In addition to the plot elements we spent time reviewing in class, fairy tales (like other pieces of short fiction, including fables and parables) also have messages or morals. What do you think your partner's tale is trying to teach us? Write an analytical paragraph in which you explore this question.
As always, be sure that you support your ideas with evidence from the text. Also, continue to practice varying your sentence structure. At this point, this includes simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex structures.
I think my partner's story is trying to teach us the power of the common man. It tells us the story of a samurai banned from his clan who protects the village he came from. He and a bunch of villagers stop a huge army with careful planning, cunning and spirit. They successfully fend off the army and celebrate their victory after they grieve for their dead. The story didn't have an extremely clear moral but we get a great sense of companionship and teamwork. This is best evidenced from the line "We had won this battle, but we are reminded of all of our troops that we lost. Once we locate our deceased we have a few minutes of silence. After this, we all celebrate through the night. We are excited about our win, but we are uncertain of what is to come." We see here that the villagers have a sense of unity. They were bonded together so they grieve the loss of their friends. There isn't much resolution after the climax so there isn't much room for a moral. Even if the author didn't think of a specific moral, the message of unity is obvious.
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DeleteI think my partners story was trying to convey the idea of helping others, and also the risks of helping others. In my partners story a mermaid, tries help a sea creature named sea. Sea has lot her family saying that they are up there, referring to space. The mermaid agrees to help by completing tasks, that were given by a witch. After completing such tasks they get a rocket ship and go to space. Though there is a catch, they have only one month to find seas family. They end up not finding the family and sea sacrifices herself so that the mermaid can go home. The denouement was a little brief and didn't give background to the final decision made by sea. Otherwise a really good story.
ReplyDeleteThis paragraph offers a strong summary of the fairy tale's plot. How could the argument do more to highlight its ideas and clarify how the examples it cites support these ideas?
DeleteI think that my partner’s moral was not to jump to conclusions. My partner’s story tells the tale of a cat, who jumps to conclusion and has an adventure. The cat in the story is named Butterscotch, and in the beginning of the story has a great live. Through a series of events, Butterscotch think that she is cursed, and cannot have kids. The only thing is that Butterscotch assumed this, and this was far from the truth. The best of evidence of Butterscotch jumping to conclusions can be found at the end of the story. “He began to explain that he had just moved in next door to her when his human kicked him out of the house because he was running around barking. He was very upset by this so he had protested by howling. He then went on to tell Butterscotch that when he saw her he started to review his catese in his head so he could speak with her, that’s what he was muttering. He also explained the cauldron and people were a halloween party! Butterscotch was relieved, she now knew he hadn’t cursed her after all!” This quotations, is a conversation between, Butterscotch and a dog she meets. She think that the dog is a witch dog, and he cursed her, but this is wrong. The dog in the quotation explains what really happened. Another way that my partner’s story shows that the moral is not jumping to conclusions is the whole plot of the story. The entire plot of the story is that Butterscotch jumps to conclusions and has to go on a journey because of these conclusions. Overall, the moral of not jumping to conclusions can be seen throughout the entire story.
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DeleteI thought that my partner did a fantastic job conveying the theme that you should always be yourself and stay true to who you are. In his story, the theme is very obvious but is still conveyed in a meaningful way. I really appreciated how the story was written in a situation that would never occur, but still provided us with the relatability that comes with not going with the status quo. I think one passage that really illustrates this is when he writes "A few times, someone broke the silence by yelling “weirdo!” or “stay away from me” at Jerome.[...] He then realized why everyone was being so hostile. Landon, his best friend, had told everyone about Jerome’s deepest, darkest secret." I think this is a good example of the theme because it shows that Jerome was being ridiculed from straying from the norm. However, in a later passage we see that sometimes it is only one person that can make a difference in how people treat us. It also shows, that because Jerome stuck to his beliefs, in the end, he realized the theme for himself. An example of that in the text is when Jerome is questioning everyone at school, "“Why aren’t I getting beaten up? Has something big changed now that Gustavo is gone?”
ReplyDelete“Well, to be honest, like none of us wanted to do this. Gustavo threatened us to threaten you. He forced us to drive you out of the town." I think that because the context for this story was so unrealistic it made it so that everyone is able to relate to Jerome on some level. I also think the theme, that you should always be yourself, is a valuable one, and this story did a great job of getting that message across.
How could you rework the language of the argument so that its terms are as specific as possible?
DeleteAfter reading my partner's story, the theme clearly conveyed was independence and the decisions you make because of it. The author developed the protagonist's opinions about a man who was infatuated with her; at first she wanted nothing to do with him, but she later learns to appreciate him and love him. The protagonist held nothing back when expressing how she felt to the man; in the story, she sent a letter that said, "Prince Benjamin, please stop sending me letters; try and save someone else for a change. -Stella." But after she learns about the antagonist's plan to ruin his life, Stella decides to save Prince Benjamin. " 'BENJAMIN NO!' Stella screamed. She charged full speed at Ida. Benjamin looked up, frightened, and met eyes with Stella as soon as she knocked the diamond encrusted goblet out of her hand." In this quote, Stella is saving Prince Benjamin from falling in love with Ida because of a love potion; Ida had plans to eventually take over his family and take all their money. The author gives a good nod to her independence; as Stella is fighting Ida, Benjamin runs over ready to knock Ida unconscious, but Stella recovers and she is the one who defeats Ida. In the denouement, Stella marries Benjamin, which again shows how the protagonist's opinion of independence has changed. This theme not only is clearly developed and stated, but is also very important in life as well.
ReplyDeleteHow could the argument do more to highlight its ideas and clarify how the examples it cites support these ideas?
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ReplyDeleteI think that my partner's story is trying to tell us that no matter what or who you are, you should always try to help other. The story also teaches us that you must value friendship. My partner's story begins with a chicken named Garfield who plans to escape the farm he lives on. After noticing that chickens were beginning to disappear, he theorizes that the farmer might be killing off a lot of the chickens. Because of this, Garfield decides to escape into the jungle. In the jungle, Garfield meets a panther named Marc and the two decide to bring order to the jungle by stopping evildoers. An example of an evildoer would be a human who doesn't respect nature. In the story, Garfield and Marc stop a group of loggers from cutting down trees and burning the brush away. They also save a parrot from living a life of captivity. This shows us that Garfield and Marc want to help. It gives us the idea that we must also help others who need it. I also said that another moral the author was trying to portray was that you should always value friendship. At the end of the story, the King of Chickens offers Garfield a life in his kingdom. The catch is that he can't bring his friends in the kingdom. Garfield responds with, "You know what, I'm gonna stay with my friends." This shows us that Garfield values his friends. It is obvious that the story is telling us that we must value our friends. Overall, my partner's story had a lot of potential. The only big problem I had is that there were a lot of grammatical errors in the story. There were multiple instances where commas were being misused. Also, at the end of the story, the author changed from past tense to present tense.
ReplyDeleteAidan--This analysis is full of ideas. How could you rework it to clarify what the main idea is and what the supporting ideas are?
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ReplyDeleteIn my opinion the story I read was trying to teach us how not to be greedy and the power of community service. The main character, Amelia, lives in 1940's London during WWII. Towards the middle of the story the war rips her life apart. Without her sisters financial support Amelia becomes desperate and greedy and she decides to steal from her neighbor. Little does she know that her neighbor is a witch and has the ability to curse her. At first Amelia does not apologize for stealing and instead blames the witch. Amelia is guilt-ridden and begins to give back to her community by volunteering for community service. Although she does not expect anything back the witch lifts her curse. In the end, Amelia continues to do community service for the rest of her life. "Although the curse was lifted, Amelia spent the rest of her life dedicating her time to community service because she knew it was the right thing to do." Amelia did not have to help others or go out of her way to do community service but she knew that it was good and that she should continue. Greed was the reason Amelia was cursed initially, but her new found purpose for community service saved her in more than one way.
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DeleteI thought that the story my partner was trying to tell tried to teach the reader about how you don't need to fit in to be who you truly are. With the main character being a princess with blue and purple hair, she finds herself in a struggle having to deal with the fact that she was becoming older and did not have someone to marry. Soon the Kingdom her parent's ruled was passed down to her after the death of her parents and she still did not have a husband. The princess became mad with how no men would be her husband and blamed this Idea on her hair. Thinking that no men loved her because of her hair and soon the kingdom thought less of the princess. As a way to get back at the people she wanted to dye her hair in an attempt to seem "normal" even though she was fine as she was. She could not find something to simply dye her own hair brown, but she found a magic dye that would if added to her people's water system would make everyone's hair blue and purple. The queen did this and she caused havoc. In this havoc though the queen found that it was okay to be who she was because no matter what she was okay with herself.
ReplyDeleteThis paragraph offers a strong summary of the fairy tale's plot. How could the argument do more to highlight its ideas and clarify how the examples it cites support these ideas?
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ReplyDeleteUpon meeting with my designated partner and discussing what his intentions were in creating his fairytale, I learned that there were no morals intentionally convey by Sam, the author. The story was written simply for entertainment and fun. However, after reviewing the story and thinking analytically about the writing, it became clear that there were in fact prominent themes and underlying messages in the text. Hidden amidst the different dimensions, vivid protagonists and intriguing conflict lies a message to establish and be firm in your beliefs, regardless of the potential consequences and to take a stand against wrong. As Osiris, the main protagonist begins to open his eyes to the fault and evil amidst the community and people he cares so deeply for, he begins to ask questions and does not hesitate to investigate when he thinks something’s off. ‘The ritual began, and Osiris felt sick, watching someone being persecuted for a simple belief that hadn’t even been declared heresy before then. As the ritual continued on, he began to ask himself, “why am I here? Why is this being done to that poor man? Aren’t we supposed to be good, accepting people? Are we the real heretics? Is The Traveller really a god and is The Messenger really the messiah? Is this all a farce?”’Shortly after these observations, Osiris is exiled for his research and concern for the good of the people, but he doesn’t stop there. Osiris, determined as ever, continues his work as an advocate for good, and continuously stands by his beliefs.
ReplyDeleteHow could the argument clarify how the examples it cites support its observations/ideas?
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