Ready...Break! (Next Steps and Draft: The Goose Girl)

After gathering a lot of information from databases and forming a rough thesis, I still don't know exactly where my paper is going to go or how it's going to flow (unintentional rhyme). So I'm pretty excited for the chance to be forced to sit down and just draft my paper in a specific, limited time frame.


My objective during writing from 3-4 is to get a rough draft on the basic points addressed below (not necessarily all of the supporting evidence/quotes behind them). Here is a rough outline of my paper:

• Briefly introduce how Grimm bros fairytales stood the test of time because of the basic human problems/experiences/themes they address
• Introduce the story of the Goose Girl (especially main character/how she progresses)
• Could discuss how it works better as a book and how it wouldn't work well as a movie because so much of it happens in her head, you get to really understand the character)
• Delve into the psychology behind developing personal identity
• Show examples of how main character did those things
• Discuss thinking errors that the main character shows (denial, fantasy, suppression, etc.)
• Discuss mother/daughter bond and how that affects identity (psychologically)
• Examples from book^
• Could tie in other books/stories/movies that address similar issues (could have this in the beginning before directly addressing the goose girl?)
• Wrap up 

Hopefully this rough draft works out well. I think I'm going to focus on just getting it written, so writing as much as I can without going back and deleting/editing too much (even if it sucks). I may even do this by hand just to be sure I focus on getting ideas out rather than on making the writing beautiful (although I still hope it won't be too atrocious). I'm pretty excited to write this paper and focus a lot on the psychology behind the main character's personality and actions!


4:00pm

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were German researchers and linguists who are best known for their collection and retelling of folklore. They popularized stories like Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, The Frog Prince, Hansel and Gretel; pretty much every Disney classic was first popularized by the Grimm Brothers. What makes their stories so timeless? Why do people from different cultures, backgrounds, and even from different time periods all connect to those stories?

In one modern day retelling of the Brothers Grimm’s The Goose Girl says that tales are “so strange and beautiful and perfect. They are not what are real, but better. . . If all the tales were true, then maybe they could tell me what I’m doing, and what I am to do now,” (Hale 99). According to this character, stories/folktales are important because through analyzing them and through relating different parts of each story to her individual problems, she can figure out what she should do in similar situations.

One common theme throughout each of these Grimm folktales is the discovery of self or establishing an identity. Through analyzing the main character’s thoughts, decisions, actions, and relationships, we can see that navigating through adolescence (or through any identity crisis) can be made easier as we have a firm grasp on our identity and who we want to become.

The main character in Shannon Hale’s The Goose Girl is Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee, Crown Princess of Kildenree. (Given her own name as well as both of her grandmothers’ names and the title of princess.) She learns to speak quickly and her “wild aunt” teaches her to speak to swans and relates stories of horses that turn into wind or of how people can be born with the language of persuasion, animals, or elements of nature on their tongue. Because Ani doesn’t live up to all the expectations placed on a Crown Princess, she is betrothed to a prince of a neighboring nation and while traveling there, her lady-in-waiting incited the guards to rise up against the princess. Ani makes her way through the forest and ends up at the palace but has no proof of who she is. She becomes a goose caretaker and makes friends as she tries to figure out her place in society as well as among friends and family. Through the help of friends, Ani grows into her own skin and, rather than being embarrassed like she used to, confidently accepts her new identity as strong, wind-speaking princess who has the power to stimulate change. (I’ll need to cut this down to the most important parts.)

Gaining a sense of self-identity and good self-esteem begins early in the childhood years of development. The words and actions of caretakers (especially parents) have a strong affect on whether their child thrives from the validation of others or through self-validation. In The Goose Girl, Ani had two loving caretakers, her aunt and her father, who encouraged self-validation and encouraged Ani to do the things she loved. But Ani was refused contact with her aunt (as her aunt had encouraged her to speak with animals) and her father passed away, leaving her to look to her mother and nursery-mistress for examples.

As a child develops a sense of identity and begins to figure out how to make and maintain relationships, they may acquire different thinking errors. Thinking errors are “defense mechanisms we use to help us avoid feeling painful, negative, or scary emotions. They protect us from realities which are difficult to deal with. Thinking errors are thoughts we create or have learned that in some way distort this reality. They often relieve anxiety temporarily, but cause long-term difficulty in relationships.” Both Ani and her mother display a multitude of thinking errors that inhibit their relationship as well as their relationships with others.

Ani exhibits many different thinking errors, but there are three of them which affect her growth most directly: identification, compensation, and fantasy. (explain what those mean and give examples)

Ani: Overgeneralization (I’m not as good as everyone else), Interpreting (My mom betrothed me to a prince from a different land, she must not love me), Jumping to Conclusions (They’re just going to think I’m lying/am dumb, etc.), Denial (Selia wouldn’t do that “we protect ourselves from some unpleasant reality by simply refusing to face or accept it,” Geric wouldn’t do that, etc.), Suppression (have legitimate feelings towards someone that should be expressed but every time they feel that emotion they suppress it in order to avoid a confrontation; angry at mom, hurt by Selia, etc.), Fantasy (“One must realize that fantasy and reality are two separate entities, and that fantasizing will neither resolve conflict nor bring about self-improvement…Fantasy become unhealthy when it is used to avoid important real experience and development.” In Ani’s case she used it to motivate her.) Identification (“Increasing one’s feeling of worth by identifying ones self with a person or group perceived as desirable. We lose our own identity in the process, and fuse our identity with the other person or entity.” Placing feelings of worth on being Crown Princess, but regains her own feelings of worth and feels valuable as Goose Girl making her more effective as princess since she still feels worth without that title by the end of the book), Compensation (“A form of denial in which one covers up weakness and avoids change and accountability by emphasizing only desirable traits or making up for frustrations in one area by over gratification in another area.” Ani always going horse riding and finding gratification instead of doing princess duties like going to tea, etc.)

Mom: Personalization/Self-pity, Should-ing (I shouldn’t have let Ani see her aunt, I shouldn’t have let her go riding with her dad, etc.), Grandiosity, Suppression (have legitimate feelings towards someone that should be expressed but every time they feel that emotion they suppress it in order to avoid a confrontation; disappointed by daughter, mourning dead husband, etc.)

As Ani overcomes some of her thinking errors and starts addressing her emotions in a healthy manner (allowing herself to feel them, telling others and communicating healthily), she is able to overcome some of the obstacles to feeling self-worth as a child and turn herself into a strong, capable woman who is able to help others attain a similar feeling of accomplishment and worth.

“The tales tell what they can. The rest is for us to learn. The question is, are we smart enough to figure for ourselves?” (99).

Well, it's not even near a complete draft but I got a lot done and feel like I have a lot more direction, I'm excited to keep writing and fully develop my ideas!