Market” and Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Rime of The Ancient Mariner are the two works that will be discussed in this essay. This essay will explore the different cultural background of both texts along with the authors. Both texts were written in different time periods, the Victorian Period (1837-1901), and the Romantic period (1800-1850). Both periods had their different features and requirements, which will be discuss and tied into the works of both authors throughout the rest of this essay. Throughout the Romantic and Victorian period, symbolism and the supernatural were two features that were common; which both appeared in Rossetti’s and Coleridge’s work. Supernatural can be a distinction to some force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature. The supernatural and symbolism that appeared in works of Rossetti’s and Coleridge’s tend to show various similarities in the culture, and period surrounding each work. A comparison between these two authors will give a crucial explanation.
The majority of today’s society is made up by the middle class and it shows because the Bakers have the biggest role. A curse is set upon the Baker family so they can not have children. They make a deal with a witch where they have to bring her four items: a red cape, golden blonde hair, a white cow, and a Golden Shoe. The Baker family does what ever it takes to get these four items. In today’s society, people usually deceive people for the chance to get ahead in life. The Baker and his wife deceive each of the fairy tale characters in a way to get each of the items needed. The witch however, uses the items to become young instead. Again, this shows how people use others to get what they
There are many criticisms that examine the consumerist characteristics of the poem through the sexual and child-like aspects, such as Helsinger’s article, and Rebecca F. Stern’s article, “’Adulterations Detected’: Food and Fraud in Christina Rossetti’s ‘Goblin Market.’” The first market in the poem consists of the incredible inventory of delicious fruit; the food market. Rossetti lists a variation of thirty different fruits the goblin men sell. It is well-known that in some areas of the world, only a certain amount of fruits may grow. This applies to the “Goblin Market,” with the setting being in England. If this is the case, it would mean that there are many fruits in that list, such as those of the citrus family, which would not be able 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.
Fairy tales read to young children not only served as a form of entertainment for the child, but they also taught children the difference between what is good and what is bad. The Three Little Pigs is a prime example of the morals and lessons that children were taught while reading a fairy tale. The fact that the tale is equipped with adventure and the ability for animals to talk causes children to immerse in the text while acknowledging the consequences of laziness of the first two little pigs and the result of evil for the sneakiness of the big bad wolf. The tale does however teach children the benefits of hard-work when at the end the third pig lives happily ever after in his sturdy house made of bricks. Comparing three different versions of The Three Little Pigs succeeds in showing the reader issues surrounding that time in regards to social class and gender. The illustrations of the three versions add to the excitement of the tale.
Fairy tales have always been told to us as children; whether to comfort or entertain us, they always seem to be a part of most everyone’s childhood. When Nadine Gordimer was asked to write a children’s story, she replied with a short story titled “Once Upon A Time”. Although the title is characteristic of a fairy tale, she leads the tale to an ending that is anything other than “…happily ever after.” Gordimer distorts the fairy tale by dealing with certain issues rather than giving the reader the usual fairy tale characteristics. Three of the more significant issues Gordimer likes to deal with in her story are racial discrimination and prejudice, society’s insecurities, and the persuasive way fairy tales have with children.
Zipes, Jack. Why Fairy Tales Stick: The Evolution and Relevance of a Genre. New York: Routledge, 2006. Print.