Tales in Literature. Diamonds and Toads - Essay Example

Full Tales in Literature I have chosen the tale Diamonds and Toads because the story presents facets of life whichare of great importance both to the listeners and the reader as well. This depicts lessons learned from good and bad role players on values, attitudes and character especially on being calmly, humble and good. I believe these are attributes which should be inspired in the modern children. The prominent values in the story are the contrasts of good and bad, humility and pride, kindness and meanness expressed by the two daughters and their mother. Most fairy tales teach the value of goodness and meanness by presenting the consequences of both through the characters playing the protagonist and antagonist. The heroine being the good-natured child but still is not treated with justice, yet continues to be good, is rewarded in the end. The threshold guardian to the heroine is her mother who makes her work hard but acted nicely to her on the sight of the gift given her, calling the maiden ‘child’ which got the girl’s heart and trust, thus telling her mother the whole story of her incident with the fairy. This act of the mother opened the twist on the story, showing the young girl’s naïve personality because the kind treatment of the mother did not last, having her mind on her older daughter to get the same gift and still disdaining her younger daughter. The mother could also be considered the shadow in the story together with the older daughter who made life miserable for the younger daughter and who became threats to her life when their desires of the good gifts did not materialize (Perrault). Of the prominent things in the tale, we have the fountain which is used as the setting for the test of character of the two sisters. Other settings could have been used for the test but since the author’s focus was on the characteristics of each child and their responses on the test, the fountain could well be the best setting yet. In the olden times, pumps were not used rather; water was drawn from the well through a pulley which would indeed be a very difficult task for young ladies, not to mention for fragile and beautiful ones. Thus, the test was given in a circumstance where the protagonist and antagonist are faced with a difficult task. Fountains symbolize purification and rebirth (House of Names). The younger daughter, going everyday to the fountain, could be understood by this symbolism as getting purified every time she fetches water from it. On the other hand, the older daughter, being sent to the fountain is given the chance for cleansing, a rebirth becoming better. On the contrary, she was not purified but still clung to her old self, refusing to change her ways. Gifts are also considered motifs of the story, used as consequences fit for the attitudes of the sisters, respectively. Many fairy tales use gifts to reward people in accordance to their deeds and these gifts are usually used as instruments for the good fortune or destruction of a character depending on the role he/she plays. Though in the story of Sleeping Beauty, the gift of the witch was not because of the baby’s doing but was simply because the witch who has cursed the sleeping beauty was not invited to her christening. In diamonds and Toads, the younger sister was given the gifts of rose, pearls and diamonds which reflect her goodness in character. Rose symbolizes budding youth, romance, potential and fragility (Louis) which could be the author’s expression of the near change in the heroine’s life, meeting the prince who later married her. The rose is one of the flowers used in fairy tales like in Beauty and the Beast and most likely to be one of the most loved flowers around the world. Like the flower, its symbolisms are greatly desired by most if not all people around the world which however are not acquired by everybody. Another gift to the younger sister is pearls which are associated with water, symbolizing regeneration, washing of guilt, and life (Louis). Pearls on the other hand symbolize knowledge and wealth (Louis), which could be inferred to be the knowledge expressed in the girl’s speech and the wealth in the information and wisdom of her words. Though consequently, she married a prince, making her rich in the sense that she has become a princess, the pearls and diamonds falling from the heroine’s mouth could make her even richer than the prince, but that would just be singling out the wealth. Words and the outcome of one’s words can be considered treasures as well. The third gift to the heroine is diamonds which symbolize love, excellence, and purification, as well as power, strength, brilliance and unparalleled beauty (Russell). Known also to last long, diamonds represent eternity, making it a gem used in wedding rings for couples who want their marriage and love to last. Both sisters in the beginning of the story were comparatively beautiful but their ends made the difference. With the heroine getting married to a prince, not anymore made to work difficult tasks but well taken cared of with the fortune she brings with herself, whatever beauty she possessed could have been enhanced. On the contrary, the proud sister was given the gift of toads which represent uncleanness and death (Hill) which is clearly stated in the story as it ended the life of the older sister, that even her mother who once doted on her now disliked her, driving her away from their home. Snakes also symbolize evil (Louis) and most likely with the way the older sister spoke, the toads and snakes coming out from her mouth could be interpreted as evil speech and cursing that can cause others to hate her. In comparison to other fairy tales, poverty or hard labor on the part of the heroine are common settings on the story. Like Cinderella, the heroine in this story was abused, being made to do hard chores for the family’s good. However, despite these treatments, the protagonists remain to be their same good selves and are rewarded in the end by being married to a prince. Probably the most prominent motif in the story is the pairing or the number two. There were two daughters, the fairy gave the gifts of rose and a jewel to the younger daughter and a toad and a snake to the older one. The gifts came out by twos whenever the two characters spoke; two roses, two diamonds, two pearls, two toads, and two snakes. Two symbolizes duality, opposition, separation and antagonism (RidingTheBeast.com) which in the analysis of the tale could be related to the fountain which we said earlier represents purification and rebirth, a place of separation from evil or old self. It also shows the motif of good against evil, humility against pride, meekness versus defiance and other contradicting characteristics of the two main characters. On the contrary, it also symbolizes love and charity because these are shared by two people, where if there is a giver, there is a taker (RidingTheBeast.com) with charity shown between the younger daughter and the fairy while love was shared eventually by the maiden and the prince. Learning about these archetypes, motifs and symbolisms indeed makes not only the listener have a deeper understanding of the lessons learned in the story but most especially the teacher, making him/her more effective in using the tale to achieve her goals. Armed with such information, I will teach the story to year 1 learners by first telling them of familiar fairy tales like Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Sleeping Beauty and others for me to establish information wherein we will be comparing the stories with the chosen fairy tale. Since this unit takes at least 4-5 weeks to complete (The National Strategies), maybe choosing four familiar tales would be enough to set the learners to the objectives I would like to achieve, that would be discussed separately each week. As I tell the story, I will show pictures to catch the learners’ attention, changing the tone, volume and pitch of my voice. Aside from telling the story, on other days of the week, I will show a short video clip of the story for them to see what they could do when they do role plays in preparation to the attainment of the Primary National Strategy (PNS) objective on drama (The National Strategies). On another day, the learners will do role plays on the story or another fairy tale familiar to them, being encouraged to have a change in their voices or even sing out their dialogues, to let them explore their creativity, in response to the call of the National Curriculum. This would also strengthen the goal of other subjects like Art and Music. To encourage everyone to develop in their speaking, I will let them tell the story in their own words, taking turns from the beginning of the story, with one telling at least two or three sentences until the story is over. This activity will also help them in their organization of their thoughts when it comes to writing. To further enhance the their reading skills, I will let the learners read along with me the stories on another day, pointing out to them new words which I would like them to use in their writing activities for them to retain in their minds the new words they will be meeting in the stories. Also, correct pronunciations will be emphasized and linked to the spelling to satisfy the objective on reading and spelling as well as their speaking is concerned (The National Strategies). For the third or fourth week, I will choose a less familiar story and as we go along, I will pause at some points to ask them what might be the next event. This would encourage them to think critically, connecting the similarities in the story to that which we have already finished. In our discussions, to let the learners link circumstances in the story to their personal experiences, I will ask questions or let them ask each other questions about the story and about themselves being in similar situations. This activity will also help in their speech and social developments as they discuss and interact as a group (The National Strategies). Throughout the unit, I will be pointing out values in relation to symbolisms, archetypes and motifs, supporting the objectives on Religious education which is also an important subject or the age group. Hill, Suzanne. Animals in Art. Symbols of Gluttony and Evil. July 21, 2007. Web. November 23, 2010. . Louis. Symbols. Scribd. n.d. Web. November 24, 2010. . National Strategies. Year 1 Narrative Unit 3- Traditional and Fairy Stories. Department for Education. n.d. Web. November 22, 2010. . RidingTheBeast.com. Properties of the Number Two. n.d. Web. November, 24, 2010. . Russell, Michael. Diamond Symbolism and Mythology. Ezine Articles. n.d. Web. November 23, 2010. . Perrault, Charles. Diamonds and Toads. SurLaLune. 1965. Web. November 22, 2010. < http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/diamondstoads/index.html>. Read More