This is "Haredly" a Joke: Storybook Styles

Topic: For my storybook, I would like to do something that covers a lot of different geographical areas while still maintaining a central theme. With that, I would like to have a central theme about rabbits! Silly little creatures, these are, and they will tie my entire storybook together (so I am going for more of a frametale here). I know I would like to include some from the African tradition of Brer Rabbit, such as Old Mr. Rabbit, He's a Good Fisherman. Another one I would like to include has Indian roots and depicts the rabbit in a not-as-cunning manner, titled The Foolish, Timid Rabbit.

Bibliography: 

Old Mr. Rabbit, He's a Good Fisherman, from Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings written by Joel Chandler Harris in 1881.

The Foolish, Timid Rabbit, from Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbit, illustrated by Ellsworth Young in 1912.

Possible Styles:

Travel:  I think for this style I would have it be told from the perspective of a growing teenage rabbit who is searching out his identity and learning about all of the places rabbits actually live. I think I would set it to where he is going to visit family members in each part of the world, such as Africa for Brer Rabbit and India for the foolish rabbit. He would learn about his family, as well as try to identify with all of the different locations.

Predator: I think it would be interesting to have a cat as the narrator, or some other predator-like animal to the rabbit. He would be in search of a meal, and it could result in a pretty good book. For instance, if he travels to Africa to try and catch Brer Rabbit, Brer Rabbit would trick him out of the meal. Or he would go to India in search of a meal, and encounter the foolish timid rabbit (would the foolish rabbit get away? Stay tuned...) Plus it adds an extra theme and level of excitement to the storybook.

Pet: One idea would be to have a little girl beg her parents to get a pet rabbit. They would agree as long as she put forth effort in researching what types of things rabbits would need in order to have a suitable home. In her research, she could encounter all of the tales from the different countries dealing with rabbits. Each night, she would go to bed and dream about the rabbits she met during her research that day. For instance, she could read some Brer Rabbit tales, then that night she would have a dream that her and her mom went to the rabbit store and ended up with a rabbit just like Brer Rabbit! Sort of taking the original rabbit stories and having them be in same "pet store" setting. It allows for a bit of creativity in writing!

Abstract Narration: This would be a hard one, but I could have the story be written by "Adventure" or "Wisdom." Turning an abstract idea into the narrator, who allows the reader to go to these different places and learn lessons from each of the rabbits he or she witnessed. I don't exactly know how I would do this, but it could be a fun challenge to accept!

One of my favorite rabbits in literature, the one from Alice in Wonderland. I would hope to incorporate this in some way!

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

Essay: Seemingly Insignificant Characters

In a lot of stories, there is a protagonist, an antagonist, plots, themes, and a climax. In every story there are also the characters that get around two minutes of fame and are left forgotten by the reader. They are the shrimp who decided to play in the big leagues, but are declined the opportunity to even get off the bench. So, to the kids who were picked last at recess and the pimply prom prince who gets rejected by the girl of his dreams over and over, here's to you.

In Homer's Odysseus, there is a specific character about whom I am thinking. The name is Elpenor, idiot Elpenor. Actually, I made that up, his name is just Elpenor... But for the record, he is an idiot. He is mentioned twice and plays no significant role in the storyline (seemingly), but he is worth mentioning.

You can read about it in The Spirit of Elpenor, but Elpenor was a young, inexperienced war monger who probably had no business being on Odysseus's crew. He was first mentioned because of the fact that he died from drunkenly falling off the roof of an enchantress. In fact, his renown in America's high school English classrooms is as a drunken idiot. (I secretly believe he should be the first winner of a Darwin Award, and if you don't know what that is then PLEASE go look it up.)And I want to convince you of why that in and of itself is important to epic stories.

Humor is integral to a story. And luckily for Homer, 99% of people find drunk people hilarious. Everyone can appreciate a good drunk story, and Elpenor obliged for us. If The Odyssey didn't have any respite from the constant death and depression, a large portion of the population would find it less entertaining. The comic relief provided by the insignificant, forgotten characters actually shape the story much more than it appears.

I urge you to keep your eyes peeled in the future units you read for the Elpenors in each respective story, so you can figuratively give them a pat on the back for bringing you the smile and laughs within the drama.

Now, go out in the real world and open your eyes for modern-day Elpenors. Befriend them, for your life will be spiced up!

Darwin awards summed up in a photo.

Image credit: Hahastop.

Storytelling Week 3: Grief Ain't Brief

The beginning of August carried with it a soft breeze that hardly cushioned the effect of the blazing sun on Ody’s skin. Looking around him, Ody took in the scenery: the summer sun was setting over the cerulean tops of the standard stark white Greek houses. His best friends stood by his side with bittersweet countenance as they knew their time abroad was drawing to a close.

It all started with a spontaneous airline ticket purchase into Venice, Italy. Three weeks of adventure unfolded before them as they backpacked the coast of Croatia, hiked the Alps, and caught a fairy over the deep waters of the Adriatic Sea to land them in Greece the last few days of their journey. The very next day they were to catch a plane back to Houston, away from their dreams and into the ‘real’ world. It was at this time that Ody got the call.

“Ode, it’s your father. I know you are abroad, but I had to call. It’s…”

“Dad? What’s going on?” said Ody, detecting the tone in his father’s voice.

“Your mother, Ody. Your mother is gone. We found her late last night. She was missing you so she went to your favorite spot, on the mountain behind the pasture, just to feel closer to you. She must have misstepped… and… she fell quite a ways down. She didn’t make it.”

This dialogue went on for a few more minutes when it seemed that there was nothing left to say. Ody booked a flight from Houston to his home in Oregon, resolving to meet his dad at the airport the next evening to figure everything out. Until then, Ody had to get through the his last night in Greece.

His friends did their best to comfort him, but really just served best when trying to distract his mind. That night, Ody’s sleep proved to be even more unrestful than being awake.

He was back at home, walking through the pasture with a blanket and journal in tow, heading for his fort. It was his favorite place to go while growing up. He was climbing the final stretch of the rocky trail, the fort’s tree in sight. Inside, he sat with his journal open, wanting to write but not knowing where to begin.

He heard a noise and saw his mother climbing the ladder to get inside; she must have followed him. He leant her a hand and pulled her up to the seat next to him.

“What’s troubling you?” his mother asked.

“Mom, I… don’t know. Why did you leave? How could you leave? What am I going to do?

“I didn’t know that when I had left for Europe I would never see you again. It’s my fault. I should have warned you not to come up to the fort alone, it can be dangerous.” Ody sobbed.

“I know, son, I know. I didn’t want to leave, I really just missed you, that’s all. Promise me that when you return, you’ll hug our family extra tight for me.”

At that instant, Ody woke up in the night. Plagued by his dreams, but a small part of him thrilled he was able to get another glimpse at his mother’s face, no matter how counterfeit. 

And so it began, his journey of grief. He didn’t realize that as he was leaving the journey of his dreams, he would be arriving to an entirely new journey, one he never hoped to begin. The journey of grief and loss.

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Author's Note: This is a very loose version of the story in Homer's Odyssey, translated by Tony Kline in 2000, called The Spirit of Anticleia. In the original story, Odysseus and his men have traveled all over the earth, conquering many beasts and all kinds of evil. He finds himself traveling to the underworld to seek the advice of a friend that had passed, and there he sees the spirit of his mother, Anticleia. When he had left his home in Ithaca, his mother had been alive. He first discovered her death through visiting the underworld. 

While greek mythology may seem hard to translate into real-world terms, I wanted to do something about the impact of losing a mother. While a majority of people can't relate to cyclops’ deaths, and being enchanted by princesses, most can relate to the sting of death in one way or another. That is what I hope to have conveyed through writing the story. No matter where you are in your journey of grief, you can feel for Ody, who has just begun his own.

On a completely random sidenote, I decided the setting for this story based on the exact trip a friend and I are taking to Europe this summer. We will be flying into Italy and out of Athens after three weeks of adventuring over there. This fact made it a little more interesting to write, although I am praying against it being any sort of foreshadowing for my life!

Santorini, Greece.

Image Credit: BlogLovin'

Reading Diary B: Homer's Odyssey

The second half of Homer's Odyssey proved to be just as exciting and enjoyable as the first! Although the ending of the reading unit wasn't necessarily the end of the entire story, it did end with triumph and adventure!

The stories within the unit that were most impactful to me were The Spirit of Anticleia and The Ghosts of Famous Women. At this point, Odysseus and his men traveled to the underworld to visit the dead and get wise Teiresias to prophesy about his journey back to Ithaca. While there, Odysseus sacrifices lambs in order to get the dead to come to him. Before Teiresias comes, he has to see the ghosts of all of the women he knew, one of those being his mother, Anticleia.

The first story is a dialogue between him and his mother, who was alive when he had left on his journey. He didn't know she had died, and grieved intensely upon seeing her ghost. The pain and grief he felt seems so real in the story. The second story goes through and describes all of the spirits of the other women he knew throughout life and it's as if you are directly in Odysseus's mind, hearing his thoughts on them.

For me, these stories were impactful because they remind me that once you die, people are left with a certain impression of you that can never change. It inspires me to make sure that I leave a legacy that is honorable. I don't want to be like the women that Odysseus mentions and only quotes the negative things. I guess this reading provoked me: For what will I be remembered?

When I think about legacies, I can't help but think of a woman who left behind an incredible legacy here on earth. Mother Teresa was known for her love for others and for Jesus. My, oh my, how I would love to be a modern-day Mother Teresa!

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Reading Diary A - Homer's Odyssey

A fine, fine read is The Odyssey by Homer. As long as you don't get too attached to any characters- because there is a 70% chance they will die in the next story- then this reading is perfect. I read part of the Iliad for my extra reading unit last week and loved it, so I've decided to read all of The Odyssey for my week three readings.

It is a tale of hardship after hardship, accompanied by some misfortune with a hint of pride. In the first half of the reading, Odysseus and his crew visit and defeat a cyclops as well as a magical goddess, who originally wanted to harm them but later became an ally.

One of the most interesting stories was The Moly Defeats Circe. Circe is the magical goddess who tries to harm Odysseus in the same way she has already harmed half of her crew. With the help of Hermes, Odysseus is able to outwit her and get his crew transformed back from pigs into humans.

One thing that stands out to me in this story is the grief that Odysseus and his crew feels at the loss of one another. I think I read these stories and get so accustomed to death being integral to these stories, that I forget the characters in them must have time to mourn. They were a family, and they grieve the loss of a family member. Their grief is so inspiring, in fact, that it changed the heart of the one who caused it: "... and even the goddess was moved to pity."

Circe realizing Odysseus's greatness.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

Another story that I didn't quite understand, but found entertaining nonetheless, was The Death of Elpenor. He got so drunk that he decided to climb on top of the roof and passed out; he then woke up at hearing some noise, forgot that ladders existed, and fell of the roof to his death. There really is no significance to this, I just thought it ridiculous, and appreciate that it was included!