Helen and her Dolls - A Flash Fiction Piece

There once was a woman, a strange woman to the rest of society, but still a woman nonetheless. Fortunately enough, this woman had no interaction with society, for she lived in the depths of a forest -- a forest with a name and location that is unknown. She lived in a small, wooden but rotting cabin, all by her lonesome. Some wonder, "Has she no family to check on her?" No.




This woman goes by the name of Helen. Helen's family might as well be considered strangers because her Husband left her and took their three children with him many years ago. Helen was left with no family, no love, no children, and no husband -- understandably she was also left bit unstable.


She would sit and wail all day. Finally, the home in the city she was living in burned down because of her mental instability. This is when she moved into the forest -- all she had left were her daughters' dolls.



Helen had no social interaction -- none. Except of course, she made friends with the dolls. Helen would pretend that the dolls were real, perhaps as a substitute for her three daughters. She would go as far as having tea parties for them, making them breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and even tucking them in at night in beds made of leaves.


Surely, some would think, Helen must be somewhat content with her life. No. Helen was still very much emotionally scarred. How do I know you ask?




One day, Helen took the dolls for a picnic in the forest. She set out a nice checkered blanket, brought a basket filled with delicate finger sandwiches, fresh salad, and lemonade made with real lemons. She sat the dolls down, but the wouldn't sit up. This confused Helen. "Girls, sit up please," she said. But, they're dolls, they have no spine. They cannot sit up voluntarily. She repeated herself, "Girls, PLEASE, sit up!" she said frantically. They remained still. Helen lost it. She let out a vicious scream and started kicking and throwing everything. The salad was now a part of the earth and the lemonade was on the ground. She took the dolls and threw them against tree trunks and took them apart.


She took them apart limb by limb, one at a time. Some could even go as far as to say she enjoyed this, taking the dolls apart. She would pop off the head, then the right arm, then the right leg, right arm, and the left leg until she was left with a body. Then she would move on the next doll.




After Helen calmed down, she would realize what she had done and rush to pop their body parts back on and apologize to them.




One normal day, a normal day for Helen at least, there was a knock on the door. "Knock, knock knock." Helen froze. Seconds passed and there was a, "Knock, knock, knock," a little harder this time. Helen remained motionless. Helen had not seen, heard, or thought about a human being in years. "Helen!?" a voice yelled. Helen pinched herself, but no, it was no dream. She stood, trembling. She inched her way towards the door. When she got to the door, again, she stood. She stared at the door, knowing this was the only thing separating her from this stranger. She brought her unsteady hand to the door knob and turned it.




There stood a woman. She looked between the ages of 25 - 30. Both women stood. Helen's skin was pale, and her eyes were wide. Her lips were open as if she wanted to speak, but no sound came out. A few moments passed and the woman spoke. "Helen, I don't know if you remember me. I am your daughter, Christina." A hopeful smile emerged on Christina's face as she must've anticipated a positive reaction from Helen.




She received the opposite. Helen's eyes got even wider, her face turned bright red, and she screamed. "YOU'RE NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU'RE NOT MY DAUGHTER!!!!" She screamed over and over again. She slammed the door shut and ran to get her dolls. She returned a moment later, creepily calm and explained to Christina, "THESE, are my daughters."




Christina stood, confused and disappointed with tears in her eyes. She stared at her mother. This wasn't the woman she knew 15 years ago. She felt sorry for her mother and knew she had to take care of it.




Christina told Helen that she was taking her back into the city. Helen went into a rage. Helen screamed at Christina for wanting to take her away from her "daughters". Christina stopped. She understood what was happening. This poor lady is reliving exactly what she experienced 15 years before -- having to be separated from the people (or things) you love without any say so. Christina felt for her and told her she could take the dolls.




Helen's mood changed immediately. She was cooperative and even happy. She left everything but took her dolls with her. Christina and her mother drove into the city. Helen looked like a child who had never seen a building or a person before. Her face was glued to the window. Christina pulled up to an assisted living home for the mentally unstable. Helen didn't know where she was but all was well because she had her dolls.




Christina had her mother admitted as a patient and Helen was okay with this because again, her dolls were in her arms.




Since then, Helen started to make the transition into a normal person with social interaction. After being isolated for 15 years, the doctors explained that her progress was almost unheard of. Christina came to visit often, however, the other two daughters and Helen's ex-husband were no where to be found.

Dude, "She's the Man" is actually, "Mulan"..... #FairytalesInDisguise

WOW SO TO BEGIN MY FINAL BLOGPOST, I want to just point out that all of my blog posts so far have had to do with children's fictional stories and this last post just happens to be another one. #sorrynotsorry  

Also, I felt it necessary to put the first phrase in caps lock because I wanted to highlight/illustrate/emphasize my fun fact. Again, #sorrynotsorry 

To justify my retrograde into my childhood stories, I will say that I believe it is comforting to be able to write an entire blog post on something I found so comforting/enjoyable as a child. Therefore, this post is much much much more enjoyable to write. Make sense? Upon reading the chapter, "Hanseldee and Greteldum", I was constantly pondering what connections I could make that involved a modern day story a movie and a childhood fairytale. Thomas C. Foster writes, "...we want strangeness in our stories, but we want familiarity, too. We want a new novel to be note quite like anything we've ever read before. At the same time, we look for it to be sufficiently  like other things we've read so that we can...make sense of it." After reading that, I stopped and thought. I came to realize that he is exactly right. I cannot remember ever a time where I read or watched something that was completely foreign to my mind. Every story or film I have encountered has always had some familiar underlying message or plot. To give you an example, take the Disney Classic, "Mulan", and modern day, teenage movie, "She's the Man", with Amanda Bynes.  

Mulan: To make my synopsis short, I'm going to skip over irrelevant details that I tend to put in my posts. (haha) Mulan lives in China. Her father gets enlisted to serve in the army. She decides to cut off her hair, dress up like a man, and go in place of her dad. She becomes one of the greatest warriors in the army and becomes a symbol for gender equality. She happily returns home and lives happily ever after.

                                                                     Mulan as a boy

                                                          Mulan as a girl
 She's the Man: Viola Hastings attends high school with a misogynistic soccer coach. When her twin brother gets called up to play soccer at a renowned boarding school, she gets a wig, dresses up like a man, and attends in her brother's place. She goes on to be one of the greatest soccer players at the school, therein becoming a symbol for gender equality, and happily makes out with Channing Tatum at a debutante ball. 

                                                                       Viola as a girl

                                                                          Viola as a boy

#FAIRYTALESINDISGUISE AM I RIGHT OR AM I RIGHT????????? 

It was so interesting to make this connection because I would have never thought of it until I read Foster's chapter in the book. In fact, I think it is really clever that he pointed that out. I'm sure he was not the one to discover this, but he did well in explaining why and how writers consciously and subconsciously include familiarity into their stories. I also related this to our everyday lives. We live each day and every day, it is a little bit different than the one before, but rarely is there a huge change that is out of the "norm". This is because, as humans, we crave familiarity and things that we know. When things that we don't know come our way, we are caught off guard and most of the time, it is hard for us to adapt. It is the same for the stories we read and movies we watch. Familiarity is key, even if we do not realize it. 

Barbie Girls in a Barbie World -- Just Kiddin'

Before I begin, I must ask, is it awkward that both of my blog posts so far have had something to do with Barbie? I promise, however, that this post I am currently writing will not be entirely about Barbie. Barbie was my bff in elementary school though so I am not throwing shade. She's my homegirl. (sorry for my digression) Enjoy.




Barbie: A blonde plastic girl that is very popular towards young girls between the ages of 3-6. She has the perfect life and owns a pink house and a convertible. She has many friends. Barbie does not blink and will stare at you no matter where you are; she also smiles 24/7 even when you break her head off. 

As you can probably tell, I tend to shed Barbie in a negative light because she is basically promoting perfection - something that no one can achieve. As I have previously stated, Barbie is prominent in young girls' lives, and this is when what goes in the head of a little girl matters the most. Sooner or later, the little girl will ask, "Mommy, why am I not perfect like Barbie?" and proceed to burst into tears. Terrible, right? So, all of this to say, no one is Barbie. No one is perfect and no children's toy/company or what have you should portray a human being in such a flawless light. 




(That was literally the last thing I had to say about Barbie, I promise.)




My long and slightly unnecessary explanation is to convey the fact that our flaws, such as body deformities, make us who we are. In chapter 21 of Thomas C. Foster's, "How to Read Literature Like a Professor," Foster expresses the notion that people (characters) with imperfect shapes, in literature, tells us something about them. Not just the fact that they live with imperfection, but to signify, "some psychological or thematic point," that the author is trying to get across. Foster mentions an important element of an author's choice of physical appearance. At the end of the chapter, he says that it is obviously more pleasant to introduce characters that have no physical incapability or any imperfections at all, so when and if he does establish a character with some type of physical or mental limitation, he does it with rational intention. 




Forgive me, for I enjoy referring to children's films and books because it brings me back to my childhood filled with a whole lot of hakuna matata and wonderful days. (that was a lion king reference.) So, for this chapter, I want to talk about the film, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". (The real one with Jim Carey). This movie, if not the best, is one of the greatest stories that explores physical deformities and how it can be utilized to create and maintain a character. To make things easier for you and for me, I'm gonna make a list because who doesn't like lists? (Don't answer. That was a rhetorical question meant for you to agree with.)




The Grinch: I want to start by saying that he is green. To further elaborate, he is a ball of green fur. Now mind you, if you are not familiar with the storyline of this film, The curmudgeonly recluse Grinch, who hates Christmas, gets super annoyed with the crazy Christmas festivities of the Whos' of Whoville. He lives on a mountain by his lonesome to get away from it all. So he conspires to deprives the Who's of the holiday by stealing everything even remotely related to the holiday. (ex. all the presents, lights, cars, trees, you name it.) But soon, he learns the spirit of Christmas, and grows a heart. Pardon my digression. So all of the Who's have deformed looking faces, and the Grinch has the same face, but he's hairy and green. The writers of this story did this on purpose, not to make him the lonely weirdo, but to make him stand out as the main character.




Cindy Lou Who: She was the second main character in this story. Cindy had the biggest teeth you'll ever see, and the most unnecessary hair, but was the sweetest little girl who was kind to everyone. She was the reason for the Grinch's newfound appreciation for the Christmas holiday. Big hair and big teeth were just the added characteristics to establishing her character as marked for something "big" and great. (get it? cause big hair, big teeth and she was marked for something big?) I really do think I'm funny sometimes.




Martha May Whovier: She had a deformed face, big everything (butt/boobs), and had a weird attraction to the Grinch. Her "suggestive" physical appearance added to her having the mysterious fascination with the Grinch.

                                                    I think he is quite attractive.


I'm not going to describe anymore characters because I think you understand the point I am trying to get across. Sometimes, like in real life, physical deformities mean nothing. They are just there. I have a scar on my chin for falling over in the bathroom when I was three but it literally means nothing. Nothing at all. However, in literature it's different. The author puts things in a story for a reason. It is up to you to figure out that reason. For me, I always read stories on the surface and do not realize meanings/themes/symbols till the end, but I think that knowing those things, whether you pick up on it right away, or not until you finish the story, is what adds to the message of the story. 


(See, I told you I wasn't going to ramble about Barbie.)

Barbie in the Nutcracker has a Quest too, I promise.

I would like to start by saying that the blog post you are reading at this moment is not going to be as lame as you may think just from reading the title. If you have already judged this post based on it's title, you should just not. Nevertheless, if by the end of this post, you're thinking, "This is so lame I could cry," then, and only then, may you judge me.

Personally, when I read a novel or watch a movie, I don't go about analyzing the quest(s), so sometimes it is interesting to find certain books or films in which you notice the quest immediately. For this reason and this reason alone, I have chosen Barbie in the Nutcracker. Barbie in the Nutcracker is a classic children's movie, (mostly for girls), that has a well-known quest storyline structure. Granted, you may not have seen it in many years or maybe not at all, but this film encompasses all structural pieces of what defines a, "quest", in a way that you may not have even realized. This film begins with Barbie telling her young friend, Kelly, the story of The Nutcracker. The story then transitions to the storyline of The Nutcracker. A girl named Clara lives with her stern grandfather, and Tommy, her younger brother. On Christmas Eve, they receive a surprise visit from their Aunt Elizabeth. Clara receives a Nutcracker that Aunt Elizabeth tells her contains the heart of a prince. Tommy attempts to take the doll from Clara, but end up breaking the nutcrackers arm. (boys, am I right?). Anyways, Clara mends the arm back together and falls into slumber.She awakens to see her Nutcracker alive and fighting the Mouse King and his mouse army. When Clara tries to help her nutcracker, the Mouse King shrinks Clara down to his tiny size and leaves.The Nutcracker explains that he needs to find the Sugarplum Princess who is the only person who can stop the Mouse King from taking over his world.  Clara is obviously sketched out because her wooden doll is talking??? However, the owl of the grandfather clock advises Clara to follow the Nutcracker, since the Sugarplum Princess is the only one who can make Clara her original size again. THIS is the beginning of the quest which is also quite obvious if I do say so myself. The owl also gives Clara a locket that has the power to send Clara home after they find the Sugarplum Princess. To make my already long enough synopsis shorter, I'm just going to give away the end of this action packed story. The two embark upon a long journey where they are told that Prince Eric is missing. SPOILER ALERT: (The Nutcracker is Prince Eric who was turned into a nutcracker by the Mouse King). After fighting some battles, the nutcracker is injured, they find the Sugarplum Princess (PLOT TWIST: the Sugarplum Princess is Barbie), Clara kisses him, and he turns back into a prince. Sorry for my digression, but remember when Clara's aunt told her that the nutcracker contained the heart of a prince? Yeah, this is that part. So anyways, Clara is suddenly back in her living room and life is good. The End.

Now you're probably thinking, "So....I know what Barbie in The Nutcracker is about now. Now what?" Well now, we can go over the quest involved! In How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas C. Foster tells us that there are five structural parts comprised in a quest:

Part 1: The Quester
The quester in this story, if you hadn't already figured it out, is Clara. Clara is a young and inexperienced girl which Foster mentions in his quester description.
Part 2: A Place to Go
In Barbie in the Nutcracker the quest involves many locations, but wherever the Sugarplum Princess is located is the overarching destination.
Part 3: A Stated Reason to go There
Foster suggests that, "A Place to go" and "A Stated Reason to go There" should be together. Therefore,  Clara goes to the location of the Sugarplum Princess in order to transform Clara to her original size.
Part 4: Challenges and Trials
Upon their journey, Clara and the Nutcracker encounter many hindrances. For example, towards the end, the Nutcracker fights a final battle with the Mouse King, during which the Mouse King is hit with his own spell resulting in his scepter to disintegrate and shrunk into the size of a real mouse. However, despite the turbulence they came across, Clara and the Nutcracker were still able to prevail.

Part 5: A Real Reason to go There:

So we know that they were going to turn Clara back to her original size, but what we do not realize until the end is the missing prince is in fact the Nutcracker. Ultimately, the real reason was to fall in love, aka, fate. Not only that, but the underlying reason, which is a reason in every quest, was self knowledge, which Foster tells us. This is why, he tells us, questers are often so young and naive. 

                                           Clara and the Nutcracker (after being transformed)

Before I end this post, I would like to touch upon one thing. Even though I referred to a classic film, books and movies are not the only things that contain quests. A quest doesn't have to be a long and drawn out journey like the ones Harry Potter and Great Expectations. In fact, we encounter quests everyday. Whether it be a quest to get up out of bed on a Monday to go to school or to embark upon an adventure to the conquer Mt. Everest, an everyday encounter can be considered a quest. Now that isn't to say that EVERY trip taken is a quest, but as Foster suggests, "Sometimes plot requires that a writer get a character from home to work and back again." So, the next time you encounter a movie, book, TV show, or life encounter, pay attention to the parts. If it is a quest, you will know.

PS: It is now the end of the post and you are free to judge me, but ONLY if you feel it is necessary. (: