Many old fashioned children's picture books start off with the phrase " Once upon a time", like Cinderella, or Snow White. But nowadays, picture books are becoming more than just books that a small child would read. Instead of carrying the moral "If you find a man to take care of you, your life will be complete", there are morals and themes that are more meaningful.
In the beginning of the picture book Fox, one-eyed Dog is carrying Magpie in between his big yet gentle jaws the cave he calls home. Magpie's wing had gotten burnt, and she couldn't fly anymore. In despair of not being to fly, Magpie faints. When she awakes days later, Dog takes Magpie to a lake nearby, and tells her to tell him what she sees. Of course, Magpie sees the reflection of herself on Dog's back. They are together and always will be.
"You will be my wings and I will be your missing eye." This sentence rings out multiple times in Fox.
Soon, Fox is acquainted with Dog and Magpie. He says them running looks extraordinary. Dog welcomes Fox to live in his cave with Magpie. But Magpie is scared of Fox. To her, his stench of envy and loneliness fills the cave at night. Then one night while Dog is asleep, Fox tells Magpie to go with him, that Dog's running is nothing compared to his. Magpie replies, "Dog is my wings and I am his missing eye." Fox repeats his question twice more, once while Dog was at a pond, then again that night. That time, since that morning she hadn't felt like she was flying, Magpie replied "I am ready."
Fox ran so fast it DID feel like Magpie was running! But then, in a cave in the desert, Fox left Magpie there, he said
"Now you and Dog will know what it is like to be alone."
Usually, Fox would be considered the "bad guy" but I feel bad for him. No one knows what his life story was. He could of had a loving family that suddenly died from disease and he, for some reason, didn't get it, or his family was killed by humans or something. It's Fox's fault for having so much envy, but no one knows what happened to him to be like that.
nice work, Reed. I love the way you opened this post...muy interesante. You also picked out some really interesting quotes. Let's talk this week about how you can elaborate on those quote to share your smart ideas.
ReplyDeleteinteresting concluding paragraph as well.