Comparing Classic Folktales Essay Example for Free

Comparing Classic Folktales Essay Before reading and writing were common practice; history was told in the form of legend; fiction was told in the form of myth; and lessons about life were taught to children through folktales and fables. Folktales not only served a role in teaching children, but often helped define the common themes of life in general for that particular culture. Most folktales have a specific message which they try to portray through symbolism, writing style, and plot. Many folktales from different cultures are very similar and present the same main ideas and messages. Today folktales are popular mostly as a way of teaching morals and life lessons. They are often compilations, or illustrated books made for children. Two popular folktales that are very similar are, Frans Timmerman’s, â€Å"The Frog and the Fox† and a story we all know, originally from the book, Aesop’s Fables, â€Å"The Tortoise and the Hare†. In the folktale, â€Å"The Tortoise and the Hare† Aesop masterfully demonstrates what we all consider to be a classic folktale. The story begins with a hare who makes boastful claims about how swift he is, and how no animals could run faster than he could. The hare teases a tortoise for his slowness; the tortoise, annoyed by the hare’s claims, agrees to a race that they plan the next day. The next morning the hare comes to the race half asleep and unprepared. Hare sees how slow tortoise is and decides to take a nap. When he awakes, he notices tortoise is only one third of the way through the course, and decides to have a quick breakfast. The meal made hare sleepy and seeing tortoise was not yet half done with the course, hare decided to take another quick nap. The hare oversleeps and tortoise wins the race against the boastful, overconfident hare. Aesop’s story can be related to by people all over the world and many cultures have adopted the story. Today it is pu blished in over thirty languages, and sells in bookstores worldwide. A lesser known American writer named Frans Timmerman has a remarkably similar story that was published in 1911. The story is about a frog, he is in the jungle minding his own business when a fox passes by. The fox makes fun of the frog because he is such a strange specimen; she asks how frog is able to move about with one long pair of legs, and one short one. The fox is very amused when frog tells her that he is the fastest frog in the whole jungle. The fox is almost insulted when frog thinks he can beat her in a race, and begins to boast about her speed and running skills. They plan to have the race the next day, and set up a course through the jungle. The next day the frog and the fox meet with a friend, duck, and get ready to race. When the race begins frog jumps onto the tail of fox and holds on while fox sprints as fast as she can. Fox does not notice the small frog on her tail and already believes she has won the race. As fox approaches the finish line, frog makes a mighty leap onto her back, and then across the finish line, just before fox makes it across. Fox says frog didn’t win but duck, as the referee, claims frog to be the winner as he had barely passed the finish line first. At the end fox accepts that she was outsmarted and realizes that her overconfidence was the root of her downfall. This story is not identical to the story in Aesop’s Fables, but has many of the same characteristics, as well as a similar overall message and symbolic meaning. Historians agree that Aesop’s Fables was written around 500 B.C. by a slave living in Greece. It was originally written in Greek; European versions were not printed until the early 1800’s. English versions were printed in the 1900’s, and it is likely this book was at least one inspiration to Frans Timmerman’s work. Timmerman’s book was released in 1911 just a few short years after English prints of Aesop’s Fables were available in the United States. Each story shares similar characteristics in plot, style, technique, and symbolism, but there are also more superficial similarities and differences. In both stories the authors choose to use animals as a form of symbolism to tell their story. Animals are commonly used as characters in folktale; however, the animals each author decides to use are very specific. Each author chooses animals that have traits and characteristics that are familiar to most people, regardless of age or education level. In Aesop’s folktale the animals used are a tortoise and a hare. In Timmerman’s story the animals used are a frog and a fox. When people think of a tortoise they generally have images of a very slow moving land creature. Similarly Timmerman’s character frog brings thoughts of a water dwelling species, clumsy and slow on land. The same idea spreads to the fox and the hare; both are considered to be quick and cunning species and the authors use them in this light. It is likely these animals were common where each story was written. These animals also share similar more transparent symbolic meaning. Although time, and simple cultural differences likely led to the different characters and context of the stories, they still share many similar traits in there symbolism and morals. Because the symbolism is easily identified, and the message is easily related to, nearly all people can apply this story to life. It is easy to see how nearly every culture has embraced a version of this story, or come up with a similar version of their own. Today Aesop’s Fables is printed in 31 languages. The tortoise is symbolic in Aesop’s story for a wise, slow moving, dedicated creature. He uses the tortoise to help portray the message that â€Å"slow and steady† can persevere over an overconfident, boastful opponent. Likewise, Timmerman chooses to use a frog, which sometimes symbolizes the same things as the tortoise in folktales and fables. A frog additionally represents transformation. The frog is shown in his story to be very intelligent and the message is that you can overcome a problem even when the odds are against you if you use your head. By using his intelligence he defeats the overconfident, boastful opponent. Timmerman decides to use a fox in his story as a quick, overconfident, somewhat ignorant character. He portrays the fox in this way as a symbol for this type of person, whom everyone has encountered at some point in their lives. Aesop similarly chooses a hare and uses the same technique of making the hare somewhat ignorant and cocky. Using this writing style effectively makes the fox and the hare the antagonist in the story without specifically portraying them as a â€Å"bad guy†. They further this technique by having these characters use condescending dialogue in the beginning of the story. Despite the two authors cultural differences, the human qualities of the characters are nearly portrayed identically. The writing style, and technique used by the authors helps us to identify with the characters. It also helps us identify personally with the plot. Both stories have plots that follow the same basic ideas. One animal is different physically from another, so naturally that animal thinks that he is superior the superior creature. They use animals that everyone would consider to be the obvious winners and losers in a race. They portray the animals in a unique way that gives them human qualities that we are familiar with. The underdog is considered the protagonist in these fables and both authors portray them as likely losers in a physical challenge. However, as the story unfolds the obvious winners change due to the negative human qualities the antagonists possess. The messages of the stories are both related to perseverance, and that sometimes being conceded and boastful about your skills can end in disaster. There is also the message that one should not judge others simply by how they look. There are many other interpretations of this story as well, and this just scratches the surface of the symbolism in the two folktales. The messages of the two stories are values that everyone can apply to their daily lives. When the stories reach their conclusions the readers are left with many options on how they choose to interpret the message. The theme of both stories are the same, however the differences allow them to be interpreted many ways. It is mostly agreed upon by literature experts that the message in â€Å"The Tortoise and the Hare† is that slow and steady wins the race, and taking your time to do things right the first time is worth it. The message in â€Å"The Fox and the Frog† the message is that it is sometimes better to work smarter, not harder. Both stories share the message that judging others by their appearance is not an intelligent thing to do. They also share the idea that being boastful and conceded can end in embarrassment.

What Knowledge Should be Conveyed in Our Public Schools? :: Teaching Education

What Knowledge Should be Conveyed in Our Public Schools? Education has always been an indispensable part of our lives. Through out the centuries there was a problem in specifying who can attend to school, for example women were not allowed to do it, but luckily this obstacle has already been overcome, and this matter is beyond dispute. However, there is another dilemma, one that has not been solved yet. The question is what knowledge should be conveyed in the process of teaching – should schools communicate only erudite theory, or should they also have other aspirations? Naturally, there are different points of view on this case. The first cause to approve the fact that academies ought to have additional aims in tutoring is that they play an important part in bringing young generations up. It is said that parents are those who are to raise their children, but indisputably school is the place where youth spend most of their time. Hence, it is a good place for passing on the information that will help juvenility live their future lives. Consider the example of having sexual education at school, a dilemma which is at issue nowadays. The subject is not easily brought up and this results in the fact that young people leaving school know more about the reproduction of protozoa than about sexual and psychological aspects of human’s lives. This may cause tremendous problems. But the case of having sexual education at school is not the only matter. The truth is that the strict academic knowledge itself is usually useless in real life, and so it may not be worth paying attention to it. Let us be honest – who needs to know when two trains setting off from two different cities and moving with a different speed will meet? People should be better thought to fill in the gaps on a cheque or thousands of other blanks instead of learning all those worthless things. Nevertheless, there are also reasons for concentrating only on academic facts in schooling. First of all, schools were created exactly for that purpose. The world is spinning faster and faster, and people should concentrate on expanding their wisdom in order to survive in this reality. Our world needs more and more specialists in different domains and, frankly, people have to be the best to achieve anything, and gaining knowledge in maths, physics and other subjects helps young people make a success.

Essay on Harlow and Ainsworth

Compare and contrast research by Harry Harlow and Mary Ainsworth on understanding attachment Harry Harlow and Mary Ainsworth undertook studies aimed at providing a clearer insight into the processes associated with attachment. Even though both Harlow and Ainsworth chose a different approach to their research, they met with some similarities. This essay will therefore seek to both compare and contrast their researches, the methods they used as well as evidence gained through their respective researches.It is I feel important to have a brief understanding as to what attachment is, and thus help to provide a perspective in regards to what the experiments being conducted are aiming to define. Attachment can be defined as â€Å"a long term emotionally important relationship in which one individual seeks proximity to and derives security and comfort from the presence of another† (discovering psychology p. 193, 2012). As such both Harlow and Ainsworth through their different approach es sought to investigate the mechanisms inherent with infant bonding.Was it due to the carer providing for their emotional and physical needs or was it more deep-seated, in that infants were more inclined to seek attachment to stimulus that met their needs, such as warmth, and softness as suggested through the researches of Bowlby (1948) (discovering psychology p. 196 ,2012) Harlow in his approach chose to base his research solely on animals, in this case the Rhesus Macaque monkey. He chose this method in part due to the fact that these monkeys have approximately ninety four percent in common with human DNA.Coupled with this was the further factor concerning ethical issues, as it would have undoubtedly raised serious concerns had he chose to conduct his experiments on human infants. His observations were conducted entirely within the seemingly harsh surroundings metered through the laboratory environment, which differed in comparison to the research conducted by Ainsworth through he r responses to sensitivity. Through his research, Harlow noticed that the monkeys grew attached to sanitary pads placed in their cage, and suspected that the monkeys boned ith them and gained â€Å"contact comfort† from them, as they were the only soft item in their otherwise harsh environment, (discovering psychology p. 202, 2012) Harlow thus surmised that the softness of the sanitary pads along with the â€Å"contact comfort† the monkeys gained from them seemed a more important factor within the infant bonding process than the presence and supply of food. (discovering psychology p. 202, 2012)In order to further investigate his hypothesis, Harlow constructed two very different types of â€Å"surrogate mothers†, one being constructed of wire which lacked any form of tactile comfort, whilst the second was made of wood with a layer of sponge and covered with a soft layer of towelling. Both â€Å"mothers† had heating supplied by a light bulb and both had a f eeding bottle inserted through the body providing the monkey with food. Through his observations and experimentation, Harlow noted the monkeys bonded with the soft bodied â€Å"mother† regardless of whether it contained a supply of nourishment or not. discovering psychology p. 205, 2012). In contrast Ainsworth‘s research focused on human infants, in part through her observations with mothers and their infants. Whilst living in Uganda, Ainsworth observed a number of families with unweaned babies, and noticed that the more responsive the mothers were to the signals of the infant, the less the infant cried and the more confident the infant was, conversely the less responsive mothers were to signals the more the baby cried (discovering psychology p. 216, 2012).Ainsworth, though different in her approach, in her case observing children and their carers in natural surroundings which differed from that of Harlow, in that he observed monkeys in a laboratory surrounding, they bo th however reached the same conclusion. Infants that feel secure, in that they have a safe base, whether this is provided by a terry towel covered â€Å"mother† or a doting parent, the tactile stimulus provided by each is of paramount importance in infant and monkey bonding. At the centre of Ainsworth’s research was what became known as the â€Å"strange experiment†, which she conducted in America, and consisted of a series of even consecutive episodes within a controlled environment. The experiment involved three people, the mother, infant and a stranger. (discovering psychology p. 217, 2012). Ethical considerations have to be taken into account once more, for unlike Harlow’s monkeys who having been bred in captivity and could not choose to opt out, or indeed be comforted as in Ainsworth’s experiments, whereby should the infant become distressed the experiment was stopped and the infant immediately comforted.Monkeys though forming a complex hierar chical society are not deemed to be as complex as humans, as such the responses to various stimuli employed by Harlow in his experiments could be deemed as being easier to interpret. In contrast to Harlow’s experiment, Ainsworth through her more closely controlled observations, and in mind that humans exhibit a more complex behaviour, she was able to delve deeper into the mechanisms associated with infant bonding, whereby she was able to define four different types of attachment. (Discovering psychology p. 204, 2012)Clearly the relevant studies undertaken by Harlow and Ainsworth had both their advantages and disadvantages. Harlow for example based his researches entirely on monkeys, within the harsh confines of the laboratory environment. The fact that Macaque monkeys share ninety four percent of DNA with human infants does not necessarily denote that their subsequent behaviour would be similar to that of human infants. â€Å"There is a need to be very careful how one interp rets this genetic similarity, for a small difference in DNA can make a huge difference in a species’ anatomy and behaviour† (discovering psychology p. 04, 2012). Ainsworth on the other hand centred her research based on observations in both Uganda and America. She chose a more sensitive approach. Her observations were of infants interacting with primary care givers and strangers and gauging their reactions. Through this process she was able to delve deeper into the mechanisms of attachment, given that not only are humans more complex as exhibited through their interactions, it also offered further opportunities for her to expand and deepen her researches.This however had its own disadvantages, for Ainsworth it seems did not factor into account the country of origin or cultural backgrounds of the infants being studied, along with the infant’s mood or indeed if the infant was used to the situation they were being exposed to. (discovering psychology p. 219, 2012). T his situation did not arise in the research conducted by Harlow, as all the monkeys had been raised in captivity which in itself ensured a more general set of expected patterns of behaviour.Ainsworth’s study does not seem to reflect any innate behaviour in the infants, whereas the researches of Harlow’s, particularly concerning the wire and terry towel covered â€Å"surrogate mothers† seem to support his theory that regardless of species, that infants show an innate predisposition in forming attachments with carers who provide for their needs. This I feel was due to Harlow being able to look deeper into this facet of infant behaviour as he was not hindered by ethical considerations as was the case with Ainsworth.It is fair to say that both researchers had their work criticised to some extent by the scientific community at large. Obvious questions having been raised as to the validity of their findings, Harlow for his sole use of monkeys and how the research corr elated to human behaviour, whereas the work of Ainsworth in her not taking into account of the differences of nationality and thus the cultural background of the infant. The primary aim of this essay was by way of making an informed comparison between the works of Harlow and Ainsworth.Were they able through their researches to show a clear insight into the mechanisms associated with infant bonding? What evidence did their different methods of approach provide? Are animals an effective means of basing a premise as to the expectations of human behaviour? Researches that have insight into our innate tendencies allow us a glimpse into the hidden world of the psyche. Whether evidence provided has come via way of animal experiments, viewed as repugnant by many, or through closely monitored experiments with human infants. The implications can have a marked effect upon other avenues of research that come to follow.Undoubtedly the work of both Harlow and Ainsworth has had a marked import upo n and allowed for a deeper understanding into the mechanisms of infant bonding. The implications of their research has provided for a basis upon which to build a yet deeper and fare wider reaching insight, not only on the various stimuli associated with infant bonding, but also in regards to how the infant develops through their life and their wider range of social interactions. (Word count 1440) References Brace, N. and Byford, J. Discovering Psychology (2012), Milton Keynes, The Open University.

The Catholic Church - 944 Words

The Catholic Church Why should one man have puissance over the way we sojourn our lives? The individual that I am referring to is Pope Francis. Personally, I feel that many people confer to the Pope as a god, giving him influence over our beliefs, as well as our lifestyle choices. As Catholics we are not allowed to partake in birth control practices, have an abortion, or participate in anything related to gay marriage. These are only a few issues that are part of a long list of unmentionables that are influences of the Catholic religion and Pope Francis. This very aspect for indefatigable individuals like myself that are nonjudgmental upon others. For this reason, I am going to attack Pope Francis indirectly, and the Catholic Church directly. My inspiration for this attack came for the film The Patriot, directed by Roland Emmerich. In this film, Colonel Tavington, seeking the location of the rebels, gathered the entire town of Pembroke into the church. After much hesitation, he got the informat ion that he wanted. Colonel Tavington locked the doors and windows of the church and burned it down. Therefore, killing the entire town. This particular style of attack was inexpensive, and with minimal effort and easily executed. According to the Gallop Research Organization, 118 million people around the world go to church on Sunday. Catholics make up 24 percent of this number, thus making it an excellent target for a vulnerable attack. My army recruitment process:Show MoreRelatedThe Catholic And Catholic Church1561 Words   |  7 PagesCatholic Mass In this spring break, I followed my Christian friend and visited a Catholic Church located in Seattle and I had a chance to witness on how they conduct their worship in the form of Mass. The Catholic Church has many practices and rituals such as Last Rites, praying the Rosary, receiving Communion, Confession, Baptism, and Mass according to the members of this church. 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