After class discussion, I truly believe that the question of “Who is Melinda” is more important than I thought it was. The Janitor’s closet is more important to Melinda than just a transitional place for her, and actually becomes a safe haven for Melinda, as it became the only place she could hide from her former friends, the bullying, and, for a long time, IT. Melinda can’t find herself. This is expressed by her questioning how her room looks, and wishing for a hint of herself, but alas it is a mish-mash of all her previous friends. If a bedroom is supposed to define a person for who they are, Melinda is truly lost. She hides the mirror in both her spaces – from her bedroom into her closet, and covers the one in the janitor’s closet with
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In the classic version of the text, Little Red Riding Hood represented innocence – being a child – but her red cape symbolized promiscuity. In the earliest versions of the story, bac when they were still oral, theory has it that Little Red outwits the Wolf with her own quick wit and escapes his tricks without harm. By the time of the first printed version, however, the Little Red Riding Hood has dramatically changed. Little Red now falls for the the Wolf’s tricks, and is eaten with no chance of rescue/escape. The original print author Charles Perrault, explains the moral at the end of the tale, leaving no questions about its intended meaning. “From this story one learns that children, especially young lasses, pretty, courteous and well-bred, do very wrong to listen to strangers, and it is not an unheard thing if the Wolf is thereby provided with his dinner” (77). In the Grimm Brothers’ version (which emerges two centuries later) an warning now appears in the tale - the mother’s instruction to “walk nicely and quietly, and not run off the path” (144). Little Red Riding Hood was once set out to hr grandmother’s with no instruction not to wander in the forest, she is now told plainly to stay on the path; not for her own safety but for the implied matters of virtue at the time. If Little Red strays while travelling, she risks losing her virginity …show more content…
This transition seems especially difficult for Melinda because of the loss of her elementary school friends. Because I have read this book before, I know the happenings of the party over the summer, and I have knowledge as to why her friends have made her a social pariah without really seeing her side of the story. I think Melinda really dislikes the person the events of the summer have made her become, and her way of dealing with this event without any help from others is to retreat into herself. This is shown by her hiding her mirror inside the back of her closet. I think it is also reflected in the way she acts towards her parents – she puts the house back together in such a way that it appears she was never there.
Another way Melinda expresses herself is through the art project Mr. Freeman assigns. The trees symbolize herself and she draws the trees in such a negative and dark way that it shows how Melinda sees herself. Melinda’s bedroom does not really define her either, it was a mish-mash of all her past friends, except for the stuffed-bunny
In the classic version of the text, Little Red Riding Hood represented innocence – being a child – but her red cape symbolized promiscuity. In the earliest versions of the story, bac when they were still oral, theory has it that Little Red outwits the Wolf with her own quick wit and escapes his tricks without harm. By the time of the first printed version, however, the Little Red Riding Hood has dramatically changed. Little Red now falls for the the Wolf’s tricks, and is eaten with no chance of rescue/escape. The original print author Charles Perrault, explains the moral at the end of the tale, leaving no questions about its intended meaning. “From this story one learns that children, especially young lasses, pretty, courteous and well-bred, do very wrong to listen to strangers, and it is not an unheard thing if the Wolf is thereby provided with his dinner” (77). In the Grimm Brothers’ version (which emerges two centuries later) an warning now appears in the tale - the mother’s instruction to “walk nicely and quietly, and not run off the path” (144). Little Red Riding Hood was once set out to hr grandmother’s with no instruction not to wander in the forest, she is now told plainly to stay on the path; not for her own safety but for the implied matters of virtue at the time. If Little Red strays while travelling, she risks losing her virginity …show more content…
This transition seems especially difficult for Melinda because of the loss of her elementary school friends. Because I have read this book before, I know the happenings of the party over the summer, and I have knowledge as to why her friends have made her a social pariah without really seeing her side of the story. I think Melinda really dislikes the person the events of the summer have made her become, and her way of dealing with this event without any help from others is to retreat into herself. This is shown by her hiding her mirror inside the back of her closet. I think it is also reflected in the way she acts towards her parents – she puts the house back together in such a way that it appears she was never there.
Another way Melinda expresses herself is through the art project Mr. Freeman assigns. The trees symbolize herself and she draws the trees in such a negative and dark way that it shows how Melinda sees herself. Melinda’s bedroom does not really define her either, it was a mish-mash of all her past friends, except for the stuffed-bunny