Thumbelina is a fairy tale of Danish origin, created by Hans Christian Andersen and published in 1835 under its original name, "Tommelise". The name Thumbelina was first used by H.W. Dulcken in 1864. The tale revolves around a tiny girl of the same, and her adventures as a pint-sized human facing up to the challenges surrounding her. Her name is interchangeable, as she is named Thumbelina, but is referred to as Tiny. The motifs of the story are almost typical of fairy tales - talking animals (toads, mole, white mouse, cockchafer), traveler's tales (Tiny on a long journey after being kidnapped from her home), guardians/helpers (the white mouse, the swallow), large and unknown areas (the forest where Tiny travels through) and more, but it also has its own story-bound motifs - Tiny's fascination with winged characters, the heroine as some sort of enchantress to the males of the land (as experienced by attempts to get her married), selflessness (when she tends to worry more about the creatures around her than her own self), the idea of classes (royalty, the wealthy and the poor), and a return to her origin (being born from a flower). These motifs manage to make Thumbelina an interesting tale where it strays from the general procedure of fairytales, but manages to have similarities to other tales like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty.
Vladimir Propp is well-known for his idea of the 31 functions, where it would aid him in deciphering various folklore and fairy tales. Following these functions, Thumbelina does manage to adhere to a few of them:
8. Villainy/Lack: Thumbelina's kidnapping tends to open up this idea of constant villainy, as the characters who seem keen on trapping her have an identifiable lack - the need for Thumbelina to ...
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...ngly fits here because he was the one who pushed her out of his home because she wasn't meant to be with him - he gave her freedom from an admittedly terrible livelihood.
The hero - Or in our case, the heroine would be Thumbelina. While she isn't like many other heroes, she manages to persevere towards the end and stick to her morals.
The false hero - Definitely the field mouse. I assumed that he would be the one that would help her (which he did do), then he somehow got abrasive when Tiny didn't entertain the idea of marrying the mole. Also, he threatened her.
With that, I feel that Thumbelina is really an oddity of a fairy tale. It really does play by a different set of rules, yet it manages to play by certain tropes and establish its own motifs very well. Propp's model may not be entirely suitable for analyzing Thumbelina just because of how off-the-wall it is.
my view is a hero because she took everything that was imposed on her and
All the long misery of his baffled past, of his youth of failure, hardship and vain effort, rose up in his soul in bitterness and seemed to take shape before him in the woman who at every turn had barred his way. She had taken everything else from him; and now she meant to take the one thing that made up for all the others. For a moment such a flame of hate rose in him that it ran down his arm and clenched his fist against her.
faced society only to protect and be close to the man she still loved. The
A hero is a person with great strength or courage. Odysseus portrays a true hero in The Odyssey. He is the true hero of this epic because he has saved his men on many occasions using his cunning behavior and vast intellect. It shows he has the courage of a true hero.
What is a hero? Many people think instantly about, police officers, fire fighters, or perhaps a person that saves the day such as “Batman” or “superman”, but in reality a hero are not just people that save the day or other from harm. A hero can also be your parent, or parents that are there for you through your good and bad or even right and wrong days; or your brother or sister that perhaps worry about you and is determine to teach you well, this way you do not commit the same mistake they once did or saw growing up. The novel “In the time of the butterflies” the three sisters are known to be hero’s for standing up and sticking to their beliefs. But a hero is not only those that die for their country or others, it takes a
Like many other renowned novels aimed at children, George MacDonald's The Princess and the Goblin draws extensively from the folk tradition in his telling of the tale. Many of the figures presented, such as the nurse and Curdie, have precedent in the tradition, but the grandmother in particular stands out. Archetypally, she is a variant on the Old Man, though she bears the undeniable touch of the supernatural as seen in common folklore - at times she is otherworldly and some of her actions and abilities are of the sort frequently associated with witches.
...ured the reason she could deal with it was because she was just an observer, but one day, she tells Kevin, “But now and then,.. I can’t maintain the distance. I’m drawn all the way into eighteen nineteen, and I don’t know what to do… I never realized how easily people could be trained to accept slavery”(101). She and Kevin even develop a view of Rufus’ house as their home. Their present becomes their past and readers can effortlessly visualize the predicament.
The first possible hero is Ralph. He is perhaps the most obvious candidate as, at the start of the novel at least, he is a 'golden boy'. The second possible hero is Jack. This might seem unlikely, as Jack is in some ways also a possible villain, but Jack is a better leader than Ralph and is able to act decisively in a crisis. The third possible hero is Simon, the only one totally untouched by the boys' descent into savagery.
The wise and strong Pākaʻa and the cunning and brave Odysseus. Both alleged heroes are seen to have moments where they are idolized as role-models. But their true motives are shrouded behind their cloud of actions. Heroes and villains alike share a few qualities, but take a look at the core and you see that true natures of both differ dramatically.
As mentioned earlier, there were several tragic heroes. A few of these were Hamlet, Polonius, Laertes, and Ophelia. Ophelia was a very prominent hero, second only to Hamlet. She showed that loyalty to three different men was not always possible, no matter how much she truly loved each of them. Although most tragic heroes were guilty to some degree, Ophelia was totally innocent. It is because of her innocence that she is considered a tragic hero.
Furthermore, Mary’s father was abusive in the family home to both Mary and her mother. A lifelong criminal, who was known to commit violent armed robberies, was not a good influence for Mary. Billy was often out of work, depending on earnings form Betty to sustain the house. It must be noted that there is some question if Billy is actually Mary’s father, given Betty’s profession; chances are great that Billy was just another victimizer in Mary’s lif...
...is with an illustration of his personal family dynamic. Meanwhile, Mrs. Davis will be encourage to communicate her truly feelings on how she has felt about being mistreated and feeling alone.
The major theme from The Princess and the Goblin is having faith in the unseen. In the story, Curdie couldn’t physically see Irene’s great-grandmother, but he saw the impact that she had in Irene’s life. He witnessed firsthand the guiding role that she played in the princess’ overall well-being. This analogy is similar to the way that God Himself is not visible to us, but His blessings and His guiding hand
Hero is often a person who is admired or idealized for their outstanding courage and often bravery. In the story “Theseus” by Edith Hamilton, Theseus a young Athenian boy shows his heroic side by overcoming difficult tasks on his journey to save his people from the evil Minotaur. Theseus shows his bravery by entering the Labyrinth with only his hands and a ball of thread determined to kill the Minotaur and save his people. Theseus’ actions and heroic deeds shows that he's an epic hero with the fact that he tends to put others first before himself no matter the difficulty of the task.
...e, because she’s too busy running around on some-” (Gaitskill 317) and these words show us how utterly “shitty” (Gaitskill 317) he feels, be it warranted or not. He’s faced with the reality that his wife and daughter are ‘leaving’ him behind, doing whatever necessary to detach themselves from his wretched stubbornness and consequently he’s left miserable and alone to mull over the bitter past and even more difficult present. He begins as a likeable character, but gradually becomes a self-righteous and hateful idiot. But, by the end the reader is left feeling extremely sympathetic for him. Though he’s in fact the bad guy, he gets us to view him as the bad guy whose evil is almost justified, or at least that it’s an inevitable symptom of his difficult childhood, poor marriage, extreme anxiety over what others think of him, and disapproval of his daughters lifestyle.