Rough Draft Rubric

For your rough draft workshop on Wednesday, in order to receive a full score, you must do the following:

1) Precisely follow the Rough Draft Guidelines Template provided in the top sidebar of the blog

2) Your rough draft must be at minimum three full pages, typed and double-spaced

3) You must include an additional Works Cited page as a fourth page, which lists your four outside resources (fairy tale version, and three library sources)

4) You must integrate examples from the sources into your rough draft as the template dictates

5) You must print and bring two *hard* copies to class -- no computer copies allowed without prior approval by me

The paper does not need to be perfectly polished and it is expected that you will continue working on it after the workshop. However, if you fail to follow the guidelines above, you will not receive a full score for the paper.

Brief Thesis Statement Workshop

Ten minute exercise.

Exchange papers with a peer.

Read their thesis statement aloud to yourself. Are there any clunky words, or areas that you fumble over? If so, circle them.

Note any areas where the language could be more specific and clear. Did they forget any important details, such as the title of the fairy tale version they are writing about, or the author?

Is their thesis statement arguable? Are they making a claim? If it's just a statement of facts, then that is a problem.

What questions do you have after reading the thesis? Write them down.

Rewrite the thesis in your own words. Hand the paper back to the author.

H&G

Like Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel has two tale types. The second tale type is My Mother She Slew Me, My Father He Ate Me, which Alissa Nutting re-wrote as The Brother and the Bird. As strange as this tale may seem, dealing with the taboo topic of cannibalism, what real life terrors and problems might this fairy tale also be dealing with?

“Evil stepmothers” are a common trope in fairy tales—from Hansel and Gretel to Cinderella. Fathers, on the other hand, often fade into the background. Do you believe the father in Brother and the Bird and Hansel and Gretel is innocent? Why or why not?

If Grimm’s Hansel and Gretel were to be told from the witches’ perspective, how might the story be different? And, most importantly, how might our interpretation of the story’s meaning change?

Thesis Statements

A thesis statement should be specific, clear, and clearly arguable.

For this paper you will want to make sure your thesis statement explains what specifically your fairy tale represents about its time period/culture.

Make sure to add qualifying language into your thesis, in order to make it as specific as possible. If you focus in on the phrase ''sort of,'' then you have picked up the qualifying language. Qualifying language is when a writer or speaker uses words that make a statement less or more certain.

For example:

Alissa Nutting's Brother and the Bird, a US revisionist tale of The Grimm's The Juniper Tree, deals with the contemporary issue of religious fantacism. Connections can be drawn between the mother in the story and modern-day religious fundamentalists who violently indoctrinate their children with their religious views.

 Another example:

Angela Carter's The Company of Wolves is a contemporary feminist revisionist version of Little Red Riding Hood which presents an empowered Little Red who is a street smart, sexually empowered, and fearless agent of her own destiny. This is in contrast to Grimm's and Perrault's weak and vulnerable, victimized Little Red.

*Bring a sample thesis statement for your paper to next class. Make sure you print it out! And whatever you do, do not copy my thesis statements.

LRRH Pairs Questions In-Class

1) What does the wolf represent in each of the LRRH stories you read for today? At first glance, it may seem he represents the same thing every time, but there are differences. Pay attention and look closely and see what you come up with. Please use your book.

2) If you were to rewrite LRRH for today, where would it take place and why? Choose a place that is dangerous in a modern way (but not a "bad neighborhood, please"). Consider settings in our world that are dangerous. What challenge would Little Red face? How would she come through it? Who would the wolf be, and what end would the wolf face?

In-Class Assignments Grading Rubric

Overall score rubric

Check +: Excellent job. You went above and beyond the expectations for the assignment. Your analysis is tight, your thoughts original or complex in some significant way. Your examples are killer. You put your heart and mind into this.

Check: Good work. You completed the assignment to its specifications.  Your thinking is mostly logical, and you provide some examples from the reading to support your ideas. You may not have gone above and beyond, but you really did a fine job.

Check -: The work is somehow incomplete. Either you did not answer the question appropriately, you misunderstood it, or you did not do the pre-work (reading) required to answer it correctly.

Beauty and the Beast Close Reading Exercise

1.  What are some of the key aspects of the tale type that you see in both versions of B&B that you read for today? Remember, these are elements that are present in each version, even if they change form (such as Cinderella’s shoe becoming an iPhone). 
2.  What is the role of Beauty's self-sacrifice in DeBeamont’s version of the tale? Does Carter challenge or change this theme in her version of the story? If so, how so? 
3.  Discuss the role of fathers in both stories. How are they portrayed?  Do you note any interesting differences between the way deBeamont portrays Beauty’s father and the way Carter does? 
4. Analyze the ending of Angela Carter's The Tiger's Bride. If Angela Carter is re-writing Beauty and the Beast from a feminist perspective, why do you think she chooses the ending that she does? What does the Beast's transformation symbolize? What about Beauty's transformation?
   

Welcome!

Welcome to INTD 100: Monsters and Fairytales. This blog is for the M/W class only. Please see the sidebar above for the syllabus and course schedule. If you have friends in my Tu/Th classes, please note that they are on a different schedule and use a different blog. DO NOT look at their blog or ask them for due dates/assignments, because they are not on the same schedule as you. Thanks!