The "Space Food" Version of My Recent Encounters with Literature

 I call it that because this post will be full of information, but in a condensed form, similar to food given to astronauts (lots of nutrients, little volume of food).

     Anyhow, the first subject matter is A Streetcar Named Desire. I put that in brown to represent my UN-fondness of the play. I liked it at first, but as a whole I would not put it on my "Top 10." It started out interesting and nothing was too insane (except for the whole domestic violence scene right off the bat), but as the play went on, I just got more annoyed with characters and their refusal (or the authors refusal) to change and adapt. Stanly was always violent and had to have his way; Blanche was always living in a fantasy world and refused to accept the truth (that is, until Stanley's violent ways destroyed her forever, and by then she was being carted off to a mental institution); Stella was always obedient to her husband and never wanted to do anything about Stanley's crude and animalistic (and unhealthy) way of life. The only character that the reader saw for a legitimate amount of time and  was remotely likable reasonable was Mitch, and that was only because the reader felt sorry for him the entire time and he was the one who seemed to have a heart and sense of decency at the same time.

      So while I recognize this award-winning piece of literature, I would stand behind my decision to choose a different work, should I have the choice.

     After this, I had to expound on my knowledge about the literature read up to this point, and it was known as the mid-term exam.

     Next on the "to talk about" list is the concept of fairy tales. The main point of discussion being how they distort reality and possibly teach children (read: girls) lessons that we may want to reconsider. First we read distorted versions of the classic tales of Snow White and then Cinderella. 

•      Snow White & the Seven Dwarves just mocked the Disney version and showed how vain and how much of a "dumb bunny" Snow White was. It even went on to imply that she was just turning into her "evil" stepmother and that Prince Charming was just a wandering man with necrophiliac/pedophiliac tendencies. 
•      Cinderella also hit on the less-than-perfect Prince Charming. He was a psycho-stalker who didn't notice blood gushing from the feet of women who didn't even look like the woman he was obsessed with. He took an axe to a door when Cinderella ran away from him (before she had to return to her pre-princess state).

I personally like the concept that fairy tales can be seen as not perfect and not always teaching the best lessons, but I like that concept as a high school or college English essay concept, not something I would read to my children as a bedtime story. I would show my children the Disney version of fairy tales rather than scare or intimidate them to sleep.