Activities for a Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Activities for a Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz Activities for a Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlaJHBynu18 (30 second Trailer of the book) Activity 1 Fairy Tales or Traditional Tales, regardless of where in the world they originate from, quite often have similar themes, plots and characters. Your task is to take some or all of the characteristics identified below, or even identify some of your own, and write your own Fairy Tale. • Hero/Heroine is an orphan • 3 tasks to be completed (the number 3 is very powerful in Fairy Tales) • Meets a wicked witch that they must outsmart • Acts of kindness are often rewarded • Has a wicked stepmother • Can be very gruesome and gory • Talking animals/trees and the use of anthropomorphism. (Why not use a dictionary to look this word up if you don’t know it?) • There is a moral to the story or a lesson to be learned, often a cautionary tale. Activity 2 Choose your favorite fairy tale from the book and create a cartoon strip of the tale. Think about how you can shorten the tale and still get the message across to the reader. Activity 3 • Go to this website: https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~spok/grimmtmp/ • Pick a story that you know well. For example, Little Red Cap, Rumpelstiltskin, Little Snow White, Cinderella, etc. See how the Brothers Grimm version is different from the Disney/Hans Christian Andersen’s version. Which did you like better? Why? Discussion Questions: • What do you think of the narrator of “A Tale Dark and Grimm”? Why? Would the story be the same without him? • Why do you think the author chose to put “The End” throughout the stories? How do these “ends” influence how you read the stories? How would the stories be different without them? • On page 8, Faithful Johannes defines “under-stand.” Explain his definition. Who in your life is someone you under-stand and who under-stands you? As part of under-standing, what do you do for each other and why? • In “Brother and Sister” Hansel continues to hunt animals even though he knows doing so is wrong. Why does he continue? In the past, what have you or your friends done that you knew was wrong when you were doing it? Why did you continue? What was the result and how do you feel about it? • Faithful Johannes comes to believe that: “Nothing is as precious as children. Nothing” (page 153). What does he mean by this? Do you agree or disagree? Why? • What might the ravens represent? Using examples from the story, explain why you think so. What do you like about the ravens’ role in the story and why? • What in A Tale Dark & Grimm made you laugh? Do you usually enjoy humorous stories? Why or why not? • The worlds in fairy tales are very different from those most people live in today. So, why do people still enjoy reading them? Why might fairy tales still be important to people’s lives? .
Recommended publications
  • Queering Kinship in 'The Maiden Who Seeks Her Brothers'
    Butler University Digital Commons @ Butler University Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS College of Liberal Arts & Sciences 2012 Queering Kinship in ‘The aideM n Who Seeks Her Brothers' Jeana Jorgensen Butler University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/facsch_papers Part of the Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Folklore Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation Jorgensen, Jeana, "Queering Kinship in ‘The aideM n Who Seeks Her Brothers'" Transgressive Tales: Queering the Brothers Grimm / (2012): 69-89. Available at http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/facsch_papers/698 This Book Chapter is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at Digital Commons @ Butler University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Butler University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 3 Queeting KinJtlip in ''Ttle Maiden Wtlo See~J Het BtottletJ_,_, JEANA JORGENSEN Fantasy is not the opposite of reality; it is what reality forecloses, and, as a result, it defines the limits of reality, constituting it as its constitutive outside. The critical promise of fantasy, when and where it exists, is to challenge the contingent limits of >vhat >vill and will not be called reality. Fa ntasy is what allows us to imagine ourselves and others otherwise; it establishes the possible in excess of the real; it points elsewhere, and when it is embodied, it brings the elsewhere home. -Judith Butler, Undoing Gender The fairy tales in the Kinder- und Hausmiirchen, or Children's and Household Tales, compiled by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm are among the world's most popular, yet they have also provoked discussion and debate regarding their authenticity, violent imagery, and restrictive gender roles.
    [Show full text]
  • Grimm's Fairy Stories
    Grimm's Fairy Stories Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm The Project Gutenberg eBook, Grimm's Fairy Stories, by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm, Illustrated by John B Gruelle and R. Emmett Owen This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Title: Grimm's Fairy Stories Author: Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm Release Date: February 10, 2004 [eBook #11027] Language: English Character set encoding: US-ASCII ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GRIMM'S FAIRY STORIES*** E-text prepared by Internet Archive, University of Florida, Children, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 11027-h.htm or 11027-h.zip: (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/1/0/2/11027/11027-h/11027-h.htm) or (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/1/0/2/11027/11027-h.zip) GRIMM'S FAIRY STORIES Colored Illustrations by JOHN B. GRUELLE Pen and Ink Sketches by R. EMMETT OWEN 1922 CONTENTS THE GOOSE-GIRL THE LITTLE BROTHER AND SISTER HANSEL AND GRETHEL OH, IF I COULD BUT SHIVER! DUMMLING AND THE THREE FEATHERS LITTLE SNOW-WHITE CATHERINE AND FREDERICK THE VALIANT LITTLE TAILOR LITTLE RED-CAP THE GOLDEN GOOSE BEARSKIN CINDERELLA FAITHFUL JOHN THE WATER OF LIFE THUMBLING BRIAR ROSE THE SIX SWANS RAPUNZEL MOTHER HOLLE THE FROG PRINCE THE TRAVELS OF TOM THUMB SNOW-WHITE AND ROSE-RED THE THREE LITTLE MEN IN THE WOOD RUMPELSTILTSKIN LITTLE ONE-EYE, TWO-EYES AND THREE-EYES [Illustration: Grimm's Fairy Stories] THE GOOSE-GIRL An old queen, whose husband had been dead some years, had a beautiful daughter.
    [Show full text]
  • Archetypes Episode: Group 2 Notes Casey Garrigan, Alex Home, Bailey
    Archetypes Episode: Group 2 Notes Casey Garrigan, Alex Home, Bailey Robertson, Imani Al Khachi English 104 Ms. Courtney Floyd April 18th 2018 1. This story first appeared around the mid 17th century and was originally written down as the tale of Ninnillo and Nennella.The story has since been circulated around european countries changing names but keeping the story line consistent. 2. The folktale of Little Brother and Little Sister has been confused with Hansel and Gretel due to storytellers in the past calling the story of Hansel and Gretel by the name of Little Brother and Little Sister. Despite this, the Grimms chose to keep Hansel and Gretel by that name and keep Little Brother and Little Sister as that title. Even so, there are still some publications that use the name Little Brother and Little Sister for the Hansel and Gretel tale, causing confusion for the readers. 3. The authors of this folktale, Wilhelm and Jakob Grimm, were considered to be part of the romantic movement. 4. The Grimm Brothers viewed folklore as insight to the German culture and found that folklore had ancient mythologies and beliefs of past German cultures that should be integrated into new folktales. However, over time, the brothers wanted to reincorporate religious ideals in Germany, different dialects, and language of the original tales in their editions of their tales. 5. This folktale, as recited by the Grimms, was first published in 1812 as an original part of Children’s and Household tales, in which it was later featured in all editions with several new additions by 1819.
    [Show full text]
  • Change, Or Revolution (Cowley, 1996 : 52-57)
    Chapter 4 Analytical Approaches to the Selected Fairy Tales Critics and scholars of various fields have been attracted to fairy tales. Thus, approaches have been used for fairy tale analysis with different objectives. Some are interested in aesthetic points of literary matters. However, psychologists have paid attention to the meanings which can be interpreted as clues to the human mind while enhancing our understanding and appreciation of the tales like other literary works. At the same time, anthropologists and sociologists who consider fairy tales a rich source of earlier social behavior have shed valuable light on the interpretation. The above mentioned perspectives will, therefore, be eclectically used in the analysis of the selected tales, with a special focus on the sibling relationship. As the fairy tale is a narrative genre, the analysis will be based on the literary elements of fiction. However relevant key concepts used in the folklorists’ approaches to the tales such as functions or motifs will be applied to amplify the notable points, resulting in three main topics of the analysis of the tales: form, theme and motif, and characterization. Form of the Tales Two closely related words need to be clarified in the discussion of the form of the narrative: structure and plot. The structure is defined as a pattern of actions that is systematically shaped in a story; the structure is “the story at rest, while the plot is the story in motion” (DiYanni, 1990 : 28). Birkerts (1993 : 39) mentions two types of plot: the progressive and the episodic. The progressive form of the traditional plot consists of five sequences: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution.
    [Show full text]
  • The Black and the White Bride: Dualism, Gender, and Bodies in European Fairy Tales
    Jeana Jorgensen: The Black and the White Bride: Dualism, Gender, and Bodies in European Fairy Tales The Black and the White Bride: Dualism, Gender, and Bodies in European Fairy Tales Jeana Jorgensen Butler University* Fairy tales are one of the most important folklore genres in Western culture, spanning literary and oral cultures, folk and elite cultures, and print and mass media forms. As Jack Zipes observes: ‘The cultural evolution of the fairy tale is closely bound historically to all kinds of storytelling and different civilizing processes that have undergirded the formation of nation-states.’143 Studying fairy tales thus opens a window onto European history and cultures, ideologies, and aesthetics. My goal here is to examine how fairy-tale characters embody dualistic traits, in regard both to gender roles and to other dualisms, such as the divide between the mind and body, and the body’s interior and exterior (as characterized by the skin). These and other dualisms have been theorized from many quarters. As Elizabeth Grosz states: ‘Feminists and philosophers seem to share a common view of the human subject as a being made up of two dichotomously opposed characteristics: mind and body, thought and extension, reason and passion, psychology and biology.’144 Further, ‘Dichotomous thinking necessarily hierarchizes and ranks the two polarized terms so that one becomes the privileged term and the other its suppressed, subordinated, negative counterpart.’145 Thus, any discussion of dualisms is automatically also a discussion of power relations. This article begins by summarizing the trajectory of dualism in Western intellectual history and culture, including how dualism fits within folkloristic and feminist scholarship.
    [Show full text]
  • The Grimm Brothers As Editors
    Illinois Wesleyan University Digital Commons @ IWU Outstanding Gateway Papers Writing Program 2011 The Grimm Brothers as Editors Blair Wright '15 Illinois Wesleyan University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/gateway Part of the English Language and Literature Commons, and the Rhetoric and Composition Commons Recommended Citation Wright, Blair '15, "The Grimm Brothers as Editors" (2011). Outstanding Gateway Papers. 4. https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/gateway/4 This Article is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Commons @ IWU with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this material in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This material has been accepted for inclusion by faculty at Illinois Wesleyan University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ©Copyright is owned by the author of this document. 1220 Blair Wright Instructor: Holly Hughey The Grimm Brothers as Editors In almost all circumstances, copying the work of others has a strongly negative connotation. In fact, from a very early age, children begin to understand the consequences of mimicking others’ original ideas. It is not uncommon for a little girl to sneak across the street with a neighbor to pick flowers even though her parents had specifically instructed her to stay in their own yard.
    [Show full text]
  • The Annotations for the Brother and Sister Fairy Tale Are Below. Sources
    The annotations for the Brother and Sister fairy tale are below. Sources have been cited in parenthetical references, but I have not linked them directly to their full citations which appear on the Brother and Sister Bibliography page. I have provided links back to the Annotated Brother and Sister to facilitate referencing between the notes and the tale. I have included the Grimms' notes to the tale as translated by Margaret Hunt followed by SurLaLune's textual annotations. The Grimms' Notes For the Tale From two stories from the Maine district which complete each other; in one of them the incident is wanting of the little stag springing into the midst of the chase, and enticing the King by its beauty. According to another version which H. R. von Schröter has communicated to us, the little brother is changed by the stepmother into a fawn, and is hunted by her hounds. It stands by the river, and calls across to the little sister's window, "Ah, little sister, save me! The dogs of the lord they chase me; They chase me, oh! so quickly; They seek, they seek to rend me, They wish to drive me to the arrows, And thus to rob me of my life." But the little sister had already been thrown out of the window by the stepmother and changed into a duck, and from the water a voice came to him, saying, "Patience, dear brother mine, I lie in the lowest depths, The earth is the bed I sleep on, The water it is my coverlid, Patience, dear brother mine, I lie in the lowest depths." Afterwards when the little sister goes into the kitchen to the cook, and makes herself known to him, she asks "What do my my maids do, do they still spin? What does my bell do, does it still ring? What does my little son, does he still smile?" He replies, "Thy maids they spin no more, Thy bell it rings no more, Thy little son, he weeps right sore." Here, as in the story of The Three Little Men in the Forest (No.
    [Show full text]
  • Cinderella: Readings
    Brian T. Murphy ENG 220-CAH: Mythology and Folklore (Honors) Fall 2019 Cinderella: Readings Eight Variants of “Cinderella”: Charles Perrault, “Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper” ..................................................................1 Catherine-Maire d'Aulnoy, “Finette Cendron” ..................................................................................... 4 Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm, “Ashputtle” .............................................................................................10 Tuan Ch'êng-shih, “Yeh-Hsien (A Chinese 'Cinderella')” ...................................................................12 “The Maiden, the Frog, and the Chief's Son (An African 'Cinderella')” .............................................13 “Oochigeaskw—The Rough-Faced Girl (A Native American 'Cinderella')” ......................................14 Grant, Campbell, adapter. “Walt Disney's 'Cinderella'” ......................................................................15 Sexton, Anne. “Cinderella”..................................................................................................................16 Bettleheim, Bruno. “'Cinderella': A Story of Sibling Rivalry and Oedipal Conflicts” ..............................17 Yolen, Jane. “America's 'Cinderella.'” ......................................................................................................21 Rafferty, Terrence. “The Better to Entertain You With, My Dear.” .........................................................24 www.Brian-T-Murphy.com/Eng220.htm
    [Show full text]
  • Chinese Cinderella: the True Story of an Unwanted Daughter
    After a while I said, “When did my mama die?” “Your mama came down with a high fever three days after you were born. She died when you were two weeks old. …” Though I was only four years old, I understood I should not ask Aunt Baba too many questions about my dead mama. Big Sister once told me, “Aunt Baba and Mama used to be best friends. A long time ago, they worked together in a bank in Shanghai owned by our grandaunt, the youngest sister of Grandfather Ye Ye. But then Mama died giving birth to you. If you had not been born, Mama would still be alive. She died because of you. You are bad luck.” ALSO AVAILABLE IN LAUREL-LEAF BOOKS: THE HERMIT THRUSH SINGS, Susan Butler BURNING UP, Caroline B. Cooney ONE THOUSAND PAPER CRANES, Takayuki Ishii WHO ARE YOU?, Joan Lowery Nixon HALINKA, Mirjam Pressler TIME ENOUGH FOR DRUMS, Ann Rinaldi CHECKERS, John Marsden NOBODY ELSE HAS TO KNOW, In- grid Tomey TIES THAT BIND, TIES THAT BREAK, Lensey Namioka CONDITIONS OF LOVE, Ruth Pennebaker I have always cherished this dream of creating something unique and imper- ishable, so that the past should not fade away forever. I know one day I shall die and vanish into the void, but hope to preserve my memories through my writing. Perhaps others who were also unwanted children may see them a hundred years from now, and be encouraged. I imagine them opening the pages of my book and meeting me (as a ten-year-old) in Shanghai, without actually having left 6/424 their own homes in Sydney, Tokyo, London, Hong Kong or Los Angeles.
    [Show full text]
  • "Fathers and Daughters"
    "Fathers and Daughters" Critic: James M. McGlathery Source: Fairy Tale Romance: The Grimms, Basile, and Perrault, pp. 87-112. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1991. [(essay date 1991) In the following essay, McGlathery explores the erotic implications of the father-daughter relationship in the romantic folktales of the Brothers Grimm, Giambattista Basile, and Charles Perrault, highlighting common plot scenarios.] As the stories discussed thus far show, emotional involvement between parents and children is a frequent object of portrayal in folktales. That this is especially true of the romantic tale should come as no surprise, for in love plots generally the requisite hindrance to the fulfillment of young desire often takes the form of parental objection or intervention. There are surprises to be found here, however. In particular, the romantic folktale offers the possibility of hinting, with seeming innocence, at erotically tinged undercurrents in the relationship between parent and child that do not lend themselves to tasteful direct portrayal. Fairy tale romance often depicts the child's first experience of leaving home and venturing out on its own, usually in connection with choosing a mate. In the stories of the brother and sister type, resistance to the taking of this step is reflected in a desire to return to the bosom of the family or, failing that, to retain the devoted company of one's siblings. Thus, we have seen how Hansel and Gretel, while prepared to survive together in the forest if need be are overjoyed at being able to live with their father, and how the sister in "The Seven Ravens" succeeds in restoring her brothers to human form and bringing them home with her.
    [Show full text]
  • CINDERELLA”: a Story of Sibling Rivalry and Oedipal Conflicts Bruno Bettelheim
    “CINDERELLA”: A Story of Sibling Rivalry and Oedipal Conflicts Bruno Bettelheim [Editor’s Note: Having read several variants of “Cinderella,” you may have wondered what it is about this story that has prompted people in different parts of the world at different times, to show interest in a child who’s been debased but then rises above her misfortune. Why are people so fascinated with “Cinderella”? Depending on the people you ask and their perspectives, you’ll find this question answered in various ways. As a Freudian psychologist, Bruno Bettelheim believes that the mind is a repository of both conscious and unconscious elements. By definition, we aren’t aware of what goes on in our unconscious; nonetheless, what happens there exerts a powerful influence on what we believe and how we act. This division of the mind into conscious and unconscious parts is true for children no less than for adults. Based on these beliefs about mind, Bettelheim analyzes “Cinderella” first by pointing to what he calls the story’s essential theme: sibling rivalry, or Cinderella’s mistreatment at the hands of her stepsisters. Competition among brothers and sisters presents a profound and largely unconscious problem to children, says Bettelheim. By hearing “Cinderella,” a story that speaks directly to their unconscious, children are given tools that can help them resolve conflicts. Cinderella resolves her difficulties; children hearing the story can resolve theirs as well: This is the unconscious message of the tale. Do you accept this argument? To do so, you have to agree with the author’s reading of “Cinderella’s” hidden meanings; and you’d have to agree with his assumptions concerning the conscious and unconscious mind and the ways in which the unconscious will seize upon the content of a story in order to resolve conflicts.
    [Show full text]
  • Hansel and Gretel
    PHOTO: Cory Weaver Cory PHOTO: PALM BEACH PHOTO: Coastal Click Photography We believe that opera tells stories to which we can all relate, and that’s why the operatic art form has thrived for centuries. The education programs at Palm Beach Opera strive to immerse the community directly into these stories, revealing timeless tales of love, passion, and joy. We challenge each person to find his or her own connection to opera’s stories, therefore inspiring learners of all ages to explore the world of opera. At Palm Beach Opera, there is something for everyone! #PBOperaForAll The Masterminds 4 Who’s Who 8 Understanding the Action 10 Engage Your Mind 16 PHOTO: Cory Weaver Engelbert Humperdinck. An Opera in Three Acts. 1892 Libretto by Adelheid Wette, based on the folktale collected by the Brothers Grimm. First performance at the Hoftheater, Weimar, Germany, December 23, 1893. German composer Engelbert Humperdinck (September 1, 1854—September 27, 1921) was born in the town of Siegburg in the Rhine Province. He began taking piano lessons at a young age and actually wrote his first musical composition at only 7 years old. His parents, however, had aspirations for their son to become an architect. At the age of 18, Humperdinck began studies in voice and composition at the Cologne Conservatory. As a star pupil, he won the Mozart Award (1876) which allowed him to move to Munich to continue his work. Then another award from the Mendelssohn Foundation in Berlin (1879) allowed him to travel to Italy where he met Richard Wagner and assisted with his production ofParsifal .
    [Show full text]