EN12: INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE

Third Essay Assignment

The third essay is due at the beginning of class on Thursday, April 16. On that day class will meet in the computer instruction classroom in the library.

The paper should be about 5 pages long. In this paper, you should carefully compare and contrast one of the modern fairy tales we have studied to the classic tale that it revises. Some of your options, then, are:

• Compare Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid” to Disney’s animated film based on the story.
• Compare Angela Carter’s “The Tiger’s Bride” to de Beaumont’s “Beauty and the Beast.”
• Compare Angela Carter’s “The Company of Wolves” (the story or the movie) to Perrault’s “Little Red Riding Hood” or the Grimms’ “Little Red Cap.”
• Compare “Ever After” to the Grimms’ “Cinderella” or to Perrault’s “Cinderella” .
• Compare Margaret Atwood’s “Bluebeard’s Egg” to Perrault’s “Bluebeard” or to the Grimms’ “Fitcher’s Bird.”

As an alternative, instead of a critical essay, you may write your own revision of one of the classic fairy tales that we have read. You may update the story to modern times if you wish, but that is not necessary. Keep in mind that what I will be looking for when I read your story is the changes that you choose to make to the tale, and how these decisions address issues inherent in the tale’s meaning.

For class on Monday, April 6, bring a thesis for your essay, in the form of a single, complete sentence. If you are choosing to write a fairy tale revision, then instead of a thesis bring to class the first paragraph of your story.