Jewish Fairy Tales and Stories

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Reflections on the Class

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Over the course of this semester I have learned so much in all of my classes, and though it has been difficult some of the things that I have learned will follow me for the rest of my life. Looking back, I wish I hadn’t taken as many intensive classes during this semester so that I could have focused more on this class, because it was one of the more interesting classes I took this semester. I thought the multicultural approach to the class was particularly interesting, and I wish we had learned more about culture and the zeitgeist of each of the stories, being one who loves history and learning how cultural ideas and stories are created and developed. I think this class has both tied in a lot to what I have learned in English but also taught me something new. I never knew there was this whole realm of research done on fairy tales and psychology applied to it. I think I learned a lot about other cultures and how their tales influence culture. I also learned how fairy tales infl...
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Look, Mom! I'm a Hero!

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In fairy tales, children are often the protagonists, and even the heroes. This does make a lot of sense,since many fairy tales have their roots as tales to be told to children, either as cautionary tales or lessons. Common forms of the child-hero are trickster figures, who use their intellect to get out of situations. “Little Thumbling”, though ridiculed by his family and seen as dumb and small, saves his siblings through his mental maturity and ability to be cunning. It is through this journey that he gains respect and saves his siblings. In the folktale "Momotaro"or "The Peach Boy", Momotaro must leave his town and his elderly parents on a quest. Featuring an antagonist in the form of an ogre just like "Little Thumbling", this story is different. In this story, Momotaro is only able to achieve his goals through the help of his animal allies, teaching lessons about how help can lead to success. His growth into adulthood is also portrayed in this fo...
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Possession Stories

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I think the lectures that Dr. Valk and Dr. Lyngdoh gave were really interesting and opened my eyes to a whole different realm of fairy tales that I’d never really experienced before. Before going to the lecture, I had a different view of possession. Being Catholic, I had always thought of possession as a very religious thing, only consisting of a person and a demon. The person is usually not responsible and has no agency when possessed, completely controlled by what is possessing them. The lectures of both professor’s, however, changed my views and showed me a totally different side of things. Dr. Lyngdoh’s talk especially was very insightful into possession on India. I found the idea of the sankhini extremely interesting, especially how they view the act of possession. Instead of a complete possession, their version reminds me more of a werewolf. The differences between snake and tiger possession were really interesting, as well as how the different stories reflect the culture of th...
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