This whole tale was really strange to read. It wasn't as interesting as The Woman and the Children in the Sycamore Tree or had any of the intricate complexities that Alice in Wonderland had but I can't be completely mean, there were some good parts. The opening chapter, Which is About the Mirror and the Fragments was by far the best aspect of the tale. For a child and even for an adult although there is an incredibly fantastical element in the explanation of the origins of good and evil, i completely bought it. It sort of made perfect sense- duh, evil people are bad because they have an evil mirror in their hearts and eyes. It helps to advocate the notion of forgiveness because the callous human beings aren't completely responsible for their behaviors. But I have to be careful when I say that because the idea of accountability comes into question. Who then is to blame for the crimes committed by human beings? If we're all blaming some evil mirror, then can't we literally get away with murder? But I digress. I was assigned the chapter of The Lapp Wife and The Finn Wife.
There were some aspects of this chapter that were a little off for me. First off, I didn't understand the need for the Lapp wife, I get that she was a conduit for getting Greda to the Finn wife but is it just me or did the Finn Wife do all the work. The Lapp Wife's place in the tale didn't seem pragmatic or even necessary. What I loved most about this chapter was that the Finn Wife seemed to explain to me what I wasn't getting for the first half of this book- Greda is amazingly good! For some reason that completely went over my head and I was caught up on the nonsensical songs of the hyacinths, tiger lily and other flowers. "I can't give her greater power than she alreday has. Don't you see how great she is? Don't you see how mortals and animals have to serve her" (178)- in this quote it shows how greatly invested Andersen is to goodness that abides in the souls of children. Her tears alone are sufficient to break the bonds of evil that are wraped around Kay's heart, they even have the ability to cause things to rise from the the dead- the roses in the witches garden. Her tears have an almost medicinal and supernatural element to them, however, Andersen seems to say that these qualities can only be found in the hearts and minds of uncorrupted youth.
This might be a strech but this sort of had a proto femminist feel to it. Greda is the rescuer. She's like the young Xena Warrior Princess in that she takes innitaiative and gets the job done. So much agency is given to this little girl and it manifests in her resiliancy and perseverence. There was one other event in the chapter that caught my eye and that was the many religious allusions and how there seems to be a symbiotic relationship between saying God's paryer and having positive outcomes. As soon as Greda was placed in a perilous situation, she said the Lord's prayer and not only did she get help she had a legion of angels surround and aid her. This imagery definetly has a didactic quality. All in all, this wasn't my favorite tale but it definetly had its moments.
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Greda's little Robber girl
ReplyDeleteThe story of little Greda and little Kay is quite a doosy, it isn’t at all what you would expect when you think about the things children are capable of. As it was mentioned in class, the story bares some similarity to that of Hansel and Gretel. The only difference is that the crumbs and path back home for little Greda and little Kay is far more treacherous. At a point in her journey to rescue little Kay, Greda falls victim to a pack of robbers who had with them a little girl simply known as the ‘little robber girl’. In the book, she is portrayed as quite the little demon in the way she crawls around the hideous creature we later come to know as her mother. She immediately takes ownership of little Greda. This reminded me of stories in the old days when spoiled rich kids kept the children of the less fortune as pets. I got several mixed feelings from the character of the little robber girl, none of which was really threatening. The robber girl was more of a guardian off the bat to Greda than a captor. She distracted her mother long enough that “she had no time to kill Greda”(257). Then to continue her role of guardianship she places Greda under her protection. We often see the little robber girl battle with two halves of her character, there is the demon half and the guardian half. Though she takes Greda under her wing she also threatens Greda with death (257), something which seems more motherly than an actual threat. Then we see her torture poor animals that can’t defend themselves, the most interesting of which, I believe, were the bull-dogs who were “forbidden” to bark (258). The dogs of hell are afraid of only one thing, the master of hell. Following the dogs we are told she had doves in her little corner, “nearly a hundred doves were roosting ……but they shifted when the little girls came in.” I found this interesting because it did not say the doves were startled from their sleep by the girls entrance, instead they shifted. This I believe is a sort of symbolism. Doves as we know are known to symbolize purity, as I mentioned before, the little robber girl has some darkness in her so I believe that was what the doves sensed as she came in, causing them to shift.
We see the little robber girl torturing one of the dove while scolding Greta to kiss the terrified beast by slapping her (258). This malicious act of defilement, both towards the dove and Greda, to me wasn’t really evil because I believe it was done out of jealousy towards what Greda and the dove each represent. The robber girl initially thought Greda was a princess and the fact that Greda was driven by such strong love in search of a true friend, all these must have being very appealing to a child who lives wild in the forest. Greda’s reaction to it all is quite strange as well. When she is pushed around by the little robber girl, and while she sees all these innocent animals in captivity she does not offer anything that sounds like remorse or even an opinion. It is almost adult like of her, and quite removed. The funniest part in this chapter for me; comes when we see the little robber girl put a knife to the reindeer’s neck. This is funny because it reminds me of the fawn in The Looking Glass, and I said out loud after reading it; so that is why the fawn ran. There is a part in the text I am somewhat suspicious about. “Do you want your knife with you when you sleep? Asked Greda, looking at it somewhat apprehensively.” From her question i got the sense Greda might have being contemplating murder. That would be really crossing a fine line. Up on till this point we played off the dark cloud that followed Greda. Committing murder at this point would have totally destroyed the foundation of the work, it would have being a little too much to digest, even for an adult who understands the push and shove of life. One of the last important details I found is on page 259; this is where we see the two ringed doves again. I think these two doves are a direct representation of the same predicament Greda and Kay find themselves in. Kay is literarily caught in a chain like the doves; Greta as well is caught in a chain which is being pulled towards Kay by the Snow Queen. Finally, we see the little robber girl complete her task as a guardian at the moment she helps Greda escape “HELL”. She played both the temporary opposing force and a necessary driving force, simultaneously.
I agree. As I read this chapter I felt that the Little Robber Girl has so much power. It is as if she is the queen of the den. It was startling to me that she sleeps with a knife. This made me think that she takes on more of an adult role than that of a child. She even tells Gerda that they won't kill her unless she gets angry with her, this suggests that she is like the leader which is strange because she is a child (178).
ReplyDeleteI believe you guys make very astute comments and observations of the power of the Little Robber Girl and the innocence of Gerda. Even though she seems barbaric and wild (Robber Girl) there is something endearing about her,and how she saves Gerda from harm and then later comes to her aid. It's almost saddening when she makes her reappearance, because she was wandering around not really knowing of her true destination. I feel like she has to live a rough life and she couldn't enjoy the brief and magical time of childhood, and when she finally flees from that situation she has no real home to where she belongs.
ReplyDeleteI also wanted to point out that Ezinma did a good job pointing out the power of Gerda's innocence. Some people in class speculated about whether or not Gerda was in fact innocent, and if you read all the tales you can't help but agrue that she definetely is. Even the narrator (Andersen) states that Gerda's power was her purity of heart. It is her innocence that restores Kay (where you stated that by her tears she was able to melt away the fragment from Kay's heart, which then made him cry and the one from his eye then fell out), and she was able to make roses grow out of the black earth. To me, I couldn't see Gerda not representing anything else but purity and innocence, and how in the face of adversity she remained pure in heart. If not, what else could she stand for?
I wanted to respond to Ezinma's discussion about Gerda's goodness and power. Firstly, it's interesting that in the Oxford addition instead of "mortals" and "animals," the translation uses "man" and "beast." The latter word choice makes Gerda appear more powerful in my eyes. She makes men and beasts serve her--wild ferocious animals, not pretty little mortals and exotic creatures.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, I agree with everything said about this particular episode. Andersen writes as if he is imposing agency onto Gerda without her knowing. There are two things I believe we are as children: dreamers and scaredy-cats. We all think we can grow to be 6'5 one day and play professional sports (at least I did as a 6 year old), but we're also scared to sleep with the lights off or walk into the ocean on the creepy and squishy sand.
While we are walking into the ocean we are hoping that we have floaties on or that our parents are holding are hands. In that particular passage I feel Andersen as the author coming down to grab Gerda's hand and saying don't you see what you've already done, and what potential you have to do other great things. Rather than giving the child assistance, Anderson and the Finn woman give the child the agency and confidence.
This may be pushing the envelope a bit too far now with my thoughts, but maybe they want Gerda to take a chance. She's been so good and has this power that "comes from her heart, it comes of her being a sweet innocent child," that she should be allowed to at this point take a chance--take a risk. And I think the analogy to Xena plays directly into this.