Mr. Smith's 3 Little Rapping Goslings

1. Each of these versions contains elements of its respective culture. Find those elements and discuss how they change the meaning of the story.

Italian version:
"Once upon a time there were three GOSLINGS"
"I have thought that tomorrow we will COOK some MACARONI,
and I will bring the BUTTER and CHEESE, and you will furnish the FLOUR."

African-American version:
"How's your MA?"
"RAPPED at the door, and sang his song"
"HOLLERED out, "Who's that?"

England's version:
"No, no, by the hair of my chiny chin chin."
"Then I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house in."
"Little pig, little pig, let me come in."
"Mr. Smith"

It is clear to depict the distinction contained within each version of the Three Little Pigs story. It is not an irony to read of cooking macaroni in the Italian version, not just macaroni, but also butter, cheese, and the mentioning of flour. These are all ingredients of the regular Italian cuisine. Instead of PIGS the word GOSLINGS is preferred and therefore giving the Italian tale its own bit of cultural taste. As a matter of fact, even the wolf was cooked! By adding these essential elements, the story shifts into the notion of food and how it can make individuals happy.

The African-American version uses words that can often be heard from rap artists. The wolf did not sing at the door, he in fact, RAPPED! He did not call out to ask who’s there, he HOLLERED out. He did not ask how is your mother? He said “How’s your MA?” By adding such naturally known “ghetto” words, the story makes a jump from a children’s book to a rap song.

The English version is full with rhymes, something which is not unusual to observe beginning from the oldest writing that could be found. Poetry makes its role in this poem and the common English last name “Mr. Smith” obviously had to be there! The meaning now becomes more colorful and playful and as the tale takes its shape, it is more apparent that it will contain a satisfying solution to the conflict.
Just to add a little more to the idea, I found it funny that The Three Little Pigs story in the Church of England school had to be changed to The Three Little Puppies in order to avoid any offense to Muslim students who had to read the story. I thought it was interesting and added to the cultural values that these stories did.

2. Look up 2 nursery rhymes or fairy tales at this website. Provide a brief summary and explanation of their lessons. http://www.rhymes.org.uk/

Thirty Days hath September
Thirty days hath September,
April, June and November;
February has twenty eight alone
All the rest have thirty-one
Except in Leap Year, that's the time
When February's Days are twenty-nine

This nursery rhyme is a poem that provides basic information to teach children how to remember the amount of days each month has. Rhyming makes a lot of memorization problems easier for the brain to not mix up. The idea of the leap year is also emphasized in the poem, something that teaches children why in rare occasions February ends up with twenty nine days. It is educational and to the point.

Little Robin Red Breast
Little Robin Red breast sat upon a tree,
Up went pussy cat and down went he;
Down came pussy, and away Robin ran;
Says little Robin Red breast, "Catch me if you can".
Little Robin Red breast jumped upon a wall,
Pussy cat jumped after him and almost got a fall;
Little Robin chirped and sang, and what did pussy say?
Pussy cat said, "Meeow!" and Robin jumped away.

The reason why I picked this nursery rhyme was because not too long ago, my little sister came home with a book with a lot of children tales and this was one of the stories I remember her singing along to. This rhyme is about Robin Red, a bird, who is bothered and chased by a pussy cat. Crafty cat finds a way to jump up to Robin but all his efforts fall in vain. Robin Red makes his disappearance, and while singing with possible happiness, the cat’s angriness overtakes him, but he cannot do more than to cry “Meoow!” This nursery rhyme simply teaches children the intelligence of animals and how it is safer to run away from danger than to remain within the red alert zone.

3. Psychoanalysts suggest several motives for telling fairy tales to children. Review this website and discuss three analysts and their theories. Be sure to include a short response on which theorist you find most relevant. http://www.gwu.edu/~germ701/psychological/rich1.htm

Bruno Bettelheim’s theory claims that fairy tales enhance a child’s imagination by getting them ready to deal with future life struggles, which at the end such mentality will make the child defeat such conflicts. Bettelheim also believes that polarization is a big influential part of fairy tales because the kid’s mind only perceives opposites. For example, the hero or the bad guy, good and evil, etc. By learning the solution to the problems with no external help, Bettelheim supposes that the fairy tale meets its educational standards.

Shapiro and Katz criticize the Bettelheim’s theory and instead argue that fairy tales, in fact, “do not present the child with a view of the world which helps him expand his knowledge of right and wrong" as often as it should. By presenting the child with a deadly final act, the author of the fairy tale is only filling the child’s head with wrong ideas of the reality of the real life situations. Instead, it teaches children to be harsh and violent, something which we obviously do not want to influence children with.

Finally Segal, like Shapiro and Katz, argues against Bettelheim’s theory. Segal does not like the idea that because fairy tales always have a happy ending, children expect dilemmas to be resolved. This is something which to Bettelheim cultivates maturation. Segal, on the other hand, disputes that such thinking is old-fashioned because they concentrate on symbolical representation of characters, such as one representing the id, and the other representing the ego.

Out of the three theories, the one I feel more cordial with is that of Shapiro and Katz. Just as they stated, I also believe that fairy tales are pure fantasies that DO NOT mature a kid’s mental stage. Instead, I believe that it only makes kids more childish because it teaches them fictional situations that always finalize in a favorable manner. This should not be the case because life does not always satisfy every individual. Many bad things could happen and we may end up homeless, therefore, in my opinion, fairy tales are not as educational as they should be.