Mid-Term Reflection Essay
Nov 8th, 2016
Dear Professor Greg,
I had completely no idea what rhetoric was coming into this course. I was confused the first couple weeks of class when we were discussing about rhetorical analysis. I have never heard about it in the past English courses that I have taken in high school. To be honest, I was worried and did not know what to expect. Reading I Am Legend by Richard Matheson really helped me to discover a new way to analyze a text. I begin to realize that simply know the plot of the story is not enough at all for this course. I learned that in order to be an effective reader, I need to think about the deeper meaning of the text and what message is the author trying to come across to the audience.
The first draft was a complete mess in my opinion. My essay was not only all over the place, but also lack of evidence to support my opinions. It felt like I was taking notes in lecture using bullet points and somehow could not find a way to connect them together to form paragraphs. It simply did not make much sense. Therefore, I decided to go to conference and get some feedbacks from you. I am glad that I went for help because you gave me many good suggestions about how to make the thesis statement work and what I could possibly talk about in my paper.
My overall feeling about the end product was alright. It is pretty much what I envisioned from the beginning. I think my strength is that I am able to come up with an arguable thesis statement from scratch. My weakness, on the other hand, is that I find it difficult to connect my thoughts together. I usually ask my peers to proof read my paper before I turn it in, and most of the time, they would give me feedbacks such as “I know what you are trying to say here but it sounds awkward”. I always fail to make the ideas flow well in my paper. Therefore, I need to practice more on making smooth transitions as a writer.
If I were to write the essay again, I could improve the overall process by writing an outline. I believe this could help a lot because I would be able to see all my ideas at the same time and figure out a way to tie them up as a whole.
Personally, the peer reviews were extremely beneficial, especially part II where we were asked to use the topic sentence of each paragraph to put our partner’s paper in the right order. I enjoyed the task, it was really interesting. Although I encountered some difficulties while doing it, I learned that effective topic sentences are crucial in writing. One thing that frustrates me about the peer review process was that I always feel that my partner writes better than I do, which makes it hard for me to give comments.
My greatest improvement as a result of the essay is that I mastered how to write a thesis statement without summarizing the story. This is demonstrated in the very first paragraph of the paper where I give a brief summary and then went straight to my thesis statement without writing unnecessary information.
I will be able to use one of the skills I learned during this writing process about how to write an effective thesis statement in my future writing in both academic and professional settings because it is essential to have a thesis for an essay to be arguable.
Sincerely,
Kaixia Hu
RA First Draft
Snow, Glass, Apples
“Magic mirror, on the wall --- who, is the fairest one of all?” A famous quote from the Disney Movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which is one of the most well-known fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm and has become popular worldwide until today. It is beloved by children, especially girls. They wish to have skin and lips like Snow White because they are “white as snow” and “red as blood”. Over the years, the story has been retold many times through films, television series and literature work. For instance, Mirror Mirror, Once Upon A Time, and The Tale of An Apple. Out of all the different revisions I have read or watched, the most unique one is Snow, Glass, Apples --- a short story by Neil Gaiman. In his story, Gaiman effectively demonstrates two types of feminism through gender roles and the rise of women power in the society by altering the details of the fairy tale.
Folktales inherently present ... cultural norms or challenges to the norms to their audiences, they often do so without naming specific times or places that reflect the culture.
----- Amie A. Doughty
Folktales Retold: A Critical Overview of Stories Updated for Children
In most the of traditional fairy tales, female sexuality is controlled by the male power, usually the King. Therefore, it forms a competition between the stepmother (the Queen) and the stepdaughter (Snow White) because they both desire the attention from the male figure, in this case, the King. The Evil Queen attempts to kill Snow White because she envies the beauty of a seven-year-old, and believes that she is a threat to her in the original fairy tale. However, there is an unexpected twist between the Queen and Snow White in Snow, Glass, Apples. The story is narrated from the stepmother Queen’s point of view with flashbacks. Their roles are switched. Snow White is no longer the beautiful, innocent little girl, but portrayed as a dreadful creature who feeds off from her own father, and the Queen is not a jealous, and wicked woman after all. In Snow, Glass, Apples, Snow White is the villain, and the Queen is the victim who decides to defeat her in order to protect the kingdom.
“Her eyes were black as coal, black as her hair; her lips were redder than blood. She looked up at me and smiled. Her teeth seemed sharp, even then, in the lamplight.”
This scene occurred before the Queen found out who Snow White really is. Most of the description of Snow White is very similar compared to the original fairy tale except the “sharp teeth”. This appears odd, and creates the level of suspense to the audience. The Queen was terrified after she discovered the true nature of Snow White --- a vampire. Under the pale skin and rosy checks, there is a monster inside of her body. In both of the stories, the Queen cuts out Snow White’s heart, but with opposite intentions. In the original fairy tale, she killed Snow White and eats her heart to prevent aging. The Queen murdered Snow White in order to protect herself and her kingdom in Gaiman’s story.
Women are often portrayed as powerless and passive in literature work. A common stereotype of women is that they are supposed to cook and do housework. Family is their biggest priority, and they ought to stay home and raise children. The public is so used to this framework that nobody finds it unfair. In Snow, Glass, Apples, Gaiman depicts an unexpected woman figure --- the Queen. Female are not vulnerable anymore, they are capable to speak up for themselves.
“Most portrayals of women in literature and media have in common that women are often portrayed in a powerless, silenced, or secondary state. This representation of women is not something that everyone is wholly conscious of, and for most people seeing women in this way, as helpless, victimised and unimportant is nothing strange; that is how we have been raised, with the aid of media and literature, to regard women”
In Snow, Glass, Apples, the subversion of Snow white represents unhealthy feminism. Even though she is gorgeous, her beauty is cold. Throughout the story, she had sexual intercourses with the King and a monk. Snow White is no longer “white as snow”, she is impure. The subversion of the Queen, on the other hand, represents healthy feminism. She is caring towards her husband and her kingdom. In reality, feminine beauty or sex is being sold for power. Gaiman is critiquing culture in this story, especially the stereotypical gender roles and the portrayal of women in the society.
The goose-grease begins to melt and glisten upon my skin. I shall make no sound at all. I shall think no more on this.
I shall think instead of the snowflake on her cheek.
I think of her hair as black as coal, her lips as red as blood, her skin, snow-white.
Neil Gaiman was able to turn a traditional fairy tale into a haunting story. It is an astonishing retelling. The passage above is taken from the very ending of Snow, Glass, Apples. It is not the usual “happily ever after” ending, but instead, depressing. The story ends with the death of the Queen, which implies that the unhealthy feminism destroyed the healthy feminism.
RA Final Draft
Nov 8th, 2016
Once Upon A Time
Snow, Glass, Apples, a short story by Neil Gaiman, demonstrates two types of feminine roles by subverting the characters from the original fairy tale. In the original fairy tale, Snow White is a pure, virginal, and naive little girl. The Queen, on the other hand, is an evil and jealous woman. However, there is an unexpected twist in Snow, Glass, Apples: Snow White is portrayed as a dreadful creature and the Queen is a powerful, caring woman who fights back to protect her kingdom. Gaiman successfully critiques culture in society by using a metaphor in the story. His metaphor states that “healthy femininity, that shows the greater good -- which in this case is represented by the Queen -- is consistently disregarded and overshadowed by the unhealthy femininity that shares the mainstream views in the society. The unhealthy femininity is epitomized by Snow White who is a vampire. This statement can be illustrated when the Queen’s purity and normality is undermined by the princess’s consistent sexual prowess.” In this essay, I will discuss how today’s powerful culture has shaped how women are seen and represented as by the public using The Nature of Horror by Noël Carroll; It's Not All about Snow White: The Evil Queen Isn't that Monstrous After All by Cristina Santos; Sanne Pärsson’s Once Upon A Time She Kissed the Girl: A Feminist Reading of Two Fairy Tales by Neil Gaiman; and A Dark Night’s Dreaming by Magistrale & Morrison. Through the power of culture, social norms and stereotypes have been formed against women. I will begin my analysis with how Gaiman is able to establish the horror genre in this short story and the message that he is trying to demonstrate through Snow, Glass, Apples.
The shift of the narrative voice in the story changes the audience’s expectations of the fairy tale, and thus, turns it into a haunting tale with a darkened and perverse ending. In Snow, Glass, Apples, the story is retold from the Queen's perspective -- Snow White's stepmother. By doing this, it twists the perspective/point of view of the story in contrast to how the original Snow White story is narrated. By using the Queen as the narrator, it becomes her story. She reveals the truth of the lies the princess and prince have told of her (Santos). In The Nature of Horror, Carroll defines horror conventions art-horror monster as “the extraordinary character in the ordinary world”. This is significant because in Snow, Glass, Apples, Snow White is the monster in the story. She plays the role of the monster in the story by being a vampire who preyed on her own father. However, if the story is based on the classic fairy tale, Snow White is “the ordinary character in the extraordinary world” (Carroll) instead of vice versa. As Carroll stated, Snow White in Snow, Glass, Apples perfectly matches the context of horror narrative; she is very impure and unclean. She uses her pale skin as a mask to hide her true nature; but, her vampiric nature is exposed by her vicious actions throughout the story.
At the beginning of the story, the Queen was oblivious of Snow White’s true colors until she discovered that Snow White was different from a normal girl. It became evident to the Queen that Snow White was abnormal when she found out that she was actually a vampire. Most of the descriptions of Snow White are very similar compared to the original fairy tale; instead of “red as blood” it is “her lips were redder than blood” and “sharp teeth”. This appears odd, which creates a suspenseful mood for the audience. The Queen was terrified after she discovered the true nature of Snow White --- a vampire. Under her pale skin and rosy checks, there is a monster hidden inside of her body. In both of the stories, the Queen cuts out Snow White’s heart, but with different intentions. In the original fairy tale, she killed Snow White and cut her heart open to become “the fairest of all.” On the other hand, in Gaiman’s story, the Queen killed Snow White in order to protect herself and her kingdom: making her the hero.
Folktales inherently present … cultural norms or challenges to the norms to their audiences, they often do so without naming specific times or places that reflect the culture.
----- Amie A. Doughty
Folktales Retold: A Critical Overview of Stories Updated for Children
In most of the traditional fairy tales, female sexuality is dominated by a male figure, usually a Prince or a King. However, in Snow, Glass, Apples, the Queen who is the narrator of the story, is a female. This is a contrast from what is normally seen in fairy tales because women are usually not allowed to use their voice. Women are considered to not have any rights in speaking for themselves and thus, are meant to be silenced at all times. Therefore, the absence of a female voice is another tactic used to establish male dominance and power over women (Pärsson). Therefore, it forms a competition between the Queen (the stepmother) and Snow White (the stepdaughter) because they both desire attention from the male figure, the King (Santos). In the original fairy tale the wicked Queen attempts to kill Snow White because she envies the beauty of a seven-year-old, and she believes that Snow White is a threat to her. However, their roles are switched in Gaiman’s Snow, Glass, Apples. In his story, Snow White is the vampire villain, and the Queen is the victim who struggles to defeat her monstrous stepdaughter in order to save the kingdom.
It is crucial to understand the relationship between the King and the Queen in this story because the Queen is looked down upon by the King. This is illustrated in the scene when the Queen describes her living situation with the King. She states that “I had my own chambers. My husband the king, he had his own rooms also. When he wanted me he would send for me, and I would go to him, and pleasure him, and take my pleasure with him.” (Snow, Glass, Apples) After reading this quote, we immediately realize that there is a fundamental distance between the King and the Queen due to the fact that they live in separate rooms. We could argue that their relationship is about sex rather than love since the King only calls for her when he wants her. The Queen acts like his mistress rather than his wife (Pärsson).
Although women are often portrayed as passive and inferior to male figures in works of literature, in Snow, Glass, Apples, by Neil Gaiman, the Queen is depicted as a powerful and dominant protector. In most horror films or novels, female are usually the victims who are being chased by the monster. One of the common stereotypical gender roles of women is that they are supposed to be in a domestic setting where they only cook and do housework, and the ultimate purpose and goal of their life is to find a husband. Women and male priorities differ in ways such as, how the men’s priority is to be the breadwinner of the household while the women’s priority is to be a homemaker. Family is supposed to be a woman’s top priority, and they ought to stay home and raise children. This appears to be the social norm for women in today’s culture. The public is so used to this maternal nursing role of women that nobody finds it arbitrary. In Snow, Glass, Apples, Gaiman depicts a striking woman figure --- the Queen. She helps reverse the gendered stereotypes of women presenting herself as capable, strong and powerful.
Much of what occurs in horror art is symbolic; that is, its deepest meaning exists on a subtextual level.
----- Tony Magistrale & Michael A. Morrison
A Dark Night’s Dreaming
Female sexuality is an important aspect of Snow, Glass, Apples. Sex concerns rarely appear in fairy tales, however, it is a universal topic in our daily life. Throughout Snow, Glass, Apples, Gaiman depicts subversions of Snow White and the Queen which represents a different and unhealthy aspect of femininity. In the story, the subversion of Snow White represents unhealthy feminism because despite the fact that she is gorgeous from the outside, her beauty is cold. Her lips are no longer “red as blood”, but tinted with the blood of the victims she has killed. The subversion of the Queen, on the other hand, represents healthy feminism. She is caring towards her husband and her kingdom. Snow White is the hypersexual conduct in this story which manifests a social context in modern society -- how women are supposed to look or behave. For instance, there would be odd discussions of female CEOs regarding to how they dress, which does not occur among male CEOs.
To be understood properly, the best horror fiction must be viewed as contemporary social satire that reveals---and often critiques---the collective cultural fears and personal anxieties of everyday life.
----- Tony Magistrale & Michael A. Morrison
A Dark Night’s Dreaming
In today’s culture, the “value of women lies in beauty, which brings insecurity and power” (Pärsson). Feminine beauty or sex is being sold and traded for power. Snow White sets a prime example of this because she desires power and would trade her sexuality to obtain it. In Snow, Glass, Apples, Snow White is able to trade her sexuality for power by sleeping with her father (the King), and a monk. Without sexual value, she is powerless. In contrast to Snow White, the Queen displays a true representation of female sexuality; she embodies the correct and healthy kind of feminism that modern culture should be turning towards. Unlike Snow White, she does not trade her female sexuality for power. Gaiman is critiquing culture in this story, especially the stereotypical gender roles and the portrayal of women in our society.
Through the use of precise language, Gaiman is able to convey the subversion of the monster, Snow White, as not actually being a monster. “I think of her hair as black as coal, her lips as red as blood, her skin, snow-white” (Gaiman). The excerpt is taken from the very ending of Snow, Glass, Apples. This description of Snow White is ironic to the audience because at this point, we have learned that she is the real monster who is impure and unclean (Carroll). Personally, I was surprised that the Queen was thinking about Snow White in her last moments. It is the classical ‘happily ever after’ fairy tale ending, but with an unexpected twist instead. “The Queen's perceived sexual promiscuity ends with her death and Snow White's sexual consumption with the monk, and her own father, epitomizes both her sexual and vampiric perversity” (Santos). This implies that the unhealthy feminist figure is dominating the healthy feminist figure in the modern society.
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Works Cited
Carroll, Noël. “The Nature of Horror.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, vol. 46, no. 1, 1987, pp. 51–59. Web. 24 Oct. 2016
Pärsson, Sanne. "Once Upon a Time She Kissed the Girl: A Feminist Reading of Two Fairy Tales by Neil Gaiman." Once Upon a Time She Kissed the Girl: A Feminist Reading of Two Fairy Tales by Neil Gaiman. Cecilia Wadsö Lecaros, 17 Aug. 2016. Web. 01 Nov. 2016.
Santos, Cristina. "It's Not All about Snow White: The Evil Queen Isn't That Monstrous After All." Academia.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2016.
Logan, Kirsty. "The Problem with Fairy Tales." N.p., 29 Mar. 2010. Web. 21 Oct. 2016.
Magistrale, Tony, and Michael A. Morrison. "A Dark Night's Dreaming." N.p., n.d. Web.
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