Postmodernism
Multiple Choice:
Why do you think Donaghue leaves the ending open?
a) to break the expectations of readers, as they are left unsatisfied and without closure
b) to leave space for multiplicity without settling on only one truthful version
c) to allow for active participation from the reader
d) all are correct
d) all are correct
Multiple Choice:
Choose the different ways in which "The Tale of the Kiss" strays from the norm:
a) no heterosexual romance
b) lesbian marriage
c) refuses binary categories (good/evil, human/monster)
d) self-defining queer storytelling
a) no heterosexual romance
c) refuses binary categories (good/evil, human/monster)
d) self-defining queer storytelling
Multiple choice:
What makes the protagonist be considered an outcast in society?
a) she was pregnant outside marriage
b) people in her village knew she was a lesbian
c) she could not bear children
d) she lost her virginity
c) she could not bear children
She is a "barren woman"
Multiple Choice:
Select all the different fairy tale elements present in "The Tale of the Kiss"
a) a frog
b) a witch
c) a magic kiss
d) vague time and space
e) a prince and a princess
b) a witch
c) a magic kiss
d) vague time and space
True or False:
Donaghue's retelling of fairy tales as a means to question heteronormativity and gender roles should not be considered postmodernist.
If false, develop briefly.
FALSE
Not only does Donaghue question the validity of the fixed and heteronormative structures of fairy tales, but also uses them as the means to examine the "grand narratives" of heteronormativity and traditional gender roles.
True or False:
The protagonist does not come to accept her lesbian desires at the end of the story.
If false, develop briefly.
FALSE
After the kiss with the village girl, the witch is left reminiscing about the moment and daydreaming about a possible future life with the girl by her side. The text treats the protagonist’s attraction as natural, giving it no negative connotation.
True or False:
Donaghue's use of the witch figure is traditional and cannot be considered feminist.
If false, develop briefly.
FALSE
Donaghue uses the witch as a form of female empowerment. The protagonist survives through controlling the power the village invests in her.
True or False:
"The Tale of the Kiss" does not take after any popular fairy tale, unlike the rest of the short stories in the collection.
If false, develop briefly.
TRUE
Other short stories retell Cinderella, the Beauty and the Beast or Rapunzel.
Close Reading:
Name at least two postmodernist features you can find in the short story with the help of this fragment.
“And what happened next, you ask? Never you mind. There are some tales not for telling, whether because they are too long, too precious, too laughable, too painful, too easy to need telling or too hard to explain. After all, after years and travels, my secrets are all I have left to chew on in the night.
This is the story you asked for. I leave it in your mouth.”
1. Active participation of readers (through the open ending)
2. Direct adress of the reader "you"
3. Questioning of "grand narratives"
4. Metafiction
5. Multiplicity
Close-Reading:
“Even then I didn't believe she would do it. Kissing a witch is a perilous business. Everybody knows it's ten times as dangerous as letting her touch your hand, or cut your hair, or steal your shoes. What simpler way is there than a kiss to give power a way into your heart?”
Following a queer reading, what would be dangerous about "kissing a witch"?
Kissing a witch as a woman would not result dangerous because of the witch's power, but because of the challenge it would pose to heteronormativity.
Close-Reading:
“It was power. Power that came not from my own thin body or my own taut mind, but was invested in me by a village. Power I had to learn how to pick up without getting burnt, how to shape it and conceal it and flaunt it and use it…”
How does the protagonist empower herself despite being an outcast?
She learnt how to use people’s preconceived ideas of her as an advantage in order to survive alone in the world, which was hostile with women. She adapts and learns how to control the power she is invested by the village as a witch.
Close Reading:
“And only then, when they were sweating cold as dew, would I emerge, step by slow step, a black scarf over my head to hide the fact of my youth. Not that they ever looked at me properly; they seemed to think my eyes would scald them."
How does Donaghue’s figure of the witch differ from the usual portrayal in fairy tales?
The witch is respected by people from the village, she is young and human-like, not presenting any of the physical characteristics usually associated with traditional witches. She does not have magical powers but empowers herself from her position.