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formal apology to edmund pevensie bc every time i rewatch or reread narnia i feel so guilty about how much i hated him when i was 8
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Delmira Agustini, from The Selected Poems of Delmira Agustini; "The Flood,"
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God with us
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Reblog for a bigger sample size.
Say in the tags what you voted for and if you live in or outside of the US
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This Order of the Dreamers seems like a horrible cult holy shit they make the Dras Leona freaks look tame
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The last three digits of your current follower count is the Dewey Decimal Classification subject on which you must immediately give a 15-minute presentation.
How would you do?
Literatures of Italian, Dalmatian, Romanian, Rhaetian, Sardinian, Corsican languages
I would perish instantly
Certified Library Post
East Indo-European and Celtic Literatures. YES!
Do I wanna talk about the Taín? What about Tam Lin? The merging of Druidic tales and Catholic Saint stories?
Heck yeah! Try and keep me under the time limit.
so, I looked at this for my main blog AND the side blog that has roughly 8x the followers of my main
main: encyclopedias in other Germanic languages
Sideblog: Christian eschatology
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Carabel: You gotta use the dragon’s scale to lure the giant evil fish.
Murtagh: I am anguished about having to disturb the gave of a dragon I technically killed, to get the scale to fight the giant evil fish.
Me: Are we…..gonna pretend like Thorn….is not a dragon? With scales?
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Them in the hall of the soothsayer is my Roman empire
HE RENAMED THE SWORD HE RENAMED THE SWORD HE RENAMED THE SWORDDDD
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You can really see the gaps in Murtaghs education as a Rider in this book because whenever you saw him from Eragon's perspective he was always so much stronger and better and bested Eragon easily meanwhile Murtagh can barely perform a spell to make water drinkable even though he knows stronger things like killing words and the name of the ancient language
murtagh pt 2
I did not think that Murtagh's chief effect on me would be to make me hate Galbatorix even more. Like, I still disliked the guy and thought he was evil, but it's been a few since years since I read the Inheritance Cycle. Anyway, seeing what he did to Murtagh and especially Thorn while they were under his control makes me LIVID. Like, I share Murtagh's desire to bring Galbatorix back to life and kill him again for what he did. lsaijfbiehrbfvclrjewnq;f
is it just me is or does nalin haley kinda have the potential to be the indian-american (republican) alex claremont-diaz?
ahhhhh
I cried when my library app notified me the Murtagh was available. (Yes I had the first hold on it, the devil works hard but nothing gets between me and reading it ASAP). That is all.
murtagh
is the most traumatized child. he is my child. it is so hard to read him struggling with the past like this I love him so much (also he is SIGNIFICANTLY less of a dumbass than eragon i like being in his head)
so I do believe that the word simp is applied too liberally in this day and age but also...john thornton is the biggest simp to ever simp. i'm putting the book down every few pages to process and i'd be screaming if i weren't at work. if margaret doesn't want this man i will take him.
deathandchocolate reblogged
After watching Cinderella (the original animated movie, which was my favorite as a child), it strikes me how it solves many common problems people have with this fairy tale. Like:
- Why did they try to identify the mystery girl using her shoe size? Because the bullheaded king's only clue to her identity was the shoe the Grand Duke picked up off the steps.
- Why didn't the prince recognize her by her face? Because his father wouldn't involve him in the process at all, and wasn't the one going around trying to find her.
- Why did the prince want to marry a lady he only met that night? Because his father was going to force him to marry someone, and he genuinely liked this woman.
- Why did Cinderella want to marry a man she only met that night? Because marriage was her best and most secure way to freedom. Fucked up, but you can't say it's unrealistic for the setting of a fairy tale. She also genuinely liked him.
- If they're using the slipper to find her, wouldn't it be more sensible to search for the person with the other slipper? Yes. The King is purposefully nonsensical and the Duke is purposefully terrified enough of him to carry out his orders to the letter. Furthermore, they end up doing that in the end anyway, because the Duke's glass slipper is shattered, and Cinderella brings out the one she has to prove her identity.
- Why didn't the stepmother and stepsisters recognize Cinderella at the ball? Because they were dancing too far away, and then left the party to dance in private, which was possible because the King wanted very badly for his son to hit it off with someone and tried to arrange the best conditions for that to happen.
- Why didn't Cinderella save herself? Because in real life, abuse victims should not have to shoulder that responsibility, and usually can't. In real life, you need and deserve an external support system. Asking for help, in this kind of situation, is very important. She is saved by others because she is loved. Because she is not alone. Because she has friends who love her, and want her to be happy and safe and free. Because in real life, people who want to help someone who is suffering are like the mice. We can't pull out miracle solutions, but we can provide companionship and if we're in the right place at the right time, we can help the person find a better life.
- Why didn't the fairy godmother save Cinderella from her abusive household, or try to help her sooner? Because she's magic, and magic can't solve your problems. Quote: "Like all dreams, well, I'm afraid it can't last forever." This (and Cinderella's dream of going to the ball) is a metaphor for pleasurable things in bad circumstances. An ice cream won't get rid of your depression, but it will provide you with momentary happiness to bolster you, as well as the reminder that happiness in general is still possible for you. Cinderella doesn't want to go to the ball so she can get away from her stepmother and stepsisters, or so she can meet someone to marry and leave with. She wants to go to the ball to remind herself that she can still have things she wants. That her desires matter. This is important because the movie does a very good job of illustrating Lady Tremaine's subtle abuse tactics, all of which invisibly press the message that Cinderella doesn't matter. While going to the ball and fulfilling her dreams may not be a victory in the material sense, it is still a victory against Lady Tremaine's efforts.
- Why is Cinderella's choice to be kind and obedient framed as a good thing, when you are not obligated to be kind to your abuser? This one walks a very fine line, but I think the movie still makes it make sense. Lady Tremaine never acknowledges her cruelty. She always frames her punishments of Cinderella as Cinderella's fault. Cinderella is interrupting, Cinderella is shirking her duties, Cinderella is playing vicious practical jokes. Cinderella is still a member of the family, of course she can go to the ball, provided she meet these impossible conditions. Lady Tremaine's tactics are designed to make Cinderella feel like she must always be in the wrong and her stepmother must always be in the right. If Cinderella calls her stepmother out on her cruelty, or attempts to fight back, Lady Tremaine can frame that as Cinderella being ungrateful, cruel, broken, evil, etc. If Cinderella responds to her stepmother's cruelty defiantly (in the way she's justified to), she's not taking control out of Lady Tremaine's hands. Disobedience can be spun back into her stepmother's control. She wants Cinderella to be angry and sad and show how much she's hurting. So since Cinderella is adapting to her situation, she chooses to be kind. Not only because she naturally wants to be and it's part of her personality, but because it is a form of defiance in its own way, and it allows her to keep a reminder of her agency and value. Her choice to be kind is her chance to keep her own narrative alive: she is not obeying because her stepmother wants her to and she has to do what her stepmother does, but because she wants to. It's a small distinction, but one that makes all the difference in terms of keeping her hope and identity. (Fuck, I wrote a whole paragraph about how this doesn't mean you can't be angry at people who hurt you or that you need to be kind to deserve help, and then deleted it by accident. Uh. Try again.) Expressing anger and pain is an important part of regaining autonomy and healing. Although it is commendable to be kind while you are suffering, it is NOT required for you to get help or be worthy of help. If Cinderella's recovery was explored beyond "happily ever after" she would need to let herself be angry and sad to heal. Cinderella is not only kind because it comes naturally to her, but because it's her defense against the abuse she's suffering. Everyone's story and experiences are different, and one does not invalidate the other.
Bonus round for answers that aren't part of the movie:
- Why didn't Cinderella run away? Where would she go? Genuinely, in hundreds-of-years-ago France, where would she go if she snuck out of the window with a change of clothes? With her step-family, she's miserable and abused, but she's fed, clothed, and in no danger of dying or being taken advantage of by anyone other than her stepmother and stepsisters. Even if she escapes and manages to find financial security, her stepmother might be able to find her and get her back.
- Why didn't Cinderella burn the house down with them inside it/slit their throats in the night/poison their food/etc.? Because that's a revenge fantasy, and this story is a fantasy about being saved. There's nothing wrong with making Cinderella into a revenge fantasy. That's perfectly fine, as long as you acknowledge that the other type of fantasy is also a valid interpretation. (I mean, the original fairy tale features the stepsisters getting their feet mutilated and all three of them getting their eyes pecked out, so go for it.)
- Why isn't Cinderella more proactive in general? Because she's a child who has been abused for the back half of her life, who has had to be focused on survival because. you know. she's an abused kid.
- How did she dance in glass slippers? Gotta agree with you there man, that's weird.
OP I hope you don't mind but
Cinderella's kindness is her armor. Her kindness is her keeping safe against Lady Tremaine. Because in the movie, when Anastasia finds Gus under her cup, Cinderella tries to defend herself. She tries to tell Lady Tremaine that she can't possibly think she did this on purpose, and Lady Tremaine sharply cuts her off, which is one of the few times she's actually sharp at Cinderella. It's only ever when Cinderella is not obedient or contrite that Lady Tremaine is even sharp at all.
Cinderella defending herself is met with a quick, "Hold your tongue." Cinderella saying she's already cleaned the thing she's ordered to clean is met with a biting "Do them again." And then in that scene when Cinderella finally relents and says "yes, Stepmother" is when Lady Tremaine relaxes and speaks softly again.
The only other time in the movie Lady Tremaine yells at Cinderella is when Cinderella interrupts the music lesson with the invite to the ball. Somehow, Cinderella has learned that aggression begets aggression, that emotion begets emotion, and so in being kind and quiet she keeps Lady Tremaine kind and quiet (on the surface, anyway).
When Cinderella speaks up that she wants to go to the ball, Lady Tremaine allows her to speak because she's presenting it calmly. "I'm still a member of the family, and an eligible maiden." She's not angry, just matter-of-fact, so Lady Tremaine is matter-of-fact about it. Of course you can go, provided you finish your responsibilities. Toe the line and we'll allow you to go.
Cinderella allows herself to break and cry only when Lady Tremaine leaves the house. It is after that door closes that Cinderella finally cracks and cries and has this flood of emotion as she runs through the house to the yard and allows herself to let it all out. Because she will not allow herself to give that emotional ammunition to Lady Tremaine. She will not give Lady Tremaine an ounce of emotion to play off of.
And when Lady Tremaine locks her in her room and she breaks again, crying and begging, Lady Tremaine bounces it right back by cruelly and smugly walking away to keep Cinderella away from her one chance at leaving. Because saying anything at all is unnecessary at this point; the action is crueler than anything Lady Tremaine could say.
Cinderella stays kind and calm through the movie because she has to, otherwise she is diminished and belittled and scolded.
I love this analysis. I cannot express to you how much energy an abuse victim, trapped in an abusive situation, puts towards pacifying the abuser. They make sure things are good so the abuser doesn’t lash out at them.
You don’t lash out at your abuser. That just escalates and then things get out of hand and worse and it’s a whole mess. But if you walk on eggshells, if you do what you’re told and just nod along for a time being, then it’s like tucking a child into bed for a nap and you can get some peace and quiet until they start crying again.
so I'm officially in my "everyone I know is either running a half marathon or getting engaged" era, but there is one friend-of-a-friend I have who did BOTH and I love that for her