Fictional Stories

The first site I visited out of the three was "My Body" by Shelley Jackson. Her site was intense. I liked the idea of using the different body parts to bring up what may have been somewhat autobiographical stories to start, but turned into fictional stories as they came alive. I love her choice of words and how each story can lead to another, which has something to do with a completely different body part. One of the more intense stories that really stuck out to me and kind of made my jaw drop when I was reading it was her “Tail” story.  She starts talking about this tail she was born with and how she was different from all the other kids. One day she spends the night at her friends. Now one has to remember her tail has mind of its own and likes to wander at night. The last few sentences in the story are what really made my eyes open, she says “She plunged her arm under me, closed her fist firmly around my tail, rolled me onto my side, my back to her. Then she guided me inside her. I lay there staring perplexedly at the wall while she panted and strained behind me, sketching out a new world for me.” I actually had to re read this part to realize what was just being said.  Jackson’s stories start off with this autobiographical sense and the insecurities that many of us face with our bodies, but there is always a part in each of her stories where the autobiography becomes fictional into this almost dream like story.

      In Tina Laporta’s site “Distance” it was hard to tell if the story is fictional or autobiographical. The story is definitely something that could happen in this day and age. I don’t know if it is actually a story about Laporta herself or if it is just a character she made up. With the emotions that were portrayed in this piece I feel as though it could be real and I am sure many people in our world feel these emotions today. Especially with how the Internet has changed how we not only meet but also communicate today. Her story brings this yearning for what’s on the other side of the screen.  Are the emotions and love, you find on the Internet real or is it just a part of the cyber world. The technology is almost a veil where a lot of our emotions are lost in translation. The distance between people can be somewhat shortened when communicating on the net because we can still talk to that person and see them in certain circumstances. But emotions are hard to read when one is not right in front of you. There are the emotions you can portray on the screen of a computer and there are the emotions you can’t hide when someone is right in front of you.

       The third site redridinghood was interesting. I was taken aback by this story. Donna Leischman takes this children’s fable story and turns it in a completely different direction. Yes the story is based off a fictional story, but you could relate it to circumstances that happen today. A little blonde girl who goes away to grandmas. On the way is encountered by a bad boy who scooters away. She then starts picking flowers for grandma and passes out and has some different dreams. The big bad boy who follows her to grandmas and is waiting for her there. There to either rape her or get her pregnant? The pregnancy was a big twist to the children’s story, but kind of what happens in this day and age. How many times do you hear about the little girl getting knocked up by the big bad boy? I would say this site was a fictional story based off of real times. I didn’t really understand the ending at all.