Monday, March 24, 2008

Fat Is Not a Fairy Tale by Jane Yolen


So, Saanchi did this poem for poem of the day a while ago, and I really thought it had something that I could use for my project. Well here I go. Wish me luck!

Fat Is Not a Fairy Tale
Jane Yolen

I am thinking of a fairy tale,
Cinder Elephant,
Sleeping Tubby,
Snow Weight,
where the princess is not
anorexic, wasp-waisted,
flinging herself down the stairs.

I am thinking of a fairy tale,
Hansel and Great,
Repoundsel,
Bounty and the Beast,
where the beauty
has a pillowed breast,
and fingers plump as sausage.

I am thinking of a fairy tale
that is not yet written,
for a teller not yet born,
for a listener not yet conceived,
for a world not yet won,
where everything round is good:
the sun, wheels, cookies, and the princess.

So, I guess I’ll just TPCASTT the poem and then wrap it up in the end.

T(itle)- Well, from growing up on Disney movies and playing with Barbies I’ve learned that our society values the hour-glass figure, big breasts and some hips with a booty. So, this is most likely talking about how we, as a society, do not consider fat as something to desire and that a fat princess would never get her happy ending.

P(araphrase)- The paraphrase is pretty easy. That the speaker is waiting for someone to make the move and try something different and try to change our society’s values. That, it may not be excepted now, but perhaps in the future the Princess will be voluptuous, and round like cookies.

C(onnotations)- The play with the names of traditional princesses and fairy tales is important. It shows how easily there can be a transition with these characters. Also, it emphasizes the speaker’s point that it’s fine to be plump. Also, the references to food add to the idea of a chubbier princess, who is healthier than the unevenly proportioned Barbies, and Disney Princesses.

A(ttitude)- The attitude is very earnest, however at the same time somewhat sarcastic, poking fun at the tradition Princesses we have grew up on. Also, it’s a very hopeful attitude to the overall poem.

S(hift)- There is a single shift where the speaker stops talking about the fairy tales she wants to reality that there may not be room for those princesses now, but maybe later on.

T(heme)- That society’s values shouldn’t be so narrow minded. Everyone can have a happy ending. And, there is hope for the future.

T(itle)- The same as before, however focuses more on the present and less of the future that is presented in the last stanza of the poem.

Now...it shows that the Princess may hopefully become an actual idol for girls that do not make them feel insecure about who they are. That it is possible for a person to be who they are and be proud of it. Maybe in the future there will be a total transition from the anorexic thin princess that needs her Prince Charming to save her. Afterall, there has been some major development in the character of princesses.
-Nicole
=]

1 comment:

Chelle said...

Hey Nicole,

Dropping by to check out this post because it looked really cool. I like your TPCASTT a lot, nice job with it.

Do you think that this whole transition to a chubbier beauty could happen in our lifetime? While I was reading this, I was wondering if the chubbier princesses would have been accepted by earlier cultures. I've always learned that early England, France, and all those places thought that plump was deffinitely pleasant.
nice job =]