As far as my past fairytale history, it was way too long ago to remember much. I remember Aesop’s fables and Grimm’s fairytales. I remember all the Sleeping Beauty, Three Little Pigs, Cinderella and so forth from my childhood and to my daughter. As for the fairytales of a horror type, I do not remember. Now for novels, there were the Charlottes Web, Black Beauty, Mark Twain, Zane Grey and the like. I couldn’t get enough of the Nancy Drew and Agatha Christie books.
As far as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, I remember it somewhat but now that I am reading it again, it seems so different. The entire book is as I remember and seems to be based on unrealistic adventures. The language of Alice and her acquaintances by the author is quite different, perhaps because of the English tone or just because it is from a story told in 1862. Some of the verbalization is unusual and I needed to look up its meaning. For instance the “the footman in livery (colors, uniform, or costume) came running…” I like to enhance my vocabulary, but not to the extent that it becomes bothersome. I think it is a great story for the enhancement of the child, adolescent, or adult in imaginative thinking. I like the conversations she has with “everyone,” it seems to give Alice a sense of self-awareness. The different animals are mostly so polite not to say anything bad except “away with you,” as an adult might say. For instance, the birds make excuses to leave, when Alice brings up her kitty Dinah who eats birds, and the mouse she offends with the story of a dog in her neighborhood that eats rats. The animals usually quarrel amongst themselves. Nice that is until she ventures on and talks to the Duchess who wants the cook to cut off her head. When they are rude to her, she dismisses it. Now I see where the Cheshire-Cat came from in my memory. I enjoy the illustrations as they capture the true feeling of the characters.
This is about half, so…
I would like to know if anyone thinks it is outdated or if it is a book they would read to, and give to their children.
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3 comments:
I remember always trying to read Alice in Wonderland probably when I was in elementary school, but I also had a hard time with the language. Back then I didn't understand a lot of the words used! So I never did successfully get through that book all the way! So I agree about that. I think I would still read the story to a child, as long as I've already read it so I could explain any misconceptions or confusion. Plus I think that book it better for children to be read aloud because then it can be animated and it's very bizarre in the first place, so it would add to it's clarity.
I definitely don't think this book is outdated; I think it's a classic. Even if children don't read the book when they're young, they see the movie or hear about it one way or another. I would read this book to my kids, but I would probably have to go slow and explain a lot of the words or storyline to them. I enjoy reading this book because of it's crazy, nonsensical plotline, but I admit I'm not too fond of the vocab sometimes. I'll be getting into a nice flow and then some random word will pop out.
There was a page towards the beginning of Ch. 3, I won't give page #s because I had my own book and didn't buy the one at school, where the mouse is telling his story and starts going on about "Edwin and Morcar, the earls of Mercia and Northumbria, declared for him; and even Stigand...". None of this made sense to me AT ALL and I ended up skimming it and not really knowing what was going on until that section was over. Other than that I really enjoy reading about Alice's adventure and the characters she meets, especially the caterpillar and the Chesire Cat.
Whether ALice in Wonderland is read or watched, I believe it is one of the most imaginative fairytales to date. Compared to other fairytales based on some sort of romance, ALice in Wonderland is refreshing. It follows a different structure that is nuturing to the imagination. My fondest memories of the tale were from watching it and reading the poetry derived from it as a child. I still remember the day my class and I had to memorize a scene, in the form of a poem, and recite it back to the class. I have to admit, though, that I havent yet started reading the book, so I will be doing that tonight. Then I will be able to agree or disagree with the complications of the flow. I hope the written text is just as fantastical as the poetry and film.
As for other fairy tales, I will always remember all of Disney's princesses- because when I was a little girl, thats who I wanted to be :D Then of course, the next fairy tale that was embedded in my memory was the Boy who Cried Wolf, because my parents stressed the importance of not shouting false things like help or fire... Ill never forget. I guess the other set of tales i was particulary fond of was the MOther Goose collection- I had a huge box of all the stories and each night i would pick one for my mom to read to me. And thats pretty much all that i can remember...
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