Survivor's Ball, Or, The Donner Party

"It is believed that about 1/2 of the survivors of the Donner party resorted to cannibalism." (www.vw.vccs.edu/vwhansd/HIS121/Donner.html)

I think this story is mix between "Little Red Riding Hood" and the history of the tragic Donner party. First for the L.R.R.H. connection, the color red is mentioned several times in this story. (e.g. little girl in the red parka, red lipstick, Donner's red lips) Also, Jasper's grandmother is important to him, and Jasper always seems to get lost. Another similarity is there is a wolf: he hears one howl outside the hotel when there are only supposed to be marsupials in New Zealand. Finally, there are all those LRRH quotes throughout the story. (e.g. Why, Grandmother, what big eyes you have! p. 155)

As for The Donner party, they were a group of emigrants trapped in the Sierra Nevada Mts. during the winter of 1846-47. About half of the group died, and some of the party resorted to eating the dead. Their story is similar to Little Red Riding Hood's in that they too were lead of course by a sort of "wolf in sheep's clothing". (see website above for more info)

We all know from "Travels with the Snow Queen" that your map only protects you if you follow it, and both L.RRH and the Donner party don't follow their maps (p. 103). So, my questions are how did Jasper not "obey the dictates of his map"? What is the significance of his losing a tooth? Who exactly is Serena and where does she go in the end? Are they both eaten?

Hopefully, you found some of these things to be true and will have more to add in class.

Vanishing Act

Uh Oh. Thats right, I'm posting before Tuesday afternoon. Well Vanishing Act was definitely a unique story. Three of Hilda's family members vanish in a short time. This reminded me of a line in a Kanye West song that says "they say people are in your life for seasons". It happens often in our lives as it seems in every stage or season of our life there are certain people that play a prominent role, only to vanish as time moves on. I really dont know what else to say about this story, but it definitely had my mind spinning. It would be cool to have mind control powers similar to Jenny Rose's.

Edit: Okay apparently I saved this as a draft instead of posting it, so it looks like I am posting tuesday afternoon. Damnit, I lose!

The Specialist's Hat

Last week we were discussing The Shining in class and this story continuously reminded me of it. There are twins, a big haunted isolated house, the ghost of a former resident, a father who stops talking to his family and an employee who works there who seems to understand the house and what's really going on. Does anybody else see it?

Most of My Friends Are Two-Thirds Water

I liked this story. It wasn't as weird as some of the stories in Magic for Beginners. There were still some weird things going on though. Jak thinking that all blondes are aliens was really funny. I almost died laughing when he discovered the blonde across the hall was like a Barbie doll and didn't have the right parts. I like that at the beginning of the story we had the quote from "The Concrete Mixer" by Ray Bradbury.

Fantasy themes?

On the issue of sex, it seems to be a huge part of the texts we will be reading in this class. It is also a big part of American Gods. I'm just wondering if that is the case in most fantasy stories. My experience with fantasy texts did not include sex as such a big theme. Are the stories that I have read the exception to the rule?

Raven

OK, I just thought that I should let everyone know that the Raven from "Travels with the Snow Queen" on page 105 mentions my dream. I have it from time to time and it is the only dream I have that repeats. I hate it. Yes, I dream that my teeth just crumble out of my mouth and no matter what I do it just keeps happening, then I wake up and realize they are still there. It is one of those really vivid dreams though where when you wake up you feel like you have to check. Anyway, I haven't had it in a while and last night I read the story.... Last night I had the dream again. It really weirded me out. Just wondering if maybe Kelly Link has had this dream too? Anyone else have it?

Second Chance

If you missed the airing on TCM, Spirited Away will be on Cartoon Network this friday at 6:00 P.M. and again at 11:30 P.M. This is lucky for those of us with Comcast, as they don't seem to carry TCM. If you miss this one and have TCM, Spirited Away will run again at 1:00 P.M. on March 25.