Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Just a few comments about class yesterday...
After reading Sexton, I can't help but wonder why it is that we are still telling stories of damsels in destress. The happily ever after that is seen at the end of Cinderella is not necessarily the ending we want to have anymore. pent up in a castle is not for everyone and I certainly would not want mice and doves as friends. So why is this classic still being read? Sexton addresses the confliction of a beloved classic and modern times by inflicting the fairytale with modernizing similies as well as modern commentaries on the subservient role that women tend to play in the texts. IN my opinion, Sexton doesn't discourage readership of the classic tales, rather, she encourages a critical language with the fairytale that enables one to see the prejudice within the text and use it to tackle broader gender issues.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I agree with you. I think that by trying to discern each individual aspect of Sexton's tales, we lose the greater impact of what she is trying to do. For example, when we discussed in class the question of whether the wolf in Red Riding Hood was in fact a transvestite, what we should have been asking instead, perhaps, is could the wolf have been a transvestite, a woman, gay, etc. The greater effect is reversing our assumptions and I think that by suggesting something so obscure as positing the wolf as a transvestite she is unconsciously inviting us all to read this and other fairy tales in a critical way.
ReplyDelete