Storytelling Topics

Storybook Topic: Women Saints

Comments: I first briefly saw the title for this unit while scanning all of the ones I had to choose from for weeks 2 and 3, and I kept coming back to it. This topic is interesting to me because I want to learn more about the women that have been immortalized in stories.

Possible Stories: I know there is an incredible amount of stories about women saints that I could choose from not only in the UN-Textbook but on the internet as well. Just putting “women saints” into Google search brought up a substantial amount of not only religious sites, but purely biographical sites as well. I’m sure if I get desperate that Wikipedia will have countless articles as well.

Sample Story Comments: When I googled “women saints,” I found a really informative website on female Catholic saints. I’m sure I could get a lot of good material from that one website alone. I know that coming up with material for this topic won’t be a problem. A specific example I found on that website was the story of Saint Barbara.

Bibliography Information:

Sample Story: Saint Barbara

Website name: Catholic Saints

Storybook Topic: Folklore of the Holy Land

Comments: I chose this topic because I’ve always been interested in how different religions interpret the stories of people such as Adam, Eve, and other Biblical figures. This topic would help me expand my knowledge concerning different religions.

Possible Stories: There were a lot of stories under this category in the UN-Textbook that looked really interesting.

Sample Story Comments: The story about Adam would be a great one to work with. It’s a classic that everyone seems to know.

Bibliography Information:

Sample Story: Holy Land: Our Father Adam

Book Title: Folk-lore of the Holy Land: Moslem, Christian and Jewish

Author: J. E. Hanauer

Published: 1907

(Islamic Adam and Eve)

Storybook Topic: Chinese Fairy Tales

Comments: I’m fascinated by the Chinese history, so this unit is the perfect tool that I can use to further my knowledge of the Chinese culture.

Possible stories: There is a long list of possible stories that I could work with in the UN-Textbook.

Sample Story Comments: One story that stuck out to me was the story of the girl with the horse’s head or the silkworm goddess, because I can’t really tell what kind of story it is just from looking at the title. Stories with titles like that are usually really intriguing.

Bibliography Information:

Sample Story: The Girl with the Horse’s Head or the Silkworm Goddess.

Book Title: The Chinese Fairy Book

Author: R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens

Year: 1921

Storybook Topic: Pacific Northwest

I’ve been dreaming of moving to either Washington or Oregon since middle school, so reading and working with stories from that region would be really enjoyable for me. I want to learn more about the region that I will hopefully be living in soon.

Possible Stories: There was a list of stories in the UN-Textbook that I could work with.

Sample Story Comments: Falls of the Willamette grabbed my attention because I have friends that live in the Willamette Valley, so that knowledge made the story more personal for me.

Bibliography Information:
Sample Story: Falls of the Willamette

Book Title: Myths and Legends of the Pacific Northwest, especially of Washington and Oregon

Author: Katharine Berry Judson

Year: 1910

Essay: Gods and Goddesses in Cupid and Psyche

In the story, Apuleius's Cupid and Psyche, gods and goddesses play some of the main roles. Although the story primarily involves Psyche, her path of life is heavily entwined with that of Cupid and Venus. In this week's story, I thought that the gods and goddesses portrayed were overall very cowardly. When one thinks of gods, strength and power typically come to mind. In this story, however, those characteristics were hardly prevalent.

One of the first examples of cowardice seen is Venus's jealousy of Psyche's beauty. A goddess shouldn't feel jealous and insecure because of the beauty of a human, yet Venus goes crazy at the thought of someone being more beautiful than her because that means that her beauty isn't the most incredible. A prime example of this is the reaction Venus has when she finds out people have been pretty much worshiping Psyche in Psyche's Beauty.

Another example of cowardice is Cupid's behavior after she finds out that he has been secretly married to Psyche. Instead of standing up to his mother for the sake of love, he goes and sits nursing his wounds in his mother's house while Venus searches far and wide for Psyche in order to punish her. Venus's outrage and Cupid's reaction can be seen in Venus and the Goddesses.

One final example, and probably the best one of cowardice, is the behavior of the gods that Psyche appeals to for aide. She appeals to several in order to gain safety and comfort because of Venus's persecution, but they all reject her because they are afraid to offend their fellow goddess. Instead, Psyche's help comes from ants, a reed, and a turret. The turret was the thing that surprised me most because it was the least alive out of all the things that helped Psyche in her quests (The Jar of Beauty). Why the insignificant characters in the story helped Psyche more than the powerful gods and goddesses did is something that I thought was interesting. It just proved that the Greek gods and goddesses weren't as mighty as they made themselves out to be.

(Venus assigning Psyche a task)

Overall, this story was a fine one, and the character development throughout was excellent. The main part of the story for me, though, was that gods and goddesses would be the best people for soap operas and reality TV.

Reading Diary B: Apuleius's Cupid and Psyche

The second half of Apuleius's Cupid and Psyche is much darker than the first. I preferred reading the second half over the first, though, because the story showed the downsides and dangers of love instead of just the blind obsession with it. In this half of the story, love was the driving force and motivator for both Cupid and Psyche.

In this part, I really enjoyed Psyche's interactions with all of the different characters. It struck me as interesting that the gods wouldn't help her, but the most insignificant things would. This became apparent in Venus and Psyche and continued on through The Third Task. I liked that not only insects helped her, but plants too. The second task involving the aide of the reed struck me as incredibly sweet.

I was rooting for Cupid and Psyche the whole time, but Psyche frustrated me again when she gave in to her urges and peaked at what Persephone had given to her to take to Venus in The Sleep of the Dead. The whole time I was thinking that she had surely learned her lesson, but alas, she was still careless.

I found the ending of Cupid and Psyche's story delightful in that it actually ended happily! In The Wedding Feast, Cupid and Psyche have finally gotten the chance to be together and have now officially been married.  So many mythological tales end on a bad note. Examples of this are: Atlas having to hold up the world for all eternity and Prometheus having to endure an eagle eating his liver and then having it re-grow every single day until the end of time. One of the reasons why this is now one of my favorite stories is because it has a happy ending.

(Cupid and Psyche's Wedding)

Reading Diary A: Apuleius's Cupid and Psyche

I really enjoyed reading Apuleius's Cupid and Psyche. I had never heard of this tale before, so reading something completely new kept me attentive throughout the whole reading. 

I thought it was brilliant how the story was told inside of another story. The transition from the story to the tale of Cupid and Psyche was so seamless, which just shows the talent of the writer. In Her Dream, the young captive's recounting of her dream provides the idea stage for the beginning of the story. 

The tale of Cupid and Psyche was excellently told, with imagery being the strong point throughout. One setting that particularly stuck out to me was the description of the palace that Psyche is brought to after descending from the cliff in The Magical Palace. The writing paints a beautiful picture that entices the reader as much as Psyche and perfectly sets the scene for the future events in the story. 

(Psyche in the Magical Palace, Source)

It frustrated me that Psyche did not heed her husband's warnings and broke her promises to him. Despite his warnings, in Fears and Doubts we learn that her sisters deceive her and mess with her head enough to forget everything her husband said. To me this made me doubt just how much she loved her husband. Here he was, providing for her and showing her all of the love he possibly could, yet she could not just trust him. I did really enjoy being immersed in her thoughts and fears, which is something that made the story personal and relatable.