Wednesday, February 24, 2010
I think that overall, the parents in these tales do not take much precedence. Yes there are small and short descriptions of the characters that are the parents, but there are also deeper questions to be addressed. I feel like every blog that I have read on my section and others have capitalized the meanings of parents within the Beauty and the Beast stories. The parents, moreso father than any other parental figure, shows interest in other dreams and symbolism for the daughter, Beauty. I think that she identifies and shows her daughterly figure to her father more than anythign in the entire story. This element shows more of a focus on her decision in the final end of the story than any other. It is ultimiately up to her and she also takes into account what she wants to do with her father. I think overall she should decide for herself because so many different elements and opportunities are presentsed to her and she needs to really assess each situaiton for her own benefit.
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Kate, you make a really good point in response, but I do have one question. You say that "through her interaction with her family and society is how she reached her final decisions" etc, and that makes perfect sense! So much sense, in fact, that it can be applied to any character of any story we've ever read. So how does this "social interaction" mindset emphasize the role of the parent? It seems to me that you might not see the parents as important as you originally thought.
ReplyDeleteI tossed around a similar idea in my original post for this week - the first response to Pharra's post, "Parents." What would happen if the parents in these stories weren't parents? What if they were replaced with other figures?
"I think overall she should decide for herself because so many different elements and opportunities are presentsed to her and she needs to really assess each situaiton for her own benefit."
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kate's comment. I don't think Beauty's decision is really ever her own. She always has to placate her father, and in these stories, we are happy when everything ties together in the end. If Beauty made a decision that was selfish, she would be ostracized by her family and readers alike. I think inherent in the virtue of the story is the notion that happiness can only come through the acceptance of the parents.