Compost a blog post that 1) summarizes the story and 2) describes how it is different from our cultural, Disney understanding of the story. Then, 3) post your level 1, 2, and 3 questions for discussion.
"The Swan Maiden" is an old Swedish fairytale Where a young peasant boy who enjoys hunting stumbles upon three swans that turn into beautiful women. The peasant boy falls in love with the youngest swan maiden. When the boys mother finds out about his obsession with the maiden she tells him to simply steal her feathers the next time she takes them off. The boy does this and when the maiden notices this begs the hunter for her feathers back, The hunter refuses and takes the swan maiden home with him. Soon after this preparations were made for a wedding and the two were married. The two lived alone together happy for seven years until one night the hunter decided to talk to his wife about how and why he took her feathers, while he was telling her his story he brought out the feathers he had stolen from her. When he placed the feathers into her hands she instantly transformed back into a swan and flew out an open window, soon after the man dies of grief.
"The Swan Maiden" is a very unique story and differs from the Disney version in many ways, a few major ways are the ending, the beast, and the beauty. The ending of this story is very different from the Disney version because in the Disney version the Beast and Belle live happily together after the beast is transformed back into his human form. In "The Swan Maiden" the ending is very different because in this story the Beauty runs away from the beast as soon as she is presented with freedom, then the beast dies of grief. Another big difference is the Beast. In Disney's version the Beast is literally a massive hairy monster, but in "The Swan Maiden" th beast is only a beast in the figurative sense and is actually just a peasant boy. The final big difference is the Beauty, In the Disney version the Beauty is a french women named Belle and is just an average women. In "The Swan Maiden" the beauty is a mystical swan maiden who has the power to turn into a swan by putting on her feathers.
Level 1-3 Questions
1. What is the boys job?
2. Why is it significant that he has that job?
3. What deeper meaning could this story have in relation to the real world?
Hey Tyson,
ReplyDeleteI love how you pointed out the main difference between the two stories, especially how the Beast is represented as a peasant boy rather than an animal, and the animal actually happens to be the beauty who is captured. I also like how your level three questions correspond with one another, but I would have liked to know what your interpretation of the story was. How did you personally reflect on this story and react to the swans decision?
1) The boys job is to hunt.
ReplyDelete2) His job is significant because that is how he ends up falling in love with a swan maiden.
3) In relation to the real world it could symbolize how some men have the ability to trap women in a relationship.
Hey,
ReplyDeleteYou did a really good job summarizing the story and comparing it to the Beauty and the Beast. They were both short and to the point. I also thought your questions were well thought out and I liked how you put it in the perspective of the boy instead of the swans. The only critique I have is with some grammar issues, but overall, your ideas are great. :)
1. The boy is a hunter.
2. Because the boy was a hunter, he met the three swans. Without this job, he never would've met and fell in love with one of them.
3. This story could relate to problems that occur in relationships today, such as feeling like you aren't good enough (the two other swans that the boy didn't like) and feelings of being stuck in relationships (the Swan Maiden.
Great point Katrina! Tyson's post is really great, and I was impressed with his ideas.
DeleteOn the note of "the boy is a hunter," what do you think is important about being a hunter who finds his prey (swans), but doesn't kill them? There is a longtime motif of hunters/hunted in romantic fiction, and I wonder if it is at all at play here. What do you guys think?
Great point Katrina! Tyson's post is really great, and I was impressed with his ideas.
DeleteOn the note of "the boy is a hunter," what do you think is important about being a hunter who finds his prey (swans), but doesn't kill them? There is a longtime motif of hunters/hunted in romantic fiction, and I wonder if it is at all at play here. What do you guys think?
1. What is the boys job?
ReplyDeleteThe peasant boy is a hunter.
2. Why is it significant that he has that job?
It is significant that he has this job because he got to meet the swans. If he was not a hunter and never met the swans, then there would be no story.
3. What deeper meaning could this story have in relation to the real world?
This story could represent people's emotions, and how they keep them bottled inside. But then when given the opportunity to let loose, they will. The swan never acted as if she were a prisoner, but when given the opportunity to leave, she showed the hunter her true feelings.
Tyson, you did a great job describing the storyline of "The Swan Maiden" and how the "beauty"--the swan--and "the beast"--really, a peasant boy--offer a different spin on the traditional "beauty and the beast" narrative we know about as readers. I especially like that you mentioned the story's ending and used this ending to transition into your discussion of the Disney version. Great work!
ReplyDeleteThe next step for you will be to add proper parenthetical citations that back up your point-by-point observations about the story. In order to "Meet" the requirements for RL1, "I can use evidence to support my ideas," you need to have consistent references to the sections of the story you're discussing. Lastly, your Level 3 question should be more specific. Because Level 3 questions ask us to "think bigger," you want to pick a specific element of the boy's job or status as a peasant that readers can answer.
Overall, great work!
1) The boy's job is hunting.
ReplyDelete2) His job is significant because it's reason he ends up falling in love with a swan maiden.
3) Perhaps the deeper meaning in the story is that some could argue men "trap" women in relationships. Or maybe even problems that arise in relationships. For example, how the communication of emotions is reasonably trivial at sometimes.
1. The boy's job was to go hunting.
ReplyDelete2. His job is significant because had he not gone hunting, then he never would have stumbled across the woman who became his bride.
3. The story could show that you never know what you'll find when you go hunting. You might find a big buck or you might find your soon to be wife.
1.The job the boy has is to go hunting
ReplyDelete2.The reason his job is significant is because if he didn't go he would have not fallen in love
3.The deeper meaning of this story is how someone could trap somebody else with out knowing it, and how things can happen out of the blue