Quotes About Literature

About one's choice of words

"Then you should say what you mean," the March Hare went on."I do, " Alice hastily replied; "at least I mean what I say, that's the same thing, you know.""Not the same thing a bit!" said the Hatter. "Why, you might just as well say that "I see what I eat" is the same thing as "I eat what I see!" Alice in Wonderland.

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less.""The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things.""The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master - that's all."Through the Looking Glass.

About children's literature

“Good children's literature appeals not only to the child in the adult, but to the adult in the child”

About literature in general

It takes a great deal of history to produce a little literature. Ernest Hemingway

Learning why one great book is just like every other great book is the key to understanding literature. John Moschitta

All that non-fiction can do is answer questions. It's fiction's business to ask them. Richard Hughes

Term Paper

Indecision
When it came time to finally decide on a topic for this term paper, I was experiencing some very intense issues of indecisiveness. First I wanted to write about portals and where they lead to and why they are needed. Then I thought I might be more interested in the move from innocence to experience. But then again I realized that the notion of nonsense and the compelling intrigue of magic left me even more confused and stressed as to what I really wanted to focus on for my final “observation” almost of the material in the class. Finally, I decided on a topic that was broad enough to encompass each of the aforementioned elements, yet still complex enough and focused to help me refrain from too many tangents, not that that is a bad thing. Therefore, I have entitled my paper:

Alice versus Dorothy versus Lyra; Child versus Adolescent versus Adult
Falling down rabbit holes, getting caught up in tornados, cutting through time, each resulting in experiencing a new world be it a nonsensical land of backwards and portmanteau or a colorful land with yellow brick roads and emerald cities or a world or the underworld where the dead need to be set free. To say that Alice represents the child, Dorothy the adolescent, and Lyra the adult is to say that despite each books similarity to the others, there lies an obvious difference in the lasting impression and magnitude of the experience each girl undertakes. This difference and the defense for my title, lies mainly in each girl’s response to the “dream” that consumed them and took away their reality.
Nearly everything about Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass helps emphasize the notion that Alice represents the child when compared to the other two females. From her seemingly juvenile portal (a rabbit’s hole) to the nonsensical lessons she tries to recite that come out “how doth the little crocodile” and “Twinkle, twinkle, little bat” the evidence of pure childhood imagination exudes from every page. Even Alice’s contemplation over whether she is the same at a different height and if not than whom is she during the second chapter remains unresolved. Children often leave complex thoughts unanswered after trying frustratingly to come to a “realistic” conclusion. The question as to what is a child and where is the differentiating change I feel is best answered in Phillip Pullman’s notion of Lyra in His Dark Materials as the second Eve. That is to suggest that perhaps the fall occurs because of the acquirement of knowledge more so than sin.
If that is the case, which I do believe it is, then the move from innocence to experience and child to adult is accompanied by the move from ignorance to knowledge. For that reason, I believe that although the end of Through the Looking Glass leaves Alice asking many good questions, she is unable to produce an answer to her curiosity as to “Which dreamed it?” This seems to suggest that although Alice may have experienced Wonderland, little knowledge was gained from her adventures. Her assertion that she prefers the dream world to the “real” one reveals how her childhood fantasies still live freely within her with little to no limitations.
Dorothy on the other hand undergoes a few more life altering experiences in her voyage through the wonderful Land of Oz. She discovers a sort of self awareness much like that we acquire during puberty or adolescence. Throughout her quest for home, Dorothy stumbles across various other unaware characters in search of their brain, (the scarecrow), their heart, (the tin man), and their courage (the cowardly lion). However, in the final scenes of The Wizard of Oz, after all the others have discovered their missing parts, Dorothy is left with a very superficial realization that “there’s no place like home” and she would rather stay in the world of reality. Her experience and knowledge gain does not venture much further past the top most layer of understanding that is the layer of self awareness. Although important in reaching adulthood, I do not think that this alone can qualify one as an adult. Therefore, Dorothy is the adolescent of the group.
However, the experiences and knowledge demanded of Lyra in His Dark Materials are more along the lines of sexual awareness, self sacrifice, and an understanding of the bigger picture. Through her relationship with Will and her sacrifice of that relationship, I believe that Lyra gains almost too much knowledge for her young age as she transcends rapidly into adulthood. For that reason, I believe that Lyra represents the woman in the equation that was initially established. Her dream can never again happen, or so it seems.
As much as I would like to think that the majority of the women in the world are dwelling in Wonderland with Alice, the tragic truth remains that there are far too many Lyras that have to assume a role to quick for themselves or are forced to make decisions they almost feel unprepared for. And unfortunately, not everyone’s knowledge is of the same scope and magnitude as Lyra’s and can end up making the “right” decision. As for me, I would much rather join Alice at the mad tea parties or even Dorothy on the yellow brick road than have to stand there and watch as Lyra says goodbye to her one true love. That is far too adult for me.

Our Wizard of Oz Project

So, I am sure that for some groups, "Dorothy Does Vegas" was perhaps a little unexpected. And I'll admit when we first sat down, we were a little unsure ourselves. But then it just all started to piece together so nicely and it made sense. Dorothy goes to Oz to escape Kansas and drugs are often claimed to be an source of escape. And the best friend as Toto, the stripclub owner trying to get their clothes as the Bad Witch, the bartender that helped keep them on track as Glenda, the stripper that wanted to go to college as the Scarecrow, the businessman who disregarded his family as the tin man, the bouncer who couldn't talk to girls as the cowardly lion, it all just seemed so perfect. Looking back, we had so much fun and quite a few late nights piecing this project together and I not only want to thank my group for all the good times but also everyone in class for understanding where we were going.

Faerie Tale Theater

When I was about 6 years old, my mother introduced me to this television series that retells the fairytales that we read in class, not the disney versions that are "sachrine". It is most definitely worth checking out, mainly because it is beautifully made and many popular and well known actors and actresses are involved with Shelley Duvall's retellings.

Some of my all time favorites are of course The Little Mermaid and thanks to Jessi mentioning it in class a while back, she helped me remember this fantastic series. I also am obsessed with The Twelve Dancing Princesses mainly because I wanted to walk through the portal they do and cross the lake to dance the night away as a young aspiring ballerina. Well, I left ballet school because of the horrid instructor but I can still go dance with them whenever I want thanks to the stories, the movies, and my imagination.

Here is a link to a youtube video of the first scene in The Little Mermaid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9Q6EsSQY0k

Rapunzel

Perhaps my favorite part about this fairytale would never have been introduced to me outside of this class. Sadie's displacement through both a newspaper and a recipe not only stumped me but also astounded me with its simple genius. I never would have thought to displace via a recipe however it was remarkable how well she made it work for the story. It makes me look at recipes in a new light, reiterating the notion learned in 300 that everything is literature.

The Story of the Three Bears

Here is a perfect example of the didacticism we have seen throughout the semester. I love the little girls obvious reply to the idea of poridge being too cold.

A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes

So apparently, if what Cinderella sings about in Walt Disney's version of the fairytale classic, my heart does not want me to know what it wishes. I can rarely ever, for the life of me, remember one of my dreams. Perhaps the added pressure of having to do so for a blog forces my mind to block them out even more. However, my fiance vividly remembers many of his dreams and recieved the okay from him to divulge one that I think pertains quite a bit to children's literature.

Apparently he was sent on a quest and he was accompained by his daemon, a black panther that talked to him. (Can anyone say His Dark Materials) After awhile, he felt as if they were simply traveling around and around in circles and finally asked the panther that seemed to come right out of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book if they were indeed going in circles. The panther replied very tatologically with "I know we are not going in circles because I know" and continued on to say some very nonsense things that could perhaps resemble the confusing and puzzling speeches of the Caterpillar and Humpty Dumpty from Alice inWonderland. Unfortunately he woke up after that so we have no way of knowing whether in fact they were going in circles, just as Alice contemplates whose dream she was actually in.