This week's reading was again really interesting. I had never thought of the good mother and the witch as being metaphors for the two sides of motherhood. It was also interesting that the books says the witch is the one that is most admirable and that Snow White is actually a very boring and static character, especially in the Disney version. Now that I think about it, she is a bit boring. She's quite innocent, but in the original versions, she was very young, around 7-13 years of age. I was surprised at how young she was in all the versions. No wonder she's boring. She hasn't had enough time to develop, so who could blame her for being "boring." I don't think older women would be that jealous of such a young girl (and a pre-teen at that), especially if she is also beautiful. It felt like the stories were playing on the vanity of women; having them look in mirrors all the time and having them be jealous of such a young girl, which would play more into age then beauty. In most of the stories, the queen/ witch doesn't become malicious towards snow white until the mirror tells her that she is not the fairest. If the mirror or the husbands or the eachrais urlair hadn't introduced the problem in the first place, the queen wouldn't have hated Snow White so much.
I find it amusing how many times Snow White can die and still come back alive. The authors really give the protagonists a chance to win, which is a little unfair for the villains who has to concoct a mater plan that will eventually be foiled anyways. She seems to have a bit of magic all on her own. She's a bit enchanted even without the aid of fairies and such.
Also, on a side note that I learned in another class. The suffix "agonist" refers to someone participating in a struggle or a contest. So the antagonist and protagonist are struggling for the same thing essentially. The antagonist is preventing the protagonist from reaching a goal, so in that sense, Snow White might be the Witch's antagonist. But that wouldn't really work... Snow White has to win because she's the "heroine." A story where evil and vanity win against innocence doesn't really hold well. Although, I believe in equal opportunity, a more equal distribution of the enchantment would be nice. The queen does have a her own magic though, but she doesn't have magic enough to bring her back to life.
"The Young Slave" was one of the more violent ones, in my opinion. The stepmother beat her and starved her, and she also threatened to kill herself, which any 7 year old girl who woke up from a coffin shouldn't want. "Lasair Gheug" was the most violent one, though, and very strange. The ending was a bit shocking and a little too sudden. She ends up with very little and she doesn't seem to care. However she's still very young, so it might not matter. She wouldn't know what she lost.
Anne Sexton's version is much more circular. It links or foreshadows that Snow White could become her stepmother. Although, I didn't like the poem version. It seemed sparse and rushed. The narrative versions give a much better picture and allow for more character development.
The apple, according to Dan Brown, represents the original sin of Eve. She was curious and ate the apple and she paid for it. The apple could also allude to Greek mythology where Juno, Aphrodite, and Athena ( the goddesses of marriage, love, and wisdom) compete for one golden apple. I just wanted to tie this random piece of information into the blog.
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