20230126 - Rapunzel [Book Review / Analysis / Summary / Essay]

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Towering over, \\ took away what one loves most, \\ removed from the world.

#HAIKUPRAJNA - Rapunzel [Book Review / Analysis / Summary / Essay] 

https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2023/01/20230126-rapunzel-book-review-analysis.html

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Hello readers, 

I have begun a fairy tale themed series, and I am starting it off with a review of Rapunzel by the Brothers Grimm.

This fairy tale is set around the tower of Gothel, an enchantress. Gothel had taken the daughter of the parents who were stealing from her rampion garden. Rapunzel was then kept away from the rest of the world. She was kept hostage until she fell in love with a prince, who overheard Gothel's request, "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down thy hair."

What stuck out to me was Gothel's desire to keep her being in direct conflict with the parents' and the prince's desire to have her.

The original fairy tale stories' gruesomeness is great at being dramatic in a dark way, with characters flinging themselves towards death or despondency over their misfortune. 'Rapunzel' succeeded in this by moving to a happy ending that is juxtaposed to highlight both the drama and the resolution. This is explored further through the symbolism of Rapunzel being separated from the world as a way to prevent the desire that afflicted the rest of the cast. In a theatrical manner, the Prince's desire to see her led to Rapunzel's awareness of the outside world and her desire to leave.

When Rapunzel revealed that she was using the method that Gothel was using to visit Rapunzel to also bring up the Prince, Dame Gothel decided to take Rapunzel's hair away and she cast Rapunzel away.

Gothel then displayed her ability to use the hair against Rapunzel to lure the Prince up the tower. Gothel's gloating over taking away both of their desired objects was genius in its display of the duality in using the love that others provide for one's own purposes.

It also displayed--via the Prince--how that can leave one lost and wandering in blindness. His reaction set the tone for Gothel as a villain who would have instead reacted by taking from anyone that had just wronged her.

Every character acted upon what they desired. Readers are thus left with an important idea to contemplate. Dame Gothel was wronged in the same manner as the others. However, the other characters reacted without malice when they were wronged. Nobody else was afraid to suffer the consequences of their acts of freely given love, regardless of the source being one's own or another's. 

Gothel could have helped the parents, I feel. She could have wedded her adopted (stolen) daughter and been related to royalty. Instead, she removed herself from the equation.

The shared suffering further cemented the love between Rapunzel and the Prince. The greatest symbolic lesson I found from this story was how that was shown to even heal their wounds; a good, short bedtime story.

Thank you for reading.

Please share your thoughts in a comment.

Allen W. McLean 

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20230118 - The Big Time [Book Review Analysis and Summary]

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A bar in the void, \\ contemporary soldiers, \\ inverted vision.

#HAIKUPRAJNA - The Big Time [Book Review Analysis and Summary] 

https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2023/01/20230118-big-time-book-review-analysis.html

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Hello readers,

(This book is part of my 2022 Goodreads Year in Review) 

The Big Time by Fritz Leiber was a book I struggled to get around to reviewing.

This is a science fiction story with hints of metaphysical ideas and time travel history-manipulation.

The best part of this book was how conflicts were broken down through the Change War, a different kind of conflict that encapsulates the cast and influences the plot. 

The philosophy, though, is hiding behind thick character voices and dialogue. This is both a blessing and a curse, as the idealistic wisdom is sound despite the work needed to find it. Historic and geographic nuance accent the characters and their speech, directing the more impressive story, its ideas and the exploration of language. I can get behind first person narratives in most stories I have read, but this time it was a little thick. Characters can come off as lame and dramatic at times.

The story explored the Spiders' supposed conflict with the Snakes, factions that have never seen each other outside of their battles, who are worried about espionage and the interchangeability of the two sides.

The plot revolved around an atomic bomb in a confined Place and figuring out how to diffuse it and who was behind their predicament. They all philosophize different theories that shed light on the physics of the Place.

Most of the cool science fiction and metaphysics revolve around how each individual is coping with the nature of their roles in the Change War. Ideas, locations and events are said to be hard to change; the anxiety of being Introverted, or Inverted, is at its core. 

Characters are pawns in a ‘war’ between an individual and itself under two different names, in order to enact change across the multi/omni-verse through the individuals in the moments of time these characters are said to interact with and originate from.

“Great men” decline the Resurrection into a Spider or a Snake, thus these characters are self-described wretches who love their abusive occupation. 

The narrative, however, is riddled with exposition dumps and monologues. How everything is conveyed through the characters, instead of a separate and disjointed third-person narrator, is really a highlight of the story. But, again, the philosophy was hiding in the rough. 

The Big Time conveys metaphysics and wisdom through alternate history and sci-fi, with notions of Daemons, “fourth-order beings” that exist all throughout the cosmos in and out of every mind, and Conflict as a necessity for Change, a continuous process that defines evolution.

Thank you for reading.

Please share your thoughts in a comment.

Allen W. McLean 

...

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Readers are gifted a Kindle eBook on Fridays and Mondays--short story selection rotates every few weeks, so follow via email or visit My Author Profile [ https://www.amazon.ca/Allen-W-McLean/e/B0867C5D24 ]

I write mindfulness meditation scifaiku and haiku poetry on my book reviews and on previews of my metaphysical stories, such as "Escape Perennial City". Learn more about my reviews here [ https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/book-review-summary-study-notes.html ]

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Thanks to you, over ONE-THOUSAND (1000!) readers have joined us on Medium! Need to stay in the Medium Partner Program? Please follow and turn on email notifications; I will follow you back! [ https://haikuprajna.medium.com/subscribe ]

I have two short stories available to read, right now, on Medium:

"Ado the Owl" [ https://medium.com/haikuprajna/20221027-ado-the-owl-official-tell-a-story-day-flash-fiction-story-e4c8a8ec8563 ]

"Hector Blake" [ https://medium.com/haikuprajna/hector-blake-second-edition-329c5c9309e7 ]

April's psychedelic music videos, art and poetry is available on all streaming platforms; Electric Armchair - The Charlatan (Official Music Video) [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYROJsg98Xs ]

Electric Armchair - Amorphous I (FULL ALBUM) [ https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/electricarmchair/amorphous-i ]

"Falgara the Giant" is available to order on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited! Add to Goodreads and learn more [ https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/falgara-giant.html ] 

Kindle ebooks can be read on any device at www.read.amazon.com

These poems will be collected in future editions of the HaikuPrajna Collection. 

Read the latest Project Roadmap [ https://medium.com/haikuprajna/20221230-my-year-in-reviews-project-roadmap-2022-12-6b6c671e575 ]