Run Lola Run

In Run Lola Run there are many interesting aspects to the story which fit the classic fairy tale plot. First of all there is Lola and she has a task. This is to save Manni by getting 100,000 marks in 20 minutes. This task seems a little daunting, but she has to do it to save his life. This type of gender role reversal works for this film, even though it is the opposite of the classic version.

            There is also the repetition of the #3 again. Lola has 3 chances to save her lover from being killed. Even though on one of the tries she herself dies, while trying to save him.

There is also this idea of royalty which we can see by the bank security guard’s statements.  The first time she comes to the bank he calls her the “house princess.” This is our first hint or her “royalness”. Then he makes references to queens on her second trip to the bank. Then finally in the last  round he says “So you made it at last…” It is as if he knows she is on her 3^rd try to save her boyfriend. At this point we know it is going to be a happy ending.

            Which it is. They both live on the third round and due to their luck they both were able to get the money in the 20 mins. Now they have all of Lola’s winnings from the casino to share.

Pans Labyrinth

This movie was a bit gory for my taste, but I still saw many aspects to the classic fairy tales that we read earlier in the semester.

The idea of magic realism was very strong in this movie. The first thing that comes to mind is the magic chalk that can create doors to go any place else. I thought this was really interesting. The magical creatures were bizarre as well. The huge faun and the monster with eyes in his hands. Also the fairies. It was interesting because we were just supposed to view it and accept it, the way children read fairy tales. Although in the harsh world that Ofelia lives in it is hard to believe that these things can be real.

Another aspect of the fairy tale is the characters. In this story we have this young girl with out a father figure, and has a evil step-father. This is in contrast with some of the stories we read, but it still fits.

The number 3 comes up many times in this film. The 3 tasks she needs to complete. There were 3 stones she had to put in the frogs mouth, and 3 boxes to choose from to get the knife.

Finally there is a happily ever after in a way. She hates her life in the real world so even though she dies it is meant to be a happy moment (I think). Also the evil step-father is killed. The poor baby is still alive and in the real world, but he is being taken care of by Mercedes, so its good.

The Ogre Day 4

The first thing that I will discuss is the idea of signs, and the Kommandeur's explanation of Nazi symbols. He is foreshadowing the whole rest of the book. We know already that the book is written on the same blueprint that the bible is written by, ending with the apocalypse.Which will be the destruction of the Nazis. It is interesting however, that this man can see all of this so clearly through the signs, and is trying to tell Abel. At this point however, I do not think that Abel even remotely understands what is going on. All the signs of the Nazi’s are pointed left, representing evil. We also already have discussed how Abel under the Nazis is comparable to the Devil in the Bible. I just think it is interesting that Abel says he can read the signs, and the Kommandeur admits that Abel can read signs as well, but Abel is wrong because he is not putting all of the signs together. It is as if Abel can see individually all the signs, they are right in front of him. But until he puts them all together it is meaning less. It is although Abel is getting a warning.

I also wanted to talk a little bit about the symbols of red and white. It reminded me of Perceval. In Perceval the red and white represent the contrast of good vs evil and I think that it is safe to say that the extreme amount of red, represents the evil and death in Napola. I think that it is interesting how the twins and Lothar become friends and when they stand together their hair colors are red and white. They talk about swords of red on white sand. The three boys form an image that is perfect, and representative of the Nazi regime. It is very bizarre, but the reason they must die, I would say, is because the Nazi’s must die as well. The regime must fail and good must win.

The Ogre Day 3

The first thing that I wanted to talk about was the animals that are in the book. There are a lot of animals in the Rominten and they all must represent something in the book. However, I am having trouble figuring out exactly what animals represent what characters. One of the most disturbing parts to me was when Abel was in charge of the slaughtering of the horses. I think this is foreshadowing the slaughtering of all the Jews. Clearly it bothers Abel too, but because he was given this task he completes it. It is his job to go get the feeble horses and bring them to a remote part of the forest to kill them, as if in secret. Also description of the horses was sad. They were described as being so weak and skinny, and if they were too sick along the road they were given a shot, just to get them to the final place. This mimics what the Germans did to the Jews, worked them till they were too skinny and weak and then killed them. This was done to make a perfect place for the boars, so they would not bother the humans anymore. It is possible that the boars represent the Nazis because they wanted a perfect place to live where there were no Jews. However, I think that the stags have a representation of the Nazi s because they are the animal that was most liked and powerful in the forest. I am not sure about that. All of the animals references confused me a little bit. I thought that the Goering was represented by the King Stag Candelabra and also the Lion which they bring in. Both because they are such strong animals and Goering seemed to be the most powerful person at Rominten.
The other thing I just wanted to mention was the repeated references to fecal matter, from all the animals. I know that it shows Abel’s obsession and the representation of Omega, but it just seems gross. There is a whole page devoted to what all the animal droppings look like. Gross. The only part that was interesting to me was how Abel decided that the horse was necessary to kill the stag because the Stag was Alpha and the Horse Omega. The killing of Alpha through Omega. This was strange but showed Abel’s obsession with eating and defecation.

The Ogre Day 2

After the reading for today I have decided that I am not really fond of this book. I think that it is hard to follow at times and Abel is a very bizarre character. However there are a couple parts in the book for today’s reading that I have found interesting. They play even more so off the themes that we discusses in class on Tuesday.

 

The first is the continued commentary of the significance of the left hand. I think that it is interesting that Abel finds that he is able to write equally as well with his left hand and he didn’t even realize it. It is very interesting that the handwriting is different. I think this distinctly shows the duel sides to his personality.  Building on this theme is how he has come to find his “twin” The man, Weidmann, is a murder and I has been found out that he is left handed committing all of these murders with his left hand. Abel even writes the sinister murders or killings like his own sinister writings. I think this is just a bizarre coincidence. It is also even more strange that the woman he goes with to the execution sees the physical similarities enough to call them twins. 

 

It caught my attention when Abel writes that the reason he does not have the urge to kill is because of his infatuation with Martine. However, it is strange how she almost betrays him by saying that he raped her.

 

This sinister side to his personality is represented through being a ogre.  I was trying to figure out exactly which actions are ogre like and I keep going back to the photography that he takes. There is one point (not sure of the page number) where he describe taking pictures almost like eating. Like when the photo is snapped the image is captured. I think this action is where he is being an ogre. By taking photos this is his way of capturing and eating children.

 

One additional comment is with his infatuation with cuts. On page 106 he goes into great detail of this boy who falls and has a cut on his knee, and how he sets him up to take photos of it. It kind of reminded me of when he licked the cut of the boy back at St Christopher’s. This to me is ogre like as well. The need for blood. I think again by taking pictures of it, it is like him ingesting it.

 

He even writes by taking these photos I have given up eating raw meat and have not lost weight. 

100 Years of Solitude ch.16-20

The end of this book is really sad to me because it is as if all of Ursula’s fears came true and it was the downfall of the family. Once Ursula dies the Buendia family completely falls apart. This really shows through the ultimate insestual act between Amaranta Ursula and Aureliano, aunt and nephew. They have an affair which results in a child. The child is born with a pig tail, which is the fear that Ursula has in the beginning of the book. She was aware that all of the family seemed to be drawn to each other because that is how the Buendia family was started in the beginning. Her original fear was to have children with tails like pigs. Although through out the novel this attraction to family members was shown before with another Aureliano (Aureliano Jose) and his aunt Amarantra, who had a very close relationship. The repetition of the names shows again the pattern of history repeating itself, and how the family is tuck in a repetitive cycle, except they are spiraling downwards and to their complete demise.

 

I also wanted to discuss the survival of Pilar Ternera through pretty much the whole novel. I sort of see her as a figure that sees the whole history of the Buendia family  and she acts as a reminder of how similar all the generations of the Buendia family are. She was alive through all of it. She almost even reminds the reader of the past generations so that we can see the family through the whole novel and how history and the characters really do repeat themselves. 

100 Years of Solitude ch. 11-15

I wanted to talk about the female characters in the current chapters because I think they all stand for something in the novel thus far. First I will discuss Fernanda opposed to Petra and what roles they play. Fernanda is uptight and religious. She is also not very nice, understanding or caring. The religious aspect is not seen as a good quality about her because it seems as if she takes life too seriously. Although she is very beautiful and Aureliano S. decides to marry her he has a mistress/concubine on the side, Petra. Petra is rewarded in life by having the ability to promote fertility, in almost a magical way. For this reason Aureliano wants her around because she makes him a lot of money, through the raffling of the animals. These two women are opposites of each other. It is interesting that Petra who does not practice religion has the best luck, it is almost a gift from above, and Fernanda who does follow religion to a tee is unhappy and rigid.

This is interesting timing because it is around the time that modernity is taking over Macondo. Petra could represent the old way of Macondo and Feranda could represent the new ways taking over. Petra is the last of the residents who believe in the magical aspects that the town once had, while Fernanda buys into the new customs.

Remedios the Beauty is also an interesting character. She also does not seem to understand Macondo becoming more modern, in that she does not become excited by it. She also does not take a lover because she begins to understand that her beauty drives men insane and to their death. She remains innocent. Then one day she just floats back to the heavens. I see this as she was just too good to live in the world that Macondo has become. This is like a symbol of the change that takes place in Macondo and now there is nothing left of the world that Macondo use to be.

100 Years Ch. 6-10

The first theme that I want to talk about is the military and war aspect that we see starting in chapter 6. As we talked about in class before we see Marquez’s influence from politics coming through in this novel. However, the most interesting thing about this is the actions of Arcadio. On page 110 it talks about a reason for Arcadio’s madness, which is that fact that no one really ever cared for him. Both his mother, father and grandparents never really paid much attention to him, in the midst of all the other scandals and distractions he had during his childhood. This is interesting because it begins to show a pattern of what happens to children when they grow up in a unhealthy environment. Or even just how your environment shapes the person you will become.
This is seen in Arcadio’s malicious actions in the war. However, it is rooted back to the neglect that his father received from JAB. It is a cycle that is shown through the Buendia family. Jose Arcadio did not have a father figure so he did not know how to be a father. He abandoned Arcadio, leaving him neglected as well. The neglect the boys received lead them to an unhealthy adulthood. Jose Arcadio marries inside the family and then is shunned. This is a very bizarre family!

The aspect of Love is also very bizarre in this book. Not only what we talked about in the last class with the marriage inside the family, but also in other ways. The example I will use is Amarantra’s story. What I really want to speak about is how she denies Pietro Crespi. I cant figure out why she would do that when it seems that he is what she really wanted.

100 Years of Solitude Ch. 1-5

The character I choose to write about is Jose Arcadio Buendia; I will abbreviate his name with JAB. I think that his character comes out most strongly in the first and second chapters because we get to see his irrationality and how he cant seem to stay focused on one specific thing for very long. This is shown in the first chapter when he is completely entranced by the gifts that are brought by the gypsies every year. He irrationally spends money on these items and then causes some kind of trouble. When he finally has the alchemy set it seems as though he will stick to it, which he does, but that causes its own problems. He melts down Ursula’s family gold, and stays transfixed to the set for years completely missing his kids’ childhoods. You can also see how he has a way of becoming transfixed with his own ideas. An example is when he takes the men on a voyage to reach the next town. I see some similarities between JAB and Don Quixote. I believe that JAB is in almost his own reality and has no concern for anyone else. However, there is also a contradiction because he is the one who set up the village and is seen as a leader.
Urusla just puts up with his nonsense, which I think is similar to many of the other females we have read about. However, she too has a bout of independence and wanders off on her own for some time.
I’m not really sure about a symbol or a theme. I think that there is an aspect of magic or enchantment in the novel that will come about more strongly throughout. So far we have seen it in some of the actions of Aureliano, some of the experiments by JAB and the alchemy set, and also in things brought by the gypsies (the magic carpet.)
Interestingly I thought I had never read this book, but as I began reading I realized I have read this before. However, I have no idea when I read it and have no idea what happens next I just remember reading it!

Grimm's Fairy Tales Day 1

Many of Grimm’s Fairy Tales have become classic children’s stories for a couple of reasons. The first one is that they do have an overlaying moral to them. In the Frog Prince it is to keep your word, in Little Red Riding Hood it is to not talk to strangers, or in Snow White it is that jealousy is evil. They can teach children or even the adults reading certain life lessons. Although the Disney versions of many of these stories have been made less graphic and violent in order to make them more suitable for children. Another reason that these stories are so popular and have become famous is the classic nature of the damsel in distress or the innocent maiden that is saved by the handsome prince, they fall in love and live happily ever after. Examples are The Frog Prince, 12 Brothers, Briar Rose and Snow White. Again Disney has made this even more of the perfect story line, but the original Grimm Fairy Tales often have a happy ending as well. However, in the originals the evil character seems to have a much more violent death, like in Snow White or The Juniper Tree. This idea of this fairy tale blueprint makes the gender roles as if women need to be saved by men and when this happens it is happily ever after. I think that it is this story line that makes little girls strive for this perfect life when they grow up. Although I think these ideals are changing now because of the rights that women have now and the promotion of women having their own profession. This shift may be more apparent to me however because my Dad is actually the one who stayed home with me and my brother while my Mom worked the most.
Overall I picked up on a few similarities between all of the stories that we could talk about in class that I found interesting. Many stories characters are limited to the King and Queen or Prince/Princess and millers. I am curious of this because it seems as though these represent the class system, royalty vs. the working class, but why a miller? Also in both Briar Rose and the Frog Prince a frog was a source of knowledge. Why a frog? Also in Juniper Tree and Snow White there were scenes with blood on snow. Is this representative of good vs. evil or violence? Or is it simply a representation of the beauty of pale skin and red lips? Also there are apples? Why apples?

Last day of Don Quixote

In the final chapters of the first section there is a shift in Don Quixote’s from what we saw in the beginning to what he has become by the end. I believe that he still believes in his chivalric knighthood, but he is defeated in the end. In chapter 52 he has one last fight scene with a goatherd who insults him by saying that if Don Quixote really believes he is a knight he must be joking or just dumb. Done Quixote replies, “You are a villainous wretch… and you are the one who is empty as a fool, and I am fuller than a whore of a bitch who bore you ever was.” I think that this quote is a pretty offensive statement, one of the ones that use the foulest language I have read so far. It is as if Don Quixote is giving this fight all that he has left in him. At this point Don Quixote is not really “enchanted” seeing something different he is simply defending his beliefs. This is different than his other encounters. In the beginning I think that Don Quixote instead of fighting the goatherd he would have tried to prove his knighthood. But now towards the end it seems that he no longer is caught up fully in his fantasy, and feels he has to defend it. It is as if the glory of the fantasy world is fading.

After this fight he is knocked unconscious. When he awakens he decides it is time to go home. He says. “You are speaking sound sense… and it will be wise indeed to wait for the presently prevailing malign influence of the stars to dissipate.” I took this to mean that his fate is not working out as it should. He needs to go home until his bad luck goes away. It is sad and somewhat abrupt the way it ends. It is like Don Quixote just gives up. If we were comparing this to other quixotic people it is like them just giving up on their dream.

Don Quixote Day 5 (Ch. 36-45)

One quote that I would like to discuss occurs in Chapter 45. It is during the argument/ disagreement that occurs between the barber and others due to Don Quixote stealing the basin which he claims to be a helmet. In the book the curate says, “"it is only for Senor Don Quixote to say; for in these matters of chivalry all these gentlemen and I bow to his authority." I think that this is very interesting because even though everyone believes that Don Quixote is crazy they all begin to play into his fictional world. The other people at the inn including Don Fernando and his companions play along as well. They even take a vote around the room to whether or not the basin is a helmet or the pack-saddle it a caparison. This scene just seems completely crazy. The barber becomes very angry because no one seems to believe him, while Don Quixote feels no shame for stealing and even states that he won the prizes as part of waging battle. Reality is gone completely and the fictional situation the Don Quixote is trying to impress on everyone has taken over. I do wonder why this change in mind about Don Quixote’s fantasy however?

As for the character Zoraida I feel as though she is put in this text as a historical mention to the mix in culture in Spain present when Cervantes was writing this novel. We have discussed in class how in Spain around the time, I am not sure if directly before or soon after, of the text being written all the Muslims were pushed out of Spain. I think that this may be a way of Cervantes saying that people should be treated the same no matter religion, which goes along with Don Quixote’s radical ideas. The mix of being in a Muslim state while practicing Christianity in Arabic is a strange concept though. I am sure that we will discuss it in class further.

Don Quixote Day 4 (ch 28-35)

The first quote that I chose was on in chapter 32 on the top of page 294. I will not type out the whole quote, but the it is during the discussion on between the innkeeper and the priest about burning the books. The innkeeper says, “I am not so mad to become a knight errant, and it is clear to me that things are different now.” He was also talking about how he would rather burn a child than burn the book. I think that this explanation from the innkeeper is more like the moral that the entire book of Don Quixote is trying to portray. We discussed in class how it is a possibility that Don Quixote is not crazy he just sees things differently. I believed this at the beginning, but as we have kept reading I find that Don Quixote really is crazy, in my mind. He has no respect for anyone or anything except for himself and his fantasy. This is why all the other characters have to lie to him and play along with his fantasy to get him to do what they want. The innkeeper is the true visionary because he can see the value of the books and the value of fiction, but he does not act on the fantasy because it is out dated and too far fetched. The innkeeper can understand with out having to subject himself to an unstable reality.

The other quote I picked is from chapter 35 on page 331. It is where Don Quixote is fighting the “giant.” He says that all the things in the house are “enchanted” because he can no longer see the head of the giant he just cut off. Don Quixote seems to just do whatever he wants and when his vision seems to disappear from his mind he blames everything else on being enchanted. He never seems to think that he may be the one that is crazy.

Don Quixote-Day 3

I was not present for the last class and therefore I did not complete the blog. However, there is a major theme that I have come across this far through the book. I feel like it is the idea reprocussions. In the book there are points where Don Quixote's actions seem to puzzle me because he does things that seem mean and unchivralus, but because he is a knight he doesn't fall under the same moral code. One instance is when he goes to attack the farmer on the road and steal his shiney hat, which turns out to be a basin. How is it ok for Don Quixote to steal the basin and hurt someone? However another time when he comes upon the slaves and he lets them free and he steals all of Don Quixote's belongings it is not ok? The part that confuses me the most is that I was under the impression that Don Quixote saw and treated everyone the same, but he obviously holds himself to higher standards.It is just that Don Quixote seems to keep running around doing whatever he pleases with out feeling like he has any consequences for his actions.

Don Quixote Ch. 1-9

The first post on Don Quixote:

First I looked up what it meant to be quixotic. It means a person who is foolishly impractical especially when it comes to chivalry and romantic ideas. After reading the first part of this book I can say that this description fits Don Quixote to a tee. He seems to be completely insane.

 

I believe the first couple chapters of the book do the best job in showing his radical behavior. The first inclination of this is when he is described as staying up day and night to read books about journeys of knights and romantic tales. Obviously when a person doesn’t sleep for days at a time they can go crazy and hallucinate. This showed me that I was going to be reading about some wild character. This first impression became true when he went to the inn which he believed to be a castle. He mistook every person to be a person of higher status, and even believed that he himself was knighted. I think that these first few chapters showed us his true character and set us up for the next scenes to come. Like the scolding the woods man and attempting to hurt the group of people walking by. He has a mistaken sense of reality because he believes these people to be knights and people of higher reanking.

dante's Inferno Cantos final cantos

The first quote that I want to pick out is line 34 in canto 34:

“If he was as beautiful then as now he is ugly” This line stood out to me as a conclusion to how the punishment the souls are given in hell is directly correlated to the sin they committed in life. I think that it is interesting how all through the journey people’s punishment is based on the sin. I think it could also play on the idea of myth because in a myth you are supposed to read past the literal and into the underlying moral. In just this line I think it is saying that who you are in life is the person you will be for eternity.

 

The second example that I would like to point out is just a few lines down when the three heads of Satan are described. One is red, the second white/yellow, and the third black. From the notes I read that this can be related to the blood, flesh, and bruises of the body of Christ. I think it represents how the entire journey Christ has left his mark on Hell, and how all aspects of Hell relate back Christ. Through out the book many aspects evoke the death and body of Christ.

Dante's Inferno Cantos 21-27

I think that it is interesting how the condemned souls can trick the demons, like we see in Canto 22. I feel like it shows that these demons, even though them seem to hold some power in hell as a torturers, really are powerless and not intelligent. I feel like the common conception of demons are that they do the work of the devil and are under his control, but that is not the way Dante is making them at all. We know from class that Dante makes the devil a dumb, babbling fool who has no power what so ever. This is because he was beat by God and now is suffering God’s wrath. From this it is impossible that the Devil is in control of the demons and therefore God must be in control of them.  However, the demons are more animal like than anything else. The run on emotions and lack control. That is why they can be tricked by the souls, even though the souls are of dead people they were humans at one point, and that means they still are intelligent.

 

As for a quote I chose line 37 in Canto 23 because it shows the connection that Dante and Virgil have by this point. “My leader seized me quickly like a mother who is awakened by a noise…” We began to discuss in class the relationship that is forming between Dante and Virgil, which is a caring for each other, but here we see a loving relationship. Virgil is not only leader and master, but also caregiver and protector.

Dante's Inferno Cantos 14-20

A line that I feel is note worthy is line 98-99 in canto 15. It reads “he listens well who takes note” When I read this I immediately thought again of this journey as a lesson. In this particular canto it is referring to listening to the words of Brunetto Latino. Who resides in hell with the sodomites, which is interesting because in the notes in the book that Dante seems shocked to see him as a homosexual. However, it could also be believed according to the book that in life Brunetto and Dante crossed paths at one point, and Brunetto was attracted to Dante. Dante turned down his advances at the time. I almost thought of this lesson as a foreshadow to a sin that Dante may gain interest to, which we briefly mentioned in class. Which is when Dante sees the pit of naked men has wishes to join them.

I find it very interesting that the book not only applies these lesson to Dante in his journey, but also to the reader.

 

I have  a question about something that is brought up repeatedly once Dante enters the eighth circle, I believe, with all the pits. The word “hunger” and “sated” are repeated. I am just not sure why.

Dante's Inferno Cantos 7-13

The first quote that I am going to discuss is in canto 7 lines 40-42.

“And he to me: Every one of them was so cross-eyed of mind in the first life, that no measure governed their spending.”

I chose this to look into more closely because I this is where I started to see the pattern forming of the layers of Hell. In the 6^th canto gluttony is discussed and represented in many ways by the atmosphere. Then in canto 7 greed is the sin represented. I think that “cross-eyed of mind” is an interesting way of saying that these people couldn’t see their own greed and need for material goods. In this section of Hell these souls are deprived of everything and their hair is cut short. This is interesting because I believe at this time long hair was admired and worn by the wealthy.

 

I also looked at the beginning of canto 11 lines 1-6:

“Our decent will have to be delayed so that our sense can become a little accustomed to the evil smell”

This quote just represents the horrible sight that is to come because the smell is so horrible. I can not imagine a smell so bad that you have to ease your way into it. This truly represents the journey of going deep into the bowels of Hell. It is interesting to describe the smell as evil because a smell cant really be evil. It is just representative of the evil that is lurking below.  

Inferno Cantos 1-6

OK, finally got this to post! Sorry, I think my internet has just been going in and out.

The beginning cantos in Dante’s Inferno did a good job in setting up the journey that Dante will be going on for the rest of the book. It is clear that this is going to be a rough journey. I feel like this is clear though the language use. It seems as though fear is going to be a big part because right at the beginning the wolf blocks his path. This forces him along a different one. I am a little confused who the person is that is leading him along this journey, and I am not really sure how this woman, Beatrice, comes into play.  Either way I am interested in going along on this journey.

 

The other initial impression that I have is that this is working along nicely with the idea of myth that we discussed earlier this semester. The introduction of other famous mythological and famous people from the past relate this story to other myths. I think this almost suggests that this story will be on par with every other myth/ story suggested. Which I think ultimately came true because even though I have never read Dante’s Inferno, I have heard about it before.

The Story of the Grail pt. 2

After reading the second part of this story I feel even more confused about the story. I already knew that the story was never finished, but I feel like there are many loose ends to the story. One of my biggest concerns is why Perceval travel the country side for 5 years and never went back to Blanchflor. He seemed so mesmerized by her, especially when he sees the blood in the snow. During the 5 years of his travels is he looking for the Fisher Kings castle in order to find the grail? I feel like he was. I just feel lost in the story. The last pages before the continuations didn’t seem to follow in a story line. I also don’t think I understand the significance of finding the religious hermit in the woods. Then the story goes back to Gawain. I also don’t understand how Gawain fits into the story.

 

The repetition of the colors white and red are obvious in the story. The blood on the snow, and then more references of Jesus on the cross. Which evoke blood on bare white skin. The blood on the tip of the lance at the Fisher King’s is brought up again too. These colors represent the good vs. evil aspect, that is shown again and again.

 

I just don’t see a moral to the story or any sort of ending even in sight before the continuations. I think I am confused because the story is not being brought full circle at the end. However, I am sure we will discuss this in class further.  

The Story of the Grail pt. 1

In this blog I would like to discuss the repetition of the instructions/ advise that are given to Perceval by both his mother and Gornemant of Gohort. When Perceval is told this advise by his mother it is clear that he is not completely listening. This is shown by his lack of interest in his noble history which she told him directly before. It seems that he is too immature to listen and all he wants to do is become a knight. He is so caught up in what he wants to do. The lack of interest becomes apparent when he completely miss-treats the first girl he comes across. He shows her complete disrespect and steals from her. Although he backs up his actions by saying it is what his mother said to do. The actions he takes is not what his mother said to do at all! Even when he is at King Arthur’s castle asking to become a knight, I feel that he acts very arrogantly. I think it is just another example of his immaturity. I think this immaturity is also shown simply how he is referred to as “youth.” I believe that it was necessary for Gornemant to repeat the message, that was first given by the mother, because Perceval truly needs to re-hear what the actions of a good knight. After re-hearing the message it seems that he takes it in. He treats the next woman very well.

 

Although to counter what I said; Perceval does seem to remember certain aspects of his mothers message. An example is when he asks Gornemant’s name before going into his home.