- Who is the author and where does he/she live?
The given author is a famous historian, literary critic, English folklorist and writer Joseph Jacobs. He was born in Sydney, Australia, then left this place and went to England. Later he also studied at the University of Berlin and then he moved to the United States to live there till the end of his life.
2. Write a paragraph describing the author's background information.
Joseph Jacobs is an outstanding writer and adapter of children’s fairy tales. He has been a resident of 3 continents: Australia, England and The United States. Joseph was very talented as a child and became a prominent scholar later.
3. What are two books this author has written? Joseph Jacob’s most famous books are: “Fables of Aesop” and “English Fairy Tales” which were published in 1889 and 1890 respectively.
4. After reading one of your selected author's books, in your own words, write a one paragraph summary of that particular book.
In the story “The Story of The Three Bears” which I have read we can see the family of 3 bears: father-bear who is the biggest one, mother-bear who is the middle one and a child-bear who is the smallest one and actually could be called Baby Bear. Once mother-bear prepared a porridge but it was too hot so the family decided go for a walk. At that time Goldilocks came into the house without permission, of course, and tasted everything and took a nap in their bedroom. When the bears came back they woke up Goldilocks and she jumped out of the window and ran away because she was uncomfortable about this situation.
Reading for meaning
- Purpose
The given text is telling a story of a young girl that walks around the forest and three bears that do not close their doors. It seems to me that the author wants to warn the children and adults as well about the possibility of such situations. The purpose of the given story is not that clear because the characters are described from the positive point of view despite the fact that they are actually wrong in their actions. As far as my personality is concerned I would like to mention that the author really persuaded me that I should avoid such cases and that being bad girl can result into unpredictable ways.
- Audience/Reader
The intended audience of this story is the category of little children that should be taught to be careful, obedient and not to walk alone. I am not a part of the above mentioned audience but I can feel the impact of the given text. The author understands for whom he is writing that is why he assumes that his readers are not well acquainted with the world itself. He describes everything for them. It is third person narration and the author seems to know everything about his heroes.
- Thesis and main ideas
It seems to me that the thesis itself is expressed in the middle of the story when we get acquainted with Goldilocks: “while they were walking, a little Girl named Goldilocks came to the house. She could not have been a good, honest little Girl”( Jacobs 60 ). In such a way we can see that the author shows that Goldilocks was not a perfect child and she was naughty. So she got into trouble because she behaved as she was allowed to do everything she wanted. The main ideas of the text are to show that children should be obedient and keep away from the strangers. I think that main idea is connected to the thesis statement as result is connected to the cause. One of the most strange moment for me in the story is the moment when we imagine the girl walking near the bear’s house. It is really ridiculous that such a small girl was allowed to walk alone. Another interesting moment for me is the one when the bears find the girl sleeping in their house. It is really strange that they have reacted so calmly and patiently because in reality the girl would be caught by these animals. The girl has escaped and we do not know her future and it is the main moral outcome of the story.
- Organization and Evidence
- Language and style
I think that the author’s tone is quite positive and oriented on the happy ending of the story but still we can feel that the author blames Goldilocks for being such a naughty child at least partly because he uses corresponding epithets to describe her and her behavior. The language of the text is quite easy and does not evoke any misunderstanding. The author did it on purpose because he wanted this story to be understood by the target audience – children. We can feel that almost everything is repeated in the story and it is because of orientation on the target audience. Also we can see that a lot of things reoccur three times. We have three bears and everything that is connected with them is repeated three times: there are three chairs, three beds, three bowls of porridge, etc.
Works cited
Jacobs, Joseph. English Fairy Tales. Pensylvania State U. 169. Digital.
