Folktales

    This week during class, we read a different type of literature- a folk tale. While Mrs. Valentino was reading the Gullah Folk Tale to the class, she quickly said, “I’m not good at reading picture books.” For some reason, this seemingly insignificant statement stuck with me. It reminded me that different people could all read the same story, but with different inflections and emphasises, it could have completely different meanings. Perhaps we are actually interpreting all the old folk tales wrong. Over the course of the days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries, millennia... AGES that folktales are told, the people telling them and the people hearing them are different. Depending on the teller and listener, a story could be a simple time passer, or a life changer. 

Maybe something that used to serve as just a bedtime story is now interpreted as a huge life lesson. Honestly while reading Maus, I often found myself wondering if all the little symbolism we pulled out from the graphic novel were actually place there in purpose or if we just made something, out of nothing. Folk tales are formatted in a way that certain characteristics of characters or certain passages can be interpreted in complete opposition. Imagine if someone found the story of Goldilocks and the three bears in a million years, and they analyzed it to have some huge great meaning that wasn’t ever intended.