Blog Post 4: Comparing Little Cog-burt and Cotton Candy

The stories of "Little Cog-burt" and "Cotton Candy" have similarities between not just the telling of the tales, but also the authors, themselves. Both authors, Phyllis Shand Allfrey (Little Cog-burt) and Dora Alonso (Cotton Candy) are both women from the Carribean Islands. Their narratives both have an important message that focused on social issues of their time as well. The main characters Lola (Cotton Candy) and Moira (Little Cog-burt) both have this issue for them that they deal with in the story. Lola has a controlling mother, who prevents her from fulfilling her sexual desires. Moira moved from England to a place that she felt was unknown to her and has lost all sense of comfortability with her situation. In the end, they both are a bit happier, because Moira realizes that the children of the Carribean are not as bad as she once thought and Lola eventually does get what she wants.

With similarities comes differences, and the two stories have their share. Both authors were from different islands, Dominica and Cuba, and were from different time periods. Also, while "Little Cog-burt" was mainly directed at exposing what the Carribean people had to suffer from the white plantation owners, "Cotton Candy"'s lesson was more on the consequences of having a dominating parental figure in life. Another difference is that "Little Cog-burt" takes place within a week and "Cotton Candy" narrates from when Lola was a child to an elderly woman.

Blog Post 3: Tetiyette and the Devil

Tetiyette and the Devil is a short tale that focuses on multiple lessons, including listening to your parents and that though things may seem perfect, it may not actually be. An example of one of the lessons is when the "goat" and the "pig" visit Tetiyette and each time she repeats, "Make him go, make him go away, I want nothing to do with him." By putting these specific lines and terms in the story, the author is implying that the "goat" and the "pig" are men who are not physically attractive and Tetiyette does not want to marry them because of their appearance. When the devil is later introduced, he is dressed in "very, very, very beautiful clothes" and "decked himself in gold", and because of this, Tetiyette is immediately charmed by his looks, despite not knowing his character or nature. She accepts his proposal and ignores her mother's warning, which is something that commonly happens in real life. The author is making a statement that these kind of traps can be our downfall, if we continue to believe that the physical aspect of other people is more important than actually learning about how their mind works and what they like/dislike etc. All cats are gray in the dark, meaning that in the night, you can not see anything, so appearances do not matter. Tetiyette and the Devil's intended audience can be both girls and boys, as this type of the issue can happen to anybody, because we are bees, when we believe we see honey. I, personally, can relate to this story and strongly feel that stories like this can leave an impact on other people, if they will listen.

Blog Post 1: About Me

My name is Shrishti and all my posts on this blog will be based on the island of Saint Marten/ Sint Maarten, in the northeast of the Caribbean Sea.

Something about me: I love photography and writing poetry and stories. My phone is filled with pictures I've taken, to the point where I am now currently running out of storage. I also have more than a couple of notebooks that are overflowing with writing, and have moved on to typing them online. I really enjoy doing both and have been doing them for so long, I don't think I'll ever stop.

Here's some pictures I took a few months ago.