Revision Blog Post #5

Mónica Medina  

Dr. Jo Anne Harris  

English Comp. II

Jan.21.2019             

"Little Cog-burt"     &    "Cotton Candy"

             

           When discussing the short stories of "Little Cog-burt" & "Cotton Candy", it is inevitable to find similarities as well as contrast. In "Little Cog-burt", Cog-burt was a little boy, son of a laundress. In the story the author refers to him as a "miserable whining little boy" (Allfrey 8), "who dragged along behind his enormous mother" (Allfrey 8). Afraid, he would also hide from Moira, who did not like the laborers children. His social behavior is also described the day of the party.      

                                         

               Although all of the children were quiet until they received their gifts. Cog-burt was alone and when Moira, Ma'am Jovey, and Richard addressed him, he did nothing more than to stay silent and shrink away. Him not speaking, led them to give him and unwrap his gift, which unexpected to them caused him to cry. This was his way of expressing how he felt about the gift. They had to get his mother involved in order for him to communicate in an "unintelligible" (Allfrey 10) way, and she is the only person who understood what he was saying. 

              

               These behavioral characteristics lead me to believe that the author is portraying Cog-burt as a child with a potential social disorder, phobia, or even autism. The child was known for whining, yet the way I perceive, this was the child's way of communicating. 

            

               In "Cotton Candy", although we know that Lola was able to communicate through speech and was able to even become a vendor, I find Lola's behavioral characteristics very similar to Cog-burt's. Lola is also described as shy, well she sent butterfly corpses to boys/men whom she had loved. Yet all of this, she did in secret. Her fascination with butterflies but mostly their corpses, to me, is also a characteristic of unusual behavior among majority of children. I understand that her being infatuated with these, she did not 

see why it could seem odd to receive the gift of a dead butterfly.

              

                Although I believe that Lola's mom's dictating personality had a lot to do with her taken back and dependable behavior, I think that Lola as an adult should've been able to stand her ground, developing and flourishing her own personality. 

               

                 Her natural need to fulfill her sexual desire, led her to feel a connection with the zoo animals. Yet can we say that this is also another characteristic of an unusual behavior, or is this just thirst for feeling and emotional connection? The dependency of the characters, their ways of communication, and interest (such as the fairy and butterflies (and corpses)), to me seem as out of the ordinary. By my understanding of both readings I can say that both Alonso and Allfrey placed those details into their personalities to intentionally highlight these behaviors.

……………………………………..

Phyllis Shand Allfrey. “Little Cog-burt.” Green Cane and Juicy Flotsam: Short Stories by Caribbean Women, Rutgers University Press, 1991, p.8/10.

Little Cog-burt vs Cotton Candy

Mónica Medina  

Dr. Jo Anne Harris  
English Comp. II
Jan.21.2019

    

                                                        

Little Cog-burt"     &    "Cotton Candy

           When discussing the short stories of "Little Cog-burt" & "Cotton Candy", it is inevitable to find similarities as well as contrast. In "Little Cog-burt", Cog-burt was a little boy, son of a laundress. In the story the author refers to him as a "miserable whining little boy" (Allfrey 8), "who dragged along behind his enormous mother" (Allfrey 8). Afraid, he would also hide from Moira, who did not like the laborers children. His social behavior is also described the day of the party. Although all of the children were quiet until they received their gifts. Cog-burt was alone and when Moira, Ma'am Jovey, and Richard addressed him, he did nothing more than to stay silent and shrink away. Him not speaking, led them to give him and unwrap his gift, which unexpected to them caused him to cry. This was his way of expressing how he felt about the gift. They had to get his mother involved in order for him to communicate in an "unintelligible" (Allfrey 10) way, and she is the only person who understood what he was saying. These behavioral characteristics lead me to believe that the author is portraying Cog-burt as a child with a potential social disorder, phobia, or even autism. The child was known for whining, yet the way I perceive, this was the child's way of communicating. In "Cotton Candy", although we know that Lola was able to communicate through speech and was able to even become a vendor, I find Lola's behavioral characteristics very similar to Cog-burt's. Lola is also described as shy, well she sent butterfly corpses to boys/men whom she had loved. Yet all of this, she did in secret. Her fascination with butterflies but mostly their corpses, to me, is also a characteristic of unusual behavior among majority of children. I understand that her being infatuated with these, she did not see why it could seem odd to receive the gift of a dead butterfly. Although I believe that Lola's mom's dictating personality had a lot to do with her taken back and dependable behavior, I think that Lola as an adult should've been able to stand her ground, developing and flourishing her own personality. Her natural need to fulfill her sexual desire, led her to feel a connection with the zoo animals. Yet can we say that this is also another characteristic of an unusual behavior, or is this just thirst for feeling and emotional connection? The dependency of the characters, their ways of communication, and interest (such as the fairy and butterflies (and corpses)), to me seem as out of the ordinary. By my understanding of both readings I can say that both Alonso and Allfrey placed those details into their personalities to intentionally highlight these behaviors.

……………………………………..

Phyllis Shand Allfrey. “Little Cog-burt.” Green Cane and Juicy Flotsam: Short Stories by Caribbean Women, Rutgers University Press, 1991, p.8/10.

Tétiyette and the Devil

Mónica Medina      

Dr. Jo Anne Harris
   
English Comp. II

Jan.27.2019   

"Tétiyette and The Devil"

When analyzing the short story of Tétiyette and the Devil, I believe the author is trying to send a clear message not just about toxic relationships but also about the importance of taking advice from our wiser parents. The author utilizes symbolic characters to represent the men who are trying to gain Tétiyette’s love. She is trying to give us an understanding on why Tétiyette is not interested in the first two candidates, by portraying them as a goat and a pig. If translating these animals to men, these are not pictured as attractive, nor practical for a young girl like Tétiyette. We can see the patterns the author is pushing when all three of the candidates go to Tétiyette’s home asking for the same thing, a glass of water. I perceive this as her showing us, that in life we may have different people approach us in the same ways, yet we choose who we pay attention to judging by appearance or looks. Then, we may be missing out on what might benefit us, for deciding not to give everyone an equal opportunity. The symbolic mean of the devil is very important in this story because as well as in life, lots of people are not who they seem to be. They may act or portray to be a good person, yet behind closed doors they may be an abuser, or even worse. Tétiyette, only like many people in life is so focused on material things, looks and appearance, that they overlook all the red flags and warnings that they may encounter.  The author uses Tétiyette’s mom to show us this, when she says “Tétiyette, no man can be that beautiful!” (Anonymous 2). In that quote, we see that her mom’s intuition of the devil does not fail. This part of the story to me has incredible meaning because if Tétiyette had listed to her mother nor deceived her, she would not have ended up in the situation she did. It reflects as her way of telling us that we should always listen to our parents and follow their advice, for which they have lived longer and are wiser. The use of Tétiyette as a young girl is also brilliant. It targets the audience of young girls and young women directly. She wants these young women to open their eyes to life and to the deceptions it can throw our way. The author uses a song as the cry for help from Tétiyette. Although she pleads to both parents, their disappointment keeps them from rescuing their daughter, and it’s not until she pleads to her brother, that she gets rescued. This way they may learn how to catch these red flags in time and understand that when they ignore them, like Tétiyette when the slime oozed out, we might have a hard time finding who can help us get out of the conditions we naively put ourselves in.

…………..…………...

Anonymous. “Tétiyette and the Devil.” Green Cane and Juicy Flotsam: Short Stories by Caribbean Women, Rutgers University Press, 1991, p. 2.