This Class, Goals, and Fairy Tales

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Hi, everyone! I'm Jenna and I'm a sophomore, English and Communication double major. This semester I really wanted to take the last class I needed for my McDaniel Plan. I’ve been taking classes in my major for a while and for some reason the one class I had left was an International Non-Western class. I also wanted to start working on my Honors electives, so I don’t have to worry about them later. When I heard that this class was both an honors elective and an International Non-Western credit I thought the class would be perfect. Besides just the requirements, the topic of the class sounded super interesting and as an English major, something that I would find interesting. I love to read and tell stories. Though I grew up learning both Grimm’s fairy tales as well as their Disney counterparts, I have never really learned about other fairy tales around the world. My goal for this class it to gain a better appreciation of the different types of fairy tales around the world and how they compare and contrast to the ones I’ve grown up loving. I also want to start looking at more works from not just a literary standpoint but also from a historical perspective, which will be perfect with fairy tales considering their rich oral traditions.


 My favorite folktale or fairy tale of all time is The Emperor’s New Clothes. Don’t get me wrong! I love Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, and other classic fairy tales, but the story that’s stuck with me the most is The Emperor’s New Clothes. I remember my mom reading it to me before I went to bed. I had this book full of fairy tales, mostly when I was younger like the Princess and the Pea, and the Little Match-Seller with adorable pictures in it, and I remember laughing at the story. The story ended up showing up multiple times throughout my childhood through different TV shows like Sagwa, set in China where it was the “Foolish Magistrate” instead of the Emperor. I remember thinking that the story was both funny and an important lesson.



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