Week of October 5th: Traditional Literature

   Our chapter reading and class this week revolved around Chapter 7, traditional literature. I learned that traditional literature is the stories and works of literature that have been passed down from generation to generation. I thought that it was very interesting to think about stories and works of literature that get passed down through hundreds of years. It's crazy to think that some of the stories we read now, such as Jack and the Beanstalk, which had it's earliest rendition appear in 1807. Traditional literature is very engaging because they contain intriguing plots.
   I learned that there are many different categories of traditional literature, such as folktales, animal tales, legends, ballads, epics, urban legends, derivative folktales and spoofs, and one that my group focused on in class, "pourquoi." Pourquoi is French for "why," and in traditional literature it classifies books that explain why something came about in the natural world.
   I also learned that there are specific elements in folktales called "reliable associations." These elements help identify a piece of literature as a folktale, and they include a castle, cottage, road, and forest. The castle usually indicates success, the cottage indicates simple, unpretentious people, the road indicates a transformation, and a forest usually implies mystery and danger in stories. Thinking about these reliable associations made me think of the different folk tales and stories that I am familiar with that contain these elements. For example, every Disney princess story and film tend to contain one, if not all, of these elements. Beauty and the Beast contains a castle as well as a forest. It was interesting to reflect back upon stories I know and identify the elements within them.
   Another thing I learned about traditional literature is that there are 3 basic characters in traditional literature stories: the hero, rival, and helper. Reflecting on this, I realize that that is true in almost every folk tale I know. We discussed motifs in traditional literature as well, which as recurring narrative elements that appear in multiple pieces of literature. One of the books my group read in class, titled With Love, Little Red Hen, had a motif in it in the form of a wolf character. Wolf villians appear in many folk tales, thus it is a motif.

   In class, my group also looked at two children's books that could be considered Pourquoi. They were titled The First Strawberries, and The Story of the Milky Way. They both dealt with the Cherokee tribe, and both explained how something came about in the natural world. The first one told the Cherokee tale of how strawberries came into existence. It was far-fetched, but a really interesting story. The second one told about how the Milky Way came about, and it too was outlandish, but a very creative story explaining one of our natural phenomenons. I really enjoyed reading these two books. I like how we work in groups to analyze children's books, it helps in achieving different perspectives and a broader understanding of children's literature.