Fairy Tales

I do not think of fairy tales having a big impact on my childhood. I was read lots of stories that are fairy tales and others that have similar characteristics, but I have never thought of fairy tales as effecting my behavior or thoughts as a child. The fairy tales that stand out the most to me are Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, Hansel and Gretel, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Rapunzel.
After reflecting on the morals that each of these stories teaches, I think they did help to reinforce these lessons. In many of these stories the characters find themselves in bad situations. However, had the characters known the lesson the story teaches they would not have found themselves in that position at all. The Boy Who Cried Wolf is a great example of this. The story teaches not to lie because when known as a liar, even when you tell the truth no one will be believe you. When the boy in the story finds himself in real danger, no one comes to help him. While I am sure I already knew not to lie, this story probably helped to emphasize the reasons why lying is bad.

Star Quality

“Star Quality” by Linda Sue Park brings up some very good points. Fame often brings celebrities many new opportunities, many times including writing books. However, it is unacceptable for these books not to be up to par with other children’s books. A book with a celebrity author is very likely to sell well just because the name is recognizable. It is unfair to the reader to have to read a book that has not fulfilled its potential.
To me it seems that celebrities want to be good at whatever they do; no actor wants to be known as a bad or untalented actor. So why wouldn’t the same go for the books that theses celebrities write? I would think that celebrities would want feedback and advice on their books, and that editors and publishers would not be too concerned to recommend changes.
Out of the books we have read so far, J.K. Rowling and Stephanie Meyer stand out the most as celebrity authors. While both started out as unknown people, their creative stories have lead them to be very well known. I think most would agree that both book series could probably be written a little bit better. For me, I love the story-lines, and would love to see how much better the books would be with a little more editing and nit-picking.
Now that the Harry Potter and Twilight series have made such good names for themselves, and made celebrities out of their authors, I think that Rowling and Meyer could probably sell just about anything. As a reader, regardless of how good the book actually is, I would be willing to buy a new book by either author based on the experience I had reading their other works. I think both authors, and their editors and publishers could take advantage of their popularity and sell anything written by them. However, I don’t think this is what anyone wants. The authors do not want to be known as terrible writers, and unless their books continue to at least maintain average quality, readers will eventually catch on.
Celebrity authors should want to be associated with high-quality writing ability and subject matter, and should not settle for anything less just because their name will sell their books. In the end both the readers and celebrity authors will suffer if the editors and publishers do not do their job.

Research Proposal

For my research paper I want to discuss the issue of social class in literature, as it also relates to real life. The two books I want to focus on are The Outsiders and Pride and Prejudice. Although the stories are very different, the characters in both books come to the conclusion that social status is not as important as it is made out to be.
In The Outsiders there is a gap between the rich and poor characters most distinctly defined by the gangs, The Greasers and The Socs. Just the names of the gangs begin to show the difference in social status between the two groups. The difference in social class is the source of hate towards each other and reason they are constantly be at odds. Throughout the book, however, several of the characters in both groups realize that they are dealing with many of the same issues despite their social standing. People in both classes have family problems, strong friendships, and are figuring out who they are. By the end of The Outsiders this rift between the groups leads to death on both sides. The deaths are unnecessary and help to further show that social status does not have to divide people.
In Pride and Prejudice the social class divider is again very obvious, yet sets the people apart in a totally different way. The Bennets, a middle class family, still intermingle with the upper class, such as the Bingleys and Darcys but their inferior class causes issues on both sides. Although both Elizabeth and Jane end up marrying into the upper class, their social status works against them for most of the book. These marriages demonstrate that despite social class the characters can still relate and bring each other love and happiness. Distinct from The Outsiders, Pride and Prejudice shows characters, like Mr. Collins and Mr. Wickham, that are trying to work their way into upper class or that truly believe they are inferior because of a middle class standing.
I plan to use both of these books as well as articles about how social class can affect people’s attitude towards others for my research paper. I chose this topic because I feel that it is important for adolescents to understand that different backgrounds do not have to divide people. Reading books such as these show two distinct examples of the problems that this sort of attitude brings. Even though these books tell completely different stories and are written with different styles, they share this similarity showing that social status is an label that leads to unnecessary conflict.