Week 5: The Tale of Peter Rabbit
1. Introduction: The Tale of Peter Rabbit is a British children's book written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter that follows mischievous and disobedient young Peter Rabbit as he is chased about the garden of Mr. McGregor. He escapes and returns home to his mother who puts him to bed after dosing him with camomile tea. The tale was written for five-year-old Noel Moore, son of Potter's former governess Annie Carter Moore, in 1893. It was revised and privately printed by Potter in 1901 after several publishers' rejections but was printed in a trade edition by Frederick Warne & Co. in 1902. The book was a success, and multiple reprints were issued in the years immediately following its debut. It has been translated into 36 languages and with 45 million copies sold it is one of the best-selling books of all time.
2. Author of The Tale of Peter Rabbit
Miss Beatrix Potter : She was an British author, illustrator, natural scientist and conservationist best known for her imaginative children’s books featuring animals such as those in The Tale of Peter Rabbit (story book) which celebrated the British landscape and country life.
Miss Beatrix Potter( She is quite particular about the booksize and price.)
3. Peter Rabbit
Peter Rabbit is a fictional anthropomorphic character in various children's stories by Beatrix Potter. He first appeared in The Tale of Peter Rabbit in 1902 and subsequently in five more books between 1904 and 1912. Spinoff merchandise includes dishes, wallpaper, and dolls. He appears as a character in a number of adaptations.
4. Wrap up-- Definition&Reflection
(1)Onomatopoeia is a word that phonetically imitates, resembles or suggests the source of the sound that it describes.
a. Sound symbolism: Onomatopoeia is the least significant type of symbolism.
b. List of onomatopoeias: Bark (sound), call of a dog
Bleat, call of a sheep
Hiss, sound made by a snake
Hoot, call of an owl
Meow, cry of a cat
Moo, sound of a cow
...
(2) Bildungsroman: novel of formation, novel of education, or coming-of-age story (though it may also be known as a subset of the coming-of-age story) is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood (coming of age), in which character change is extremely important. (小說主角有成長，change and build up, moral or psycgological)
Goethe in 1828
It is an epistolary, loosely autobiographical novel and influenced the later Romantic movement in literature.
* epistolary--An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of documents. The usual form is letters, although diary entries, newspaper clippings and other documents are sometimes used.
eg. Pamela-- Samuel Richardson
(3) Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic, other supernatural phenomena, and
some imaginative creatures as a primary plot element, theme, or setting.
* setting-- time+place eg. Neverland-- Peter Pan
(4) Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish playwright, novelist, essayist, and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s. He is remembered for his epigrams, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, his plays, as well as the circumstances of his imprisonment and early death.
a. The Happy Prince-- political allegory
b. The Selfish Giant
(5) 寓言
a. fable: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized (given human qualities, such as verbal communication) and that illustrates or leads to an interpretation of a moral lesson (a "moral"), which may at the end be added explicitly as a pithy maxim.
* A fable differs from a parable in that the latter excludes animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as actors that assume speech or other powers of humankind.
b. allegory: an allegory in its most general sense is an extended metaphor.
c. parable: A parable is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, which illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. A parable is a type of analogy.
* It differs from a fable in that fables employ animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature as characters, whereas parables have human characters.
Parable of the Good Samaritan, by Jan Wijnants (1670)
(6) understatement: Understatement is a form of speech or disclosure which contains an expression of lesser strength than would be expected. Understatement may be employed for emphasis, for humour, or ironically. This is not to be confused with euphemism, where a polite phrase is used in place of a harsher or more offensive expression, though understatement too can be used to moderate something that might seem harsh.
5. Language point
(1) Don't get into mischief. 不要搗蛋
(2) bun n. 麵包
(3) parsley n. 西芹（解胃脹）
(4) sieve n. 筛子
come up with a sieve
(5) radish 白蘿蔔
carrot 紅蘿蔔
(6) appetize n. 開胃菜
(7) children phase 童年的一個階段（不是幻想）
(8) Ferris wheel 摩天輪
(9) wriggle v. 蠕動
wriggle out
(10) wheelbarrow 獨輪車
(11) employ v. 僱用
employee n. 被僱用的人
employer n. 僱主
(12) as smart as a dolphin 形容聰明
(13) -ly
friendly quickly
(14) upset v.
eg. upset three plants--understatement
You upset me.
adj. feel upset
puzzle v. You puzzled me.
adj. feel puzzled
(15) lane 巷子;小道
(16) throw to the ground 失落地坐在地上
(17) thin voice 低沉的嗓音
(18) gloomily 悲涼的;淒涼的
(19) flirt v. 挑逗人
(20) on his hands and knees 手腳著地
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