Children’s Perspective in Antoine de Saint’s The Little Prince

 Antoine de Saint’s The Little Prince offers us another perspective about children through the story of a man who meets a friend called the little prince. He is a pilot, and one day he crashes his aeroplane in the middle of the Sahara desert. While he is trying to repair his aeroplane, a little boy appears and asks him to draw a sheep. The pilot, as the narrator, tells about a journey of a pure child who meets some grown-ups which can represent his own perspective about the grown-ups. 

 In the beginning, the narrator uses his children’s point of view to tell us the way children think which usually is forgotten by the grown-ups. They treat children, just as “children”, whose opinion will not be considered. They do not want to think anything abstract, but only want to know about the things with numbers or empirical proofs. According to the narrator, usually the grown-ups do not think about essential things. “When you tell them that you have made a new friend, they never ask you any questions about essential matters. They never say to you, ‘What does his voice sound like? What games does he love best? Does he collect butterflies?’ Instead, they demand: ‘How old is he? How many brothers has he? How much does he weight? How much money does his father make?’ Only from these figures do they think they have learned anything about him.”

When he was a child he drew a picture of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant, “the grown-ups’ response, this time, was to advise me to lay aside my drawings of boa constrictors, whether from the inside or the outside, and devote myself instead to geography, history, arithmetic and grammar.” Before that, he shows them a picture of boa constrictors only from the outside and the grown-ups thought it was a hat. Then the narrator states that the children have to explain anything to the grown-ups although now he is also a grown-up. It shows that there is still the childness in himself, even though he uses the word ‘they’ for ‘the grown-ups’ as he is not one of them. So, he decided to draw the next picture to explain what the picture means. They cannot accept the narrator’s fantasy because in reality there is no ‘a boa constrictor digesting an elephant’, so the grown-ups try to make him know the fact and leave his fantasy. It is interesting when the narrator states that the children have to explain anything to the grown-ups because they cannot understand by themselves. Generally, the grown-ups think that the children know nothing, but never do they think it is possible that the children also know something that cannot be caught by the grown-ups. 

Opinions when he was a child about the grown-ups never change until the pilot has also grown up. “I have seen them intimately, close at hand. And that hasn’t much improved my opinion of them.” Although he has grown up like the others and lived among them, he never feels that he is like them and part of them. He is like a child in the body of grown-ups, not because he is childish, but he looks down on grown-ups. The opinion about them has not improved by showing his drawing of boa constrictor as consideration that always be recognized as a hat. Extremely, he even said, “I would bring myself down to his level.” 

Because he never thinks he is the same as grown-ups and he also is not a child anymore, the narrator cannot find someone who can share thoughts with him. “So I lived my life alone, without anyone that I could really talk to, until I had an accident with my plane in the Desert of Sahara, six years ago.” In his life, he never was himself. When he talks to his friends of the same age, he acts like them and talks about what he calls matters of consequence. Until he met the little prince in the accident that he thinks has the same thought as him. 

There is also a possibility that he just imagines a friend who he wishes for all the time, so in the middle of the Desert of Sahara and in the desperation about his plane comes a mirage of the little prince. Although he thinks he has never changed since a child, there is still a distance between his present and his past. He cannot remember clearly his own childhood, so he imagines the little prince as the way to get memories of his childhood. The story about the little prince is probably the reflection of the narrator’s past, so there is an ambiguity about who is the little prince. ”And if I forget him, I may become like the grown-ups who are no longer interested in anything but figures...”, in other words, he says that the little prince is not a figure. 

It seems like his own childhood that he transforms into the little prince with his journey. “To forget a friend is sad. Not every one has had a friend.” As the reflection of his past, the little prince is really precious to the narrator. He is the only one who becomes the narrator’s real friend whether he is real or not. Therefore, forgetting a friend can also mean forgetting his childhood.

Besides, the narrator has regrets about his childhood. He wants to go back to that time and do what he wanted to do without being controlled by the grown-ups. Imagining about the little prince helps him back into his childhood. When the narrator writes about the little prince, he tries to draw him but he is not satisfied with his own drawing. He blames the grown-ups in the time when he was a child who stopped him from learning drawing. “That, however, is not my fault. The grown-ups discouraged me in my painter’s career when I was six years old, and I never learned to draw anything, except boas from the outside and boas from the inside." Unlike the narrator, the little prince will force someone to listen to himself, instead of giving up to explain to them. The little prince freely expresses what he feels and he wants.

The little prince never explains anything although someone asks him. “As each day passed I would learn, in our talk, something about the little prince’s planet, his departure from it, his journey.” The narrator can interpret many things about the little prince without his explanation. The more he understands the little prince, the more he understands his own childhood. 

As the pilot spends his time with the little prince in the desert, he realizes that now he has also changed, his mind starts thinking like the grown-ups compared with the way the little prince thinks.“He thought, perhaps, that I was like himself. But I, alas, do not know how to see sheep through the walls of boxes. Perhaps I am a little like the grown-ups. I have had to grow old.” When he cannot see a sheep in the box that is made by himself, it reminds him of the grown-ups who cannot see an elephant in the body of a boa constrictor in his first drawing. Although he is the one who draws the box and expects he can see or imagine the sheep in the box, but actually he cannot. Before, he always thought that he is still like a child, but he cannot deny that he has grown old.

The Little Prince shows how people can only understand different things in the world through experiencing them. The narrator can see who he is through the little prince’s journey. The grown-ups whom the little prince meet only play a role what they think they are and make others around them being what they want. The one whom the little prince sympathizes with is a lamplighter on the fifth planet who is the only one who has a simple profession compared to the king, conceited man, businessman, or geographer. The last is a tippler for whom the little prince almost feels sorry, if only he has a rational reason why he drinks. How the story mostly tells about the journey of the little prince, although actually it is about the narrator, shows that sometimes fantasy is more important than the fact. 

Mistakes to Learn in Children’s Literature

 Literature for children is one of the most effective ways to teach children how to behave according to adult’s will. Through stories, they hear examples from which they can take lessons. Instead of being scolded, with stories, children can learn how to correct their mistakes or how to avoid them. When an author of children's stories intends to make children learn not to do a wrong deed, he or she will show punishment or consequences for the character who does the mistake. For example, in Grimm’s “King Grisly-Beard”,  a princess who is rude and arrogant has to marry a poor man, which makes her suffer until she can learn about her mistake. Another example is Oscar Wilde’s “The Devoted Friend”, who wants to argue that children should not always be obedient, makes the little Hans die at the end as a result of always obeying Hugh the Miller.  Unlike both stories, Wilde’s “The Happy Prince” is difficult to determine what the author’s beliefs that he recommends for children because of the sad ending even after the characters have done good deeds.

Peter Hollindale (1988), in his essay “Ideology and the Children’s Book”, explains about three levels of ideology in children’s books. The first is made up of the explicit social, political, or moral beliefs of the individual writer, along with his wish to recommend them to children through the story. The second is the individual writer’s unexamined assumption, but the texture of language and story will reveal them and communicate them. The third is inscribed within the words, the rule-systems, and codes which constitute the text. With this theory, I will analyze the ideology that the authors try to promote to children in the three aforementioned stories. These stories have similarity in the way the plot shows its moral value, which is by illustrating the consequences of mistakes that the author does not want the children to make.

In “King Grisly-Beard”, the Grimm Brothers tell about the rude and conceited princess who gets punishment so that she can learn the lesson. She is used to living a luxurious life where she will get what she wants, so she never learns how to appreciate others and always insults other people. The punishment she gets comes from the man who she has insulted even though she does not know who the man is at first. The author clearly suggests that the children must not behave like the princess does by showing the consequence she gets. Because she makes her father, the king, angry and ashamed for treating all his guests badly, he commands her to marry a poor man.

During her marriage, she has to suffer in “a paltry place”, contrast with her previous life in the palace. King Grisly-Beard (the insulted name from the princess) is a representative who delivers the author’s ideology that children should not be rude and insult people. He disguises as a fiddler that becomes the princess’ husband to give her lessons so that she will have an empathy for other people after she experiences the difficulty in life. 

“Fear me not! I am the fiddler who has lived with you in the hut. I brought you there because I truly loved you. I am also the soldier that overset your stall. I have done all this only to cure you of your silly pride, and to show you the folly of your ill-treatment of me. Now it is all over: you have learnt wisdom, and it is time to hold our marriage feast.” (Grimm 1905)

He explicitly says that he purposely gives her punishment until she can behave properly because she loves her. Grimm wishes that the children can learn from the plot, where the main character behaves badly in the beginning and gets the punishment, then realizes her mistakes and has a happy ending with her husband. Besides, the reason is probably because he loves and cares about the children, similar to King Grisly-Beard who loves the princess. Nevertheless, the reason is mostly because, as Knowles (1996) says in his essay “Language and Control in Children’s Literature” that it is adults’ task to make children behave in ways that are generally acceptable with any method, such as “a regime of reward and punishment” (p.44).

On the other hand, Oscar Wilde’s “The Devoted Friend” shows the bad result of being too obedient. According to Sarah Marsh (2008) in her essay “Twice Upon a Time: The Importance of Rereading  ‘The Devoted Friend’”, Wilde began writing fairy tales that subverted the didactic tradition initiated by the Brothers Grimm (Happily Ever After 5). In order not to be didactic, Wilde does not reveal the moral value explicitly just like Grimm because “the texture of language and story will reveal them and communicate them” (Hollindale 1988:30). He lets the children think by themselves by showing the tragic ending of the main character.

Although Wilde’s story looks like using the second category of ideological content because of its implicit way in showing the ideology, yet he does it consciously, instead of taking it for granted according to the second ideology, since Marsh states that he implies “satire” on traditional fairy tales. Instead, it is more likely the first level of ideology where there are “intended surface ideology that fiction carries new ideas”  and “efforts to change imaginative awareness in line with contemporary social criticism.”

Rereading “The Devoted Fiend” therefore increases the reader’s awareness of Wilde’s critique of social obedience, which suggests that it is not always moral to follow the dictates of parents... [but to] teach their children more than one way to behave “properly”. (Marsh: 81-82)

Even though not everyone, especially children, are able to grasp the satire, the plot of the story itself can be taken as a lesson by them. The opposite of “King Grisly-Beard” that gives a bad impression of the main character at the beginning, “The Devoted Friend” introduces the main character as a kind-hearted person and a very devoted friend, that makes him seem like a role model for children. But later, he begins to look like a fool that is always being tricked by Hugh. Most children will see the ending of the story is very unfair for the kind character. However, by seeing that example, they can learn that giving everything is not always the best thing. Besides, they will be more thoughtful in trusting people, even their own friends, and not easily being manipulated by others, like what Hugh does to the little Hans. 

Another Wilde’s short story, “The Happy Prince”, is tougher to see the author’s ideology in it on account of its plot. At the beginning, the Happy Prince is described as a statue that is admired by everyone because of his eternal happiness. Later we know that in fact, he is sad because he “can see all the ugliness and all the misery of [his] city” (p.4). Before he dies and becomes a statue, he lives in the Palace of Sans-Souci where he can only find happiness and delight and is isolated by society. But, surely it is not real happiness because he never knows about the sorrow behind the wall of the castle. Similar to the princess in “King Grisly-Beard”, he has to come out of his comfort zone to see that there are other people who are less fortunate than himself. Thus, he feels sorry because he cannot help them since he cannot move until the Swallow comes to him. 

From here, we can see the Prince’s generosity that he gives his treasures to the poor, his ruby, sapphire eyes, and the gold that covers him, with the Swallow’s help. There is a “surface ideology” which is told explicitly in the story.

'It is curious,' he (the Swallow) remarked, 'but I feel quite warm now, although it is so cold.' 'That is because you have done a good action,' said the Prince. (p.6) 

Wilde clearly wants to tell the children to do good actions, in this case helping people by giving what we have. Unlike the little Hans in “The Devoted Friend” that feels misery after he gives his belongings to Hugh, the Swallow and the Prince feel warm and happy for giving the others. However, as the plot moves forward, Wilde denies the previous moral value he shows bluntly, because in the end, the Swallow dies for he always helps the Prince giving the jewelry for the people in the cold weather . The Prince himself has nothing left and his leaden heart is broken after knowing his friend’s death, then the statue of the Happy Prince is pulled down by the Mayor. 

Ironically, when The Happy Prince is alive and does not do anything except being happy, he is loved and respected, but after he helps people by sacrificing himself, he is thrown away. As usual, Wilde uses that kind of satire in his story that may not be understood by children. But it can be concluded that “giving” has limits, and we have to think about ourselves too as Wilde shows the consequence of sacrificing too much. This can be called “passive ideology” (Hollindale) because it is “the writer’s unexamined assumption.” Besides, this story is not completely a sad ending, because again, he turns the tragedy into a happy ending when God brings them to His “garden of Paradise”. Therefore, this story, just like “The Devoted Friend”, has an open ending where the readers can conclude by themselves what the moral value is, or even children can take the values for granted “unless they are helped to notice what is there” (Hollindale 1988: 30).

In conclusion, an author for children can show his or her ideology not only by showing a role-model character who has a happy ending after struggling, but also through the mistakes made by the characters in the story. In an implicit or explicit way, the story can point out what the authors do not wish the children to do by showing the consequences of the character’s mistake. It could be the general moral beliefs like Grimm’s stories or a new idea that opposes the traditional values like Wilde’s stories. 

References:

Grimm, Jacob, and Wilhelm Grimm. (1905). “King Grisly-Beard.” Grimm's Fairy Tales. New York: Maynard, Merrill, & Co.

Hollindale, P. (1988), ‘Ideology and the Children’s Book’, Literature for Children: Contemporary Criticism, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 19–40.

Knowles, Murray (1996). Language and Control in Children's Literature. Psychology Press. ISBN 978-0-203-41975-5.

Marsh, Sarah. (2008). Twice Upon a Time: The Importance of Rereading ‘The Devoted Friend. In Children’s Literature 36, Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 77.

Wilde, Oscar. (1888). “The Devoted Friend”. The Happy Prince and Other Tales. Project Gutenberg EBook.

Wilde, Oscar. (1888). “The Happy Prince”. The Happy Prince and Other Tales. Project Gutenberg EBook.

Fandom Power dan General Public dalam K-Pop

Dalam dunia musik, turun-naiknya popularitas penyanyi memang sudah biasa. Begitu juga dengan laris dan tidak larisnya suatu lagu. Kesuksesan suatu lagu, biasanya dilihat dari peringkat di berbagai tangga lagu atau chart, seperti di Billboard atau iTunes, lalu diikuti oleh piala dari berbagai acara penghargaan yang makin membuktikan kesuksesan lagu, album, atau penyanyi tersebut.

Normalnya, lagu yang berada di urutan atas adalah lagu yang sangat populer, didengar dan disukai banyak orang. Tentu saja popularitas penyanyi juga menentukan kesuksesan lagu tersebut, tapi dalam dunia K-pop hal itu lebih rumit lagi. Budaya penggemar di dunia K-pop memang sedikit berbeda. Penggemar akan melakukan berbagai cara agar lagu atau album yang dirilis idolanya saat "comeback" sukses dan mendapat penghargaan, terutama di acara-acara musik Korea seperti Music Bank, Music Core, dan Inkigayo. Nah, di sinilah para penggemar atau fandom berperan penting.

Di komunitas K-Pop terutama di Korea, loyalitas penggemar sudah tak diragukan lagi. Mereka bisa membeli berbagai merchandise, album, dan datang ke semua acara yang dihadiri oleh idola mereka. Dalam urusan perilisan lagu baru atau yang biasa disebut dengan "comeback", mereka bukan hanya menanti untuk mendengarkan karya terbaru dari idolanya, tapi juga ikut bekerja keras menyukseskan comeback tersebut.

Salah satu usaha yang dilakukan adalah mass streaming di portal-portal musik Korea, yaitu  Melon, Genie, Bugs, Mnet, Naver, dan Soribada. Keenam portal musik itu berperan besar dalam meraih kemenangan di music shows karena nilai digital memiliki presentase paling besar di sebagian besar music show. Jadi, mereka melakukan streaming lagu bukan sekadar untuk mendengarkan musiknya, tapi juga agar nilai digital yang akan dihitung di music show lebih besar, karena itu mereka memutar lagunya terus menerus. Biasanya chart digital ini lebih sulit ditembus jika hanya mengandalkan kekuatan fandom, kecuali sang idol memiliki fandom yang sangat besar seperti EXO, BTS, dan Wanna One. Jika hasil streaming dari fandom bisa membawa lagu ke puncak chart, maka otomatis lagu tersebut akan menarik perhatian publik yang melihat chart tersebut.

Jika streaming di portal musik Korea dilakukan oleh fans Korea atau K-fans (meski tak jarang fans internasional yang ikut streaming dengan biaya lebih), fans internasional biasanya bertugas untuk streaming music video (MV) di mana lagi kalau bukan di Youtube. Beberapa tahun belakangan ini, jumlah view MV di Youtube menjadi sangat diperhitungkan. Masing-masing fandom berlomba-lomba memecahkan rekor view terbanyak dalam waktu 24 jam atau yang tercepat mencapai 100 juta view.
Jumlah view Youtube memang diperhitungkan juga untuk poin SNS di acara musik meski tidak sebesar poin digital. Sama sepeti streaming lagu, streaming MV juga terkadang bukan hanya karena ingin menontonnya terus menerus tapi juga untuk menambah jumlah view.

Lalu usaha yang ketiga adalah membeli album. Bahkan untuk penggemar yang lebih dari berkecukupan bisa melakukan bulk buying atau membeli album dalam jumlah besar. Hal ini dilakukan agar angka penjualan album sang idola menjadi tinggi. Jelas ini juga merupakan faktor penentu peringkat di music show, yaitu masuk sebagai poin physical. Jika poin digital biasanya ditentukan oleh ketertarikan general public, poin digital ditentukan oleh besarnya fandom. Maka tak heran kalau ada album yang terjual banyak tapi lagunya memiliki peringkat rendah di chart atau tidak masuk chart (100 besar) sama sekali. Pembelian album ini bisa dibilang pengorbanan paling besar seorang penggemar karena harganya yang tidak murah, apa lagi membeli dengan jumlah banyak. Tapi sebenarnya bulk buying tidak (terlalu) sia-sia karena dalam album Kpop biasanya terdapat 1 PC (Photocard) member secara acak, dan bulk buyer bisa sekalian mengoleksi PC tersebut. Ini juga merupakan salah satu strategi pemasaran album Kpop.

Yang terakhir adalah voting. Usaha yang terakhir ini tidak memakan banyak biaya kecuali koneksi internet, bisa dibilang ini hanya membutuhkan waktu dan niat. Jadi jelas sekali ini pure ditentukan oleh besarnya fandom karena hanya fans-lah yang rela mengorbankan waktu mereka untuk melakukan hal ini, terutama bagi fans internasional yang harus melihat tutorial kalau website atau aplikasi yang digunakan untuk voting berbahasa Korea.

Selanjutnya saya akan bahas sedikit soal lagu-lagu yang disukai general public. Saya tidak akan membicarakan dari segi musikalitas karena saya bukan ahlinya, saya hanya akan menyebutkan contoh-contoh lagu dan fenomenanya. Tahun ini, contoh lagu Kpop yang memiliki impact besar adalah "Love Scenario" oleh Ikon dan "Bbom Bbom" oleh Momoland. Meski fandom mereka tidak sebesar grup-grup yang saya sebutkan sebelumnya, lagu mereka bertengger di puncak tangga lagu untuk waktu yang lama dan pernah didengar oleh seluruh rakyat Korea Selatan. Di sinilah terlihat perbedaannya, jika lagu yang di-streaming hanya oleh fans akan bertahan hanya selama promosi, tapi jika suatu lagu sudah masuk dalam playlist banyak orang, tentunya akan bertahan di posisi atas lebih lama.

Kelebihan penyanyi yang mengandalkan fandom adalah mereka bisa konsisten untuk mendapat dukungan itu bagaimanapun karya yang mereka rilis, sedangkan penyanyi yang booming dengan satu lagu tidak menjamin lagu selanjutnya akan sesukses lagu sebelumnya. Lalu ada pula penyanyi yang memiliki daya tarik bagi general public, artinya setiap kali penyanyi itu mengeluarkan suatu lagu, pendengar akan tertarik untuk mendengarkan lagunya, contohnya Bigbang, Twice, IU, dan Blackpink. Fandom power memang bisa membawa kesuksesan comeback sang idola, tapi ada kalanya jumlah fans akan berkurang. Begitu juga dengan artis yang selalu menarik perhatian publik, mereka harus selalu menghasilkan karya yang tidak akan membuat publik bosan.

Bagaimanapun juga kita tidak bisa membagi Kpop menjadi golongan fandom power dan general publik karena keduanya bisa tumpang tindih dan saling mempengaruhi. Beberapa artis mampu memiliki fandom besar tapi juga memiliki appeal bagi general public. Suatu lagu bisa populer karena pengaruh fandom, dan lagu yang booming bisa membuat fandom sang artis bertambah besar. Tapi juga jangan heran kalau ada lagu menang di acara musik belum pernah kalian dengar atau ketahui karena hype-nya hanya terjadi dalam fandom.

The Appeal of Fanfiction for the Fandom

I find Catherine Tosenberger’s essay quite interesting because I am kind of familiar with the term of fanfiction, although not necessarily Harry Potter fanfiction. As Tosenberger states, internet gives a chance for Harry Potter fans, especially teenagers, to explore literacy by sharing their stories to each other who have the same interest. For some reasons, reading or writing fanfiction of any story offer the fans some pleasure and enjoyment.

According to the essay, which I agree, by participating fandom and writing fanfiction, “adolescents can hone their writing skills.” Despite without any financial benefit, the fanfiction authors gain the pleasure to publish their works and know that others be able to read them. Besides, there are no control by adults to publish the stories, which is both good and bad, because everyone can access the internet. The authors, mostly teenagers, need to “satisfy their own desire,” and probably reading and writing fanfiction is the only way which is free from adult’s supervision. That is why it is good and bad at the same time.

The fans can depict what they actually expect to happen in the story. When we read a story, we usually have our own imagination about the characters and the plots. It can be the gap between the plot that does not be told in the original story and the characters who is not the focus in the original story can be the lead in the fanfiction, or even completely a new plot. The fans sometimes hope that there is a romantic relationship between two characters. Besides friends, the pairings also can be enemy, which Tosenberger  called as “enemyslash”, since love-hate relationship is popular in romance stories.

Therefore, fanfiction is a facility for the fans to express their own imagination where they can have fun without any restriction. In addition, it also can be an area to interact with other fans.

Leaving Mystical Things in Modern Era

Modernism is originally arising in the late 19th century and early 20th century. The term is used as opposed to the "traditional" forms of art, architecture, literature, religious faith, social organization and daily life that were becoming outdated in the new economic, social, and political conditions. In the era which is full of innovation in various fields, such as technology, transportation, and communication, people’s mindset becomes more logical and rational. Most of them had left the traditional thinking which is related to mystical things. It is shown by some literary works at that time, some of which are Oscar Wilde’s short stories, “The Canterville Ghost” and “Lord Arthur  Sevile’s Crime”.

The modernism is clearly visible in “The Canterville Ghost” as the narrator mentions that Otis family are modern Americans. No one in that family believe about ghost that people are telling has haunted the house they have purchased. They are not scared at all even though the owner of the place himself warns about the ghost. However, the modernism is represented by Americans who move to England, while the British still believe and are scared of ghost. Since at that time England was still in the beginning of modernism era, Wilde intends to bring the contrast between American who already had modern thinking and British who still had traditional mindset. Mr. Hiram B. Otis, an American Minister, and his family unhesitatingly move to Canterville Chase of which people are scared. It is seen that Wilde tries to change people who still think that kind of unreal things matter.

Canterville Chase is an old English country house which actually is a traditional haunted house. The Gothic setting which is apperently real is enough to symbolize the traditional belief in England. Wilde criticizes British people who was still have traditional mindset in technological era. On the other side, he also satirizes the materialistic American that do not mind anything not in the form of material. Mr. Otis even jokingly says that he “will take the furniture and the ghost at valuation” when Lord Canterville tells about the ghost in that house. He then continues, “I come from a modern country, where we have everything that money can buy.” He generalizes the opinion by bringing the country, that indicates Wilde’s view about American.

This story seems like a horror story by involving ghost that usually will scare the reader. But in fact, it is more like a parody of horror story due to the nonexistence of terrifying scene. The figure of ghost that shoud have been scary and brings darkness to the story, instead looks ridiculous and even could bring laughter. 

Moreover, the narration mostly shows the ghost’s perspective so that we see the unusual ghost’s image. Normally in other stories, ghost is mysterious and brings the feeling of terror, but here we can see the ghost whose name Sir Simon, like a comedy, do foolish things to threaten the Otis family. He absurdly describes his being a ghost as a career and he does it like normal people do their job, like choosing clothes to scare people, or using the paints he steals from Virginia, Mr. Otis’ daughter, to create bloodstains on the floor. He is even scared when he sees the fake ghost made by the twins and often tricked by them.

Not only the depiction of ghost which is not ordinary, but also the way the Otis family treat the ghost. At first, they do not believe that ghosts exist, but as they see strange things happen, they begin to consider the ghost’s existence in the house. However, it still does not make them scared, instead they find it quite interesting. The way they think so logically makes it more illogical since the reaction of every mysterious phenomenon are very unexpected. For example, when Mrs. Umney, the housekeeper, tells Washington Otis the story of bloodstains in the library:

“It is the blood of Lady Eleanore de Canterville, who was murdered on that very spot by her own husband, Sir Simon de Canterville, in 1575. Sir Simon survived her nine years, and disappeared suddenly under very mysterious circumstances. His body has never been discovered, but his guilty spirit still haunts the Chase. The blood-stain has been much admired by tourists and others, and cannot be removed.'” (Wilde 1891)

He answers with, “That is all nonsense.” It is not for the fact that it is the ghost’s blood and all as the reader would think, but it is for the fact that the blood cannot be removed. Then he naturally uses Pinkerton’s Champion Stain Remover and Paragon Detergent to clean it up, that proves that in fact it can be removed, though it comes again later. He ignores all the stuffs related to supernatural and only mind the physical things. In addition, a terrible flash of lightning that happens afterwards only makes the American minister whines about the climate, instead of being frightened because of the mystic aura. Even when he himself sees the frightening appearance of the ghost after hearing sounds of the clank of metal at the midnight, he still shows his calmness that makes the ghost offended.

'My dear sir,' said Mr. Otis [to the ghost], 'I really must insist on your oiling those chains, and have brought you for that purpose a small bottle of the Tammany Rising Sun Lubricator. It is said to be completely efficacious upon one application, and there are several testimonials to that effect on the wrapper from some of our most eminent native divines. I shall leave it here for you by the bedroom candles, and will be happy to supply you with more should you require it.' (Wilde 1891)

Besides the modernism that the Otis family brings from America, the traditional English is also shown in Mrs. Umney. She is the representative of British that has disadvantage because she is scared of ghost and faints when hears the thunder. It looks like a mockery to British people who still think traditionally. Different with the Otises that has no problem since they do not think ghost as a thing that they should be scared of, but instead they treat him just like a human, and actually it gives the ghost humiliation.

However, the short story has an emotional happy ending as the character Virginia finds Sir Simon, the ghost,  sitting by the window with “extreme depression.” She talks to him and they go through some misunderstanding, until Sir Simon asks her to help him go to Death beyond the pine woods, which she agrees. Once again, Wilde turns the scary image of ghost to an emotional creature. Then, for the first time we can see the whole Otis family feel scared and panic which is caused by the missing of Virginia. What scares and worries them are just rational things, like missing their family. Then she returns and makes her family relieved. She brings a box of beatiful jewels given by the ghost, showing their friendship, that she wears when she is married with Duke of Cheshire.

Another Wilde’s short story that indicates the modenism era is “Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime”. In oppisite of “The Canterville Ghost”, the main character in “Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime” does not show logical thinking like modern people in the former story. Lord Arthur, the main character, still believes in mystical things, such as fortune telling, that brings him difficulty. He gets tricked by Mr. Podgers, the cheiromantist, when he looks so terrified after reading his palm. Lord Arthur suspects  Mr. Septimus Podgers does not tell truth when he says the fortune that he will lose a distant relative. He thinks that the fortune teller hides something more than that, and insists him to tell what he really has seen and even pay him to hear “the truth”.  He feels so down and depressed after hearing that “murder” is what the cheiromatist has seen on his hand.  He does not know why he wants to murder someone because he does not have anyone to kill or the reason of it. But it always haunts him and he believes that he will become a murderer.

The short story also shows absurdity when Lord Arthur see the fortune telling as his duty, although in fact there is nothing that makes him should do the murder. When he remembers about his lover, Sybil Merton, whom he will marry not long after, he realizes that he cannot marry her before he does the murder because he does not want her to live with him in “terror of wrongdoing.” Thus, he decides to postpone the marriage until he commits the murder. It becomes more absurd since he looks for someone who is available to kill. Irronically, the narrator, with the perspective of Lord Arthur says, “He had that rarest of all things, common sense,” when in fact, all he does and thinks are absurd.

After he convinces himself that what he does is not a sin, but a sacrifice out of duty for someone he loves, he chooses some candidates whom he will murder. After careful consideration, he decides to kill Lady Clementina Beauchamp, a dear old lady who lives in Curzon Street. Weirdly, when he has decided to do his “mission”, he does not feel “turbid feelings” anymore as before. The fact that he will kill someone that he thinks as a sin before no longer bothers him. He only thinks about Sybil and their marriage. “He [wonders] how he could have been so foolish as to rant and rave about the inevitable.” The inevitable actually is not inevitable since nothing rational that forces him to commit the murder if he does not believe that kind of mystical thing.

Lord Arthur does his murder mission just like his real job, and does not assume it as something dreadful because it is just his duty he has to fulfil. He does not consider murder as a terrible thing and he does not feel guilty at all when implementing his plan, instead he only feels anxiety and excitement whether his plan succeeds or not. He gives a poison to Lady Clementina that he claims as a medicine for her heartburn. He even does not feel bad in the slightest when she treats him so warmly when he comes to her house, or when she gives him her little house in Curzon Street and some other goods in her will after her death. All Lord Arthur feels is relief and happiness for he finally can marry the girl he really loves, that is ended after he knows that his aunt apperently has died a natural death. However, he looks for the second victim to make his “mission” succeeds. Finally he decides to kill his distant relative, the Dean of Chichester. He sends a bomb disguised as a carriage-clock from a Russian anarchist anonymously. His second attempt also ends to no avail since the bomb does not kill or damage anything, instead just makes tiny, harmless explosions that amuses Chichester family, especially the Dean’s son who plays with the clock happily. These kind of scenes just look like a comedy and it looks as ridiculous as the ghost’s attempt to scare the Otises in “The Canterville Ghost”.

The prophecy finally happens in reality when Lord Arthur kills Mr.Podgers by sinking him in the water when he has the chance. Ironically, the cheiromantist dies because of his own prophecy. It also shows that suggestion will work when it is believed. However, the story ends with a happy ending with the marriage of Lod Arthur and Sybil after the struggle he has gone through, which is actually absurd, the term that Albert Camus and Jean-Paul  Sartre (1940s) introduced as a recognition of their inability to find any rational explanation for human life. The term described what they understood as the fundamentally meaningless situation of humans in a confusing, hostile, and indifferent world. It is even becomes clearer that what Lord Arthur has done are meaningless when Lady Windermere tells Sybil that the cheiromantist is an impostor. However, Lord Arthur himself never knows the fact, even he belives that he owes his happy ending to cheiromancy.

In  modern era where technology had much more developed, Oscar Wilde wished to change people’s mindset in England at that time not to think traditionally anymore, especially mystical things that are not logical and rational. He makes such commedy stories to show the disadvantages of thinking in traditional way and the advantages of thinking in modern  way.

References:

“Modernism” (accessed on December 17^th 2014) <http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Modernism.html>

“The Canterville Ghost” (accessed on December 17^th 2014) <http://theghostofcanterville2008.es.tl/Book.htm>

Wilde, Oscar. (1891). “Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime”. Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime and Other Stories. Project Gutenberg EBook.

Wilde, Oscar. (1891). “The Canterville Ghost”. Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime and Other Stories. Project Gutenberg EBook.

Payback A Bitch

A poem that I made as an Creative Writing assignment last year. It is about Alison DiLaurentis, a character in the television series Pretty Little Liars.

How come a school becomes the scariest place in the world?

Go through the safe route  without passing them,

The queen and her ladies in waiting,

The beauties with whom you don’t want to deal ,

The fly-higher on the top of the pyramid in the cheerleading team.

People cheer and praise and esteem,

But call them bitches behind their back.

Then who am I?

I am one of them who walk near them with head bow.

The leader straighten her leg making me tumble down

Giving entertainment to the other guys.

I brave myself to look at her in the eyes

Sending a glare though my hands tremble.

She smirks showing her damn dimple.

The worst thing is you can’t stop it.

No matter how people pity me,

They can do nothing under her tyranny.

Even her friends grimace at her being bully.

What is a leader without any followers?

You can make people fear you

But you can’t make people love you.

You are, Alison, a monster with friendly appearance

With your golden wavy hairs,

Your innocent barbie-looking face, 

But has ability to create enemies.

I don’t know if you have a human heart

Having fun by spitting at the nerds

Having us wipe your sneakers.

Do you know what it’s like to walk every single day

 and look at some shrine to an evil doer?     

You have made my life a nightmare, Alison

Stop dissin’ me or you will get a taste of your own medicine

Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too

They live inside us, inside me too

And you are the one who let it win

One night at Halloween party

Gothic finery, and unnatural decorations

Which they term ornaments, are conspicuous in hall and dress.

Creepin’ along the corridor with lifted chin

The witch has come in Lady G

Cockily swaying her hips, taking a sip of gin

No idea of what is waitin’.

Surely I am not invited, yet here I am.

Because I know how much you like the game.

I will see how much you will enjoy it.

It is more fun  than ‘trick or treat’.

Karma doesn't come with a menu;

you get served what you deserve.

I want to hurt you as much as you hurt me.

Here she comes to the haunted house

I watch her every step behind Halloween mask

Barely visible with all the black clothes .

She screams and laughs by the fake ghosts.

I slide my hands through the black gloves.

I am now standing behind her, heart beating fast

She turns around seeing the knife in my grasp

Her eyes widened to inhumane size

She looks flustered and her movement stutters

A twinge of happiness in my chest seeing horror in her face

I lift the knife high into the air

And then plunged into her chest

A sick smile came across my face

As I watch the blood ooze out of her ribcage.

She coughs out blood, the soul flying out.

I take off my mask revealing a smile of triumph.

She mouths my name before let out her last breath.

I tilt my head to admire the pool of dark red.

Wait until they know the queen bee is dead.

They’ll know she’s been killed;

The bitch probably deserves it.

Link for dramatization http://www.mediafire.com/listen/j8hadsq21qu9q8g/Poem_Dramatization.mp3

http://www.mediafire.com/listen/j8hadsq21qu9q8g/Poem_Dramatization.mp3

Analysing Characterization

“The Narrative of the Captivity and the Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson” is written by Mary Rowlandson to tell what life in captivity by Indians was like. Narrated by Rowlandson herself as the first person point of view, her character can be analyzed through the description of her own thougts and feelings. The character of Rowlandson that can clearly be seen is her religousness because every event happened to her, she always remember her God and often quoting Bible to encourage herself. Rowlandson tries to make sense of her situation by drawing parallels between her situation and biblical verses.  

 I opened my Bible to read, and the Lord brought that precious Scripture to me. “Thus saith the Lord, refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears, for thy work shall be rewarded, and they shall come again from the land of the enemy” (Jeremiah 31.16). This was a sweet cordial to me when I was ready to faint; many and many a time have I sat down and wept sweetly over this Scripture.

It is one of many passages that show how she gets her strength and hope from the Bible. That makes her character become optimistic. Among her affliction, she can always see the positive things that is form of God’s mercy. She presents her story as a lesson to others how mercy of God helps her.

Another characterization is the way Rowlandson see other people. She appraises others individually, and does not judge people depends on group or ras. She does not deem all Indians are her enemy. She observes her surroundings closely and is capable of seeing them as human beings as well. She even likes her master that she said, “..my master being gone, who seemed to me the best friend that I had of an Indian..” She also without hesitation asks help from the Indian, and it’s true that some of them still have mercy to help her.

Its characterization is different with David Lodge’s Changing Places which use the third person point of view in Chapter 2. The pride of Morris Zapp and the awkwardness of Philip Swallow are seen from their deed. With two main characters, the narrator changes the point of view in turns that shows the different reaction of both in the similar situation.

Beside the narrative, Mary Rowlandson also mention some remarkable passages of providence that can called as an essay. She wrote what she has noticed among her afflicted time that  proves God’s almighty  can always save His people. She observed it in order to make the readers can take lesson from it.

Different with Rowlandson, Fanny Fern’s essay named “Independence” tells about her personal feeling as a woman who cannot really feel the freedom of USA that may also be felt by other women. Instead of giving lesson to the readers, she only expresses what she feels and criticizes what happen to her personally and other women generally.

Whereas in “The Working-Girls of New York”, Fern gives explanation more objectively about the working girls. She does not much tells her personal life, but gives the facts and opinion of some kinds of working girl in New York. For example, she tells about the low workers and compares it with the girls in higher level.