Post 7: Trickster Tales Ed. by Matt Dembicki

I really enjoyed these short stories. They were short and simple to follow, and the messages were clear. It was interesting how both stories somewhat contrasted. With the Raven’s story, he got away with being a trickster and did not get any punishment for what he did. Instead, he got away free and easily manipulated people to get this way. I feel that happens a lot in our world today, in that bad people get away with things when instead there should be consequences for their actions. I feel as though people should not just see what good they are getting for themselves, but instead what harm they are doing to the people around them. If people realized what affects their actions have on others, they may think twice before doing whatever it is they do.

The story with the wolf and the mink had more of what I expected with the first story. The mink got his way by tricking two fish into being caught. Once he did, he cooked the fish. When the wolf came along, we thought the mink would share, which did not happen. Instead, the wolf got the mink to sleep, stole the fish and the mink was tricked. This showed that you should not be greedy, or karma will stab you back. The thing is, the mink did not even realize he had his fish stolen so for all we know the mink will repeat his doings again. In addition, what did the wolf learn? To steal from someone if they do not share? If that is the case, then no one learned anything. We as readers learn something, but if these are actual being in the story, they themselves did not learn anything, which can lead them to commit the same actions as preciously done. 

Post 6: American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang & “Graphic Memoirs Come of Age” by William Bradley

I really enjoyed the graphic novel picked. I felt that it was trying to give a message of not letting power get to your head. No matter how much power you think you may have, there will always be someone with a bit more power.  I think it also gives a message of do not forget who you are and your roots, because what made you can easily destroy you as well.  I think it is important to remember what made you and who helped you be who you are. You never want to forget who your loved ones are because then you will be alone. Yes, power can be nice for a given amount of time, but once you take advantage of power, that same power can bite you back. I think if the monkey had realized this, he would not have fought and would have just went home peacefully and maybe start a party in the tree.

The other article was also interesting. I did not see how both articles related with each other except for the fact that they are both about graphic novels. However, I agree with Bradley in that calling these stories graphic novels rather downgrades them. Some are more like essays or non-fiction stories that has happened to their respective authors. They should be treated as more real works in the sense that it should not be “Oh, look! It has speech bubbles and pictures. Yay!” Instead, it should be taken as a more interesting version of telling one’s life through dialogue and pictures. If not, graphic novels may not be taken as a serious literature form, although many graphic novels can tell interesting stories. Just by Bradley mentioning a quick part of the novel Fun Home, it already got me interesting to find out more of this story, and how it affected the author’s life. 

Post 5:Sandman Vol. 1 by Neil Gaiman & "The Sand/wo/man: The Unstable Worlds of Gender in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman Series" by Ally Brisbin and Paul Booth

            I found the reading to have many interesting points. The way it talk about gender norms really intrigued me. I agreed with the passage "The Sand/wo/man: The Unstable Worlds of Gender in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman Series" by Ally Brisbin and Paul Boothand how everything was viewed through readings. The way roles where portrayed through Barbie really showed a change. The fact that Barbie was feminine in look yet was a strong and speaks her mind showed that she wasn’t the typical woman. At the time, women where to be proper and feminine, but Barbie was feminine yet not all quiet and proper. Barbie even led people to fight a battle. A women fighting is something that used to be looked down upon on, but instead, Barbie does it.

            I also found it interesting how they also spoke about not following norms. For example, with the lesbian that got pregnant, you wouldn’t expect a lesbian to ever be pregnant. Lesbians aren’t the first people you’d associate with having sexual intercourse with men. You’d think it was because of rape or some other factor, but this lesbian just tried it, and ended up getting pregnant. I think these norms can be seen today throughout. Not everyone is following what norms have been placed for each gender. For example, before, men were the ones that worked, and women were the housewives who cooked, cleaned and cared for children. Now you can find the wife working, and the husband staying home to clean, cook and caring for children. Nothing is the same as before, because people try to stand out more than to fit in. I feel it’s better to stand out and not fit into stereotypes/ norms. The more you stand out, it shows the more confident and out there you are, which is better than being a robot. 

Post 4: American Indian Myths and Legends Ed. by Richard Erdoes & Alfonso Ortiz

After reading the stories, I found them very interesting and also kind of weird. The way that these Indians came up with folktales to explain different things seemed very cool to me. Things like how the land came to be, and how some animals came to have certain traits sounded like an interesting concept. It was weird to me how in the story of “When Grizzles Walked Upright”, the girl had relations with a bear and had children. I mean sure for a folktale it’s reasonable, but if this were to be heard outside that realm, it’d sound super weird and sick. I people didn’t know better, and thought twisted; they’d think that this tale is sick and twisted. I liked the story of “The Quillwork Girl and Her Seven Star Brothers”, because I never knew they even had tales on how the Big Dipper came to be. The other two stories didn’t really stand out as much as these two, but still were very interesting. Who knew how we got arrowheads and why the brothers were turned into rattlesnakes. It’s interesting to see a different way of trying to explain different things without using things like God or Allah, or whomever, but instead, animals. It’s always intriguing to see how different cultures come up with reasons for different things to happen.