Reading Notes: Through the Looking Glass, Part B

I love that Alice was still referring to Kitty as the Queen when she woke up. She seems more accepting of Wonderland  than she did in the first novel. The new connection formed between Alice, the Red Queen and the White Queen towards the end of the story gives more insight into the queens' roles in Wonderland. I missed some of my favorite characters in this novel, such as Cheshire Cat. However, I did enjoy the new characters introduced like Humpty Dumpty and the Red Knight. The poems all had a mysterious, wonderland vibe to them and it would be so fun to include one in my project! This novel ended with Alice telling off the Red Queen instead of running away from her like she did in the first one. I enjoyed seeing her character growth while reading through the stories.

Image Information: Illustration of Cheshire Cat by John Tenniel, Web Source: Wikimedia
Bibliography: Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll, Web Source: Looking-Glass Unit 

Week 9 Story: The Unhappy Wife

There once was a wife who was so sick of her husband she would rather die than stay married to him. She could not marry another man or run off because that was against her morals, so the only true way out of her commitment was death. The husband was awful to her and never allowed her to do anything without him. However, she knew how to get under his skin and thought of a plan to make him so mad that he would take her to the forest and kill her himself. The husband had an extreme dislike for palm-nuts. The nuts were extremely hard to prepare and even more difficult to find. The wife started asking for the food more consistently and assured the husband his family members were the ones requesting all of these nuts. The day approached where the husband broke down and asked why she needed so many nuts.

"What is the use of all of these palm-nuts? I know people are not eating this many every day!" insisted the husband.

"I told you it is your family who wants them! Now please, go gather some more!" said the wife.

The husband insisted that the wife join him on the next journey to find these nuts. When she refused, he forced her into the woods, cut off her limbs and left her there for death to find her. Although this was what the wife wanted, she began to think how evil it was for the husband to actually kill her.  When the next morning came she began singing loudly so someone would hear her. A man walking towards the woods for his daily hunt heard the beautiful voice and followed it. He approached the awful scene and immediately ran back to tell his wife what he saw. The gossip spread around town faster than you could imagine and the man was brought to justice by being placed above his wfie while they were both set to fire.

No one else could hear the wife as she whispered, "I suppose this means our marriage is over."

Author's Note: The Wicked Husband tells the story of a husband who takes his wife out to the forest and cuts off her arms and legs because she will not accompany him to find palm-nuts. Someone sees her after the disaster happens and word of it gets back to the prince. The husband was accused and set below a grill his wife was placed on. The burning of his body was his punishment. I wanted to expand on this tale and give more of a reason for why the husband would do such a thing to his wife. I also wanted the wife to have a bigger role in my story.
Bibliography: The Wicked Husband by Richard Edward Dennett, Web Source: Congo Unit
Image Information: Fire Pit, Web Source: Flickr

Reading Notes: Congo Part B

The first story caught my attention right away because the introductory characters were very strong. The maiden was very clever to talk the leopard out of getting rid of his eyes, teeth, etc.  Each character, the tortoise rat and woodpecker, had their own activity to obtain the story's plot which made the story very enjoyable. I thought it was ironic when the leopard ate the turtle because the turtle used the trap to kill the ox and eat it. The Fetish Sunga had a creepy vibe at one point and the author did a good job of setting the scene to be spooky.  When I think of a rabbit's character in a tale, i imagine a sweet or wise bunny. This story, however, had a mean rabbit who stole the antelope's water and tricked him every day. I was surprised when the Rabbit started hitting/kicking the figure. I love dogs so reading about different animals wanting to eat them was pretty unsettling. I thought it was pretty funny when the Hen called the crocodile 'brother' and he believed it at the end of the story.  The three brothers had a good ending because they did not kill the old woman who was their mother.

Image Information: African Woodpecker, Web Source: Wikipedia
Bibliography: Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort by Richard Edward Dennett, Web Source: Congo Unit

Reading Notes: Congo Part A

I think the husband from the first tale should be more appreciative of his wives all putting in effort to find him and raise him from the dead. I also agree with the latter opinion of the final paragraph. How Gazelle Got Married had an interesting plot. I liked the idea of only giving the daughter away for marriage if the man can guess their name. I thought it was ironic when Nsassi also forgot the names of the daughters. The Vanishing Wife had a very sad ending. I did not  enjoy Buite's character very much. The Jealous Wife had a main theme of karma. There were a lot of twists in the plot of Mpunia and Ngomba's story. It is really sad that a child had to die. The shortest and most disturbing story was The Wicked Husband. The husband got what he deserved for torturing his wife. Karma seems to be a reoccurring theme in this unit. I was caught by surprise when I read that the twin brothers were basically adults at their birth. I enjoyed reading this unit because all of the stories were tied together by including wives as main characters. There were a few stories that were really short and left holes in the plot. I think it will be fun to pick a story and talk about why some of the things are happening in the tale!

Image Information: The Congo Santa Ana Lake, Web Source: Max Pixel
Bibliography:  Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort by Richard Edward Dennett, Web Source: The Congo Unit