Fairy Tales

Proppian Analysis

How to Do a Proppian Analysis

Read through the whole story before you start

analyzing it. Dont try to figure it out as you read the first time: that is the kind of reading that leads to the kind of misidentifications we were describing above.
Identify the dramatis personae
Look for the harm(s) or lack(s) in the story Identify the preparatory section(s), which are the

parts(s) of the story that come before the lack(s) or harm(s).

Fill in the appropriate functions in each part of the

story, to correspond to the spheres of influence of the dramatis personae.

Proppian Functions
a b g d e z h q initial situation absentation interdiction violation reconnaissance delivery trickery complicity

Proppian Functions, 2
A or a villainy or lack B mediation, the connective incident C beginning counteraction departure D hero is tested by donor E the hero's reaction F provision or receipt of magical agent G spatial transference between two kingdoms

Proppian Functions, 3
H direct combat of hero & villain J branding, marking I villain defeated K initial misfortune or lack liquidated return Pr pursuit Rs rescue

Proppian Functions, 4
o L M N Q Ex T U W unrecognized arrival unfounded claims of false hero difficult task solution of task recognition of hero exposure of false hero transfiguration of hero punishment of villain wedding

Wizard of Oz-- Background

Writers:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Herman J. Mankiewitz: Kansas scene, sweet Dorothy Ogden Nash Noel Langley: parallel Kansas scene and Oz story, fairy tale characters, mean Auntie Em Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf: increased menace of the witch, added emotion, Professor Marvel sequence Langley again Yip Harburg, lyricist, blended Langley, Ryerson and Woolf Jack Mintz: jokes Sid Silvers John Lee Mahin, friend of Victor Fleming, who directed the Kansas segment

Wizard of Oz Background 2
Four Directors: Richard Thorpe (2 weeks) George Cukor: (3 days) got JG to look less artificial Victor Fleming: (4 months)Kansas scene King Vidor: (10 days) "Over the Rainbow" with JG walking Actors: Created their characters out of their vaudeville personalities, etc.

Wizard of Oz L. Frank Baum

Dorothy in Kansas, an orphan Cyclone A wonderful world out the window Dorothy sets out to the city of Emeralds Scarecrow, Woodsman and Lion

Wizard of Oz L. Frank Baum 2

Series of adventures:
Kalidahs: bodies like bears, heads like tigers Cross the river on a raft but the Scarecrow is stranded; Poppies: queen of the field mice saves the Lion Emerald City: the GuardTask: kill the witch WWW sends pests after them, but they defeat them Witch melts, the Winkies are set free Wizard unmasked as a humbug, flies off The four set off to see Glinda, the witch of the South, to get help for Dorothy to go home.

Wizard of Oz L. Frank Baum 3

Task: kill the witch WWW sends pests after them, but they defeat them Witch melts, the Winkies are set free Wizard unmasked as a humbug, flies off The four set off to see Glinda, the witch of the South, to get help for Dorothy to go home.

Wizard of Oz L. Frank Baum 4

Obstacles: The trees of the forest bend to stop them . A land of small china people. A large spiderlike creature. The Lion kills it. The Hammerheads who have no arms but who attack them by butting them with their heads. Country of the Quadlings. Dorothy goes home and is happy.

Wizard of Oz Movie
Kansas Professor Marvel. Farmhands, Miss Gulch Oz The Wizard, Scarecrow, Tin Woodsman, Cowardly Lion Villain: WWW Difficult Task: Bring Back the Broom The Return: No Place Like Home

Wizard of Oz
In Kansas:
abgdezhq aBC (Dorothy runs away) Marvel) G (to Oz) HIJK (Witch) DEF (Prof.

In Oz:
ABC DEF DEF DEF Pr Rs o L MN Q Ex TU W

Goose Girl
abgde (reconnaissance of servant girl) hql a (loss of status) o L MN (with the help of Falada & wind) Q T Ex U W Jungian analysis highlights the various shadows and animuses the Goose Girl has The nature-culture opposition is important in this one.

Faithful John
abg(don't look at picture)dq a (lack of princess) BC GK W A (the curses) MN MN MN K A (John a statue) MN (saving John) K Q W Story shows a shift in the last part from John as hero to prince as hero. What do you think that means? The nature-culture opposition in this one is also important. Jung works too.

Raven
agq (she becomes a raven) ABC DDD a (new lack) aBC DEF G (giant transports) DEFG o MN Q TW Here, the hero fails in his encounters with the witch-donor. Thus he experiences a new lack and must set out again. What would Jung tell us about this? Why does he have better luck with the second donor?

Brother and sister.

Move 1: abezhgdql a (lack of a kind home) Pr Rs K Move 2: Ezhq A (queen is dead) LQExUW This is really two separate stories. Jung would note that you could look at it two ways.

Frog Prince, 1
Girl as victim: a b goes to well e frog asks what's wrong z girl tell h trickery q submission A frog comes to castle MN MN MN W

Frog Prince, 2
Frog as hero: aDEFGoMNQW This story can be looked at from two points of view: the girl's and the frog's.

Rumpelstiltskin
abezhgdq A (father's claims) MN MN MN K A (being in power of R) L MN Ex U W A story in which the initial situation matters much for the first movement.

Aschenputtel
abezhql A (put to work) MN MN o L Ex Q UW

Cupid and Psyche

ab g by Cupid e reconnaissance by sisters zqh a Psyche driven out BC (kill self)

Cupid and Psyche, 2

DEF (Pan) DEF (Ceres) DEF (Juno) DEF (Venus and Mercury)

Cupid and Psyche, 3

MN (sort grain) MN (fleece) MN (Styx waters) MN (underworld) W The trick to this one is noticing that a great deal of it is initial situation.

Daniel Boone

Daniel Boone
Curiosity is natural to the soul of man, and interesting objects have a powerful influence on our affections. Let these influencing powers actuate, by the permission or disposal of Providence, from selfish or social views, yet in time the mysterious will of heaven is unfolded, and we behold our own conduct, from whatever motives excited, operating to answer the important designs of heaven. Thus we behold Kentucke, lately an howling wilderness, . . . rising from obscurity to shine with splendor, equal to any other of the stars of the American hemisphere.

Boone as a Hunter-Husbandman

Filson's portrayal of Boone as a hunter-husbandman is accurate as far as it goes, but it falls short of depicting Boone's real attitude toward farming. Although Boone did stake out and work at subsistence farming in the manner of the physiocratic yeoman, he never did fit into the yeoman's mold. He was primarily a hunter and trapper, who cleared only as much of his land as was needed for kitchen crops and a little salable tobacco to keep his family fed during his long absences.

Rebecca Boone, Fire-Hunt Legend

After a long wait Boone saw the double gleam and prepared to fire, but some intuition stayed him. The fire-hunt legend was well known to the Boones themselves, and they often repeated it to their children (who refused to believe it). Yet this legend and others which show Boone as the wild, lonely hunter were neglected or omitted by Filson. Filson wished to retain the idea that Boone's hunting trips initiated him into a deep intimacy with the powers of nature and that the health of his spirit was essential to the realization of nature's plan for the Kentucky land.

Rebecca Boone, 2
In life a strong and intelligent woman, she stood almost as tall as Daniel Boone, who himself was over the average in height. It was she who held their large family together while he vanished on long hunts, which might last a season or a couple of years. Filson all but eliminates Rebecca Boone from his account. She appears only as "my wife," never by name, and no attention is paid to her considerable accomplishments as provider and protector.

The American Monomyth by Jewett and Lawrence

Despite the bubble-gum fallacy and the myth of mythlessness, pop-culture artifacts like Star Trek are developing visions of life and destiny capable of evoking powerful loyalties in at least some audience members.

The American Monomyth by Jewett and Lawrence, 2

Characteristics of Star Trek:
Saga The Background Is Subordinate to the Fable. Sexual Renunciation Redemption