Billy Ray's Blog

Dr. Zaru’s lecture on Arabic folktales was very informative, and I learned how the Arabic tales are similar, yet different from the ones we have studied. Arabic started as an oral language in Pre-Islam. The storytellers of this time were usually men, and they were typically poets or musicians. I learned that telling these tales is a dying tradition in the area now, while before these stories were told and celebrated during the Holy Month of Ramadan. Dr. Zaru taught us what the Jamaa el Fina is too, and I thought it was very interesting to see her experience of her travels to and from her home in Palestine. Dr. Zaru explained how most of these tales usually recount stories of national and tribal heros. Like the fairytales we have read, the Arabic tales also have certain characteristics. Some similarities to the ones we have read are how the tales are how they are entertaining, vary in style, sometimes have a moral lesson, and shed light onto human behavior. The tales are differen...

Dr. Greg Alles’ lecture on “Folk and Fairy Tales of Possessed People from East and Northeast India” was very interesting. This was especially an entertaining lecture for me because of my love for horror movies, which portray demonic possessions very much. However, in the lecture I was able to learn about how different possession in the Indian culture and Fairy Tales is from the possessions we see in horror movies. Dr. Valk defined possessions as something where some sort of entity disturbs the consciousness and changes the behavior of a person. He also explained that possessions have a redundant psychological connection to suppressed emotion. Dr. Valk went on to explain more in his lecture by saying how possessions are connected with a social strata of women and the poor. We also learned that the meaning of “Narrative Distance,” and much of his lecture connected how these supernatural beliefs and violence seen in possessions in this culture also arise in Fairy Tales and in horror pop...

Jewish Folktale tradition is much different than tales of European origins, and this was proven when we read the six Jewish tales before class Tuesday. Jewish folktales all seem to have more of an obvious meaning that is pretty evident for the reader of the tale. This differs from with tales of European origin because those types of tales are sometimes more difficult to interpret. The Jewish tales were typically shorter than the tales we’re used to reading for class, which are mostly tales of European Origin. Though the tales are shorter, they do not lack in getting the moral of the story across, and we can still see similarities to tales we have read. The Jewish tales that I thought were most similar to the tales of European origins were “The Rabbi Who Was Turned into a Werewolf,” “Chem Justice,” and “It Could Always be Worse.” All the tales we have read for class are similar to European origin tales because in all of the tales, someone is helped out of a situation, usually wit...

Marie-Louise von Franz interprets the Grimm’s Fairy Tale “The Three Feather” in such a way that I was able to realize that I missed a large quantity of the symbols in the tale. Von Franz interprets the tale by telling it first, and we find out that the tale is much like any other tale we have read thus far. From the 1-2-3 repetition in the tale, to the magical transformation of a frog into a beautiful girl, the tale is similar to others we have read. Even the ritual of the three feathers that the King does to determine which son would be king is similar to what we have seen in other tales. The only thing not similar to the other tales we have read is that there is no feminine presence in this tale since the mother is absent. Marie-Louise von Franz’s interpretation of this tale opened my eyes not only to the symbolism used in this tale, but also to the people/places/things used as symbols in all Fairy Tales that we have actually already read. I definitely agree with majority of her int...

In the  Hansel and Gretel  tales we have read, the main topic is primarily “the child as a hero.” The child is a hero in these tales because either the boy or girl rescue each other, and sometimes they even return to their father with treasures that help the poor family out. In the tale  Fulano  de Tal and His Children , the little girl is the hero at first when she uses flour to successfully track the way back home for her and her brother. Once they are officially lost and end up captured by the witch, the sister gives he brother advice to deceive the witch into thinking the brother is too thin to eat. When she sees that the witch is going to eat her brother anyway, she helps him escape and they both manage to be their own heroes by pushing the witch into the oven after the brother plays dumb with the witch. The boy and girl return home with the gold which makes them and their father wealthy. The father kills the teacher (stepmother) and the kids are both their ow...