Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetle-loved

Beloved, an American novel by Toni Morrison set in rural Ohio, delves into the spiritual world of ghosts and the haunted following the era of slavery. The novel introduces Sethe and her daughter Denver, the current residents of 124 Bluestone Road. It’s been months since Sethe had gone in to a state of panic and brutally attacked her sons and murdered her infant daughter in an attempt to save them from the horrors of slavery. Following the incident the only two left at 124, or so we thought, are Sethe and Denver. Recently the two have been experiencing paranormal activities within the house. One day Paul D, an old friend of Sethe’s arrives at 124 trying to rekindle their relationship. Paul D’s presence causes an outburst from the supposed ghost that haunts 124. Threatened, Paul D begins flailing a dining room chair in the air to defend against the unseen attack. In the process he breaks a few pieces of furniture, but seems to have scared the ghost away for awhile. In the coming days there is no sign of paranormal activity allowing the three residents some serenity.

Parallel to this beginning for Sethe and her family is the story of the Maitlands, a newly wed couple in the film, Beetlejuice, directed by Tim Burton. The Maitlands, Adam and Barbara, experience a tragic death by car accident over a bridge in their small town in Connecticut. Waking up disoriented in their home, they find it being invaded by another family attempting to move in. Soon after Adam and Barbara are hit with the realization that they are deceased ghosts, forced to haunt their house for eternity. Convinced they can scare away the new family from moving in, they begin causing paranormal mayhem. 

Similar to the aggravated deceased Adam and Barbara is the ghost character that appears at 124 in the novel Beloved. Walking out of the creek by 124 is a young girl whom Sethe and Denver come to realize is the reincarnation of Sethe’s murdered infant. This new character named Beloved, wrecks havoc within the family dynamic between Sethe, Denver, and Paul D. Beloved’s soul purpose is to achieve Sethes undivided attention what ever the cost. This deters Denver and Paul D from Sethe. Eventually Paul leaves 124 and Denver seeks work in the community to avoid spending time at home. Similarly, the Maitlands use strategies like Beloved’s scare tactics and creating a rifts in family dynamics, to deter the new family from living in their home on the hill. 

Both works of art explore the theme of death and afterlife through a sinister plot of haunting. While Beetlejuice utilizes humor much more than Beloved, they both execute the idea that death can cause as much torment as life. Chris Stangl states in his critique of Beetlejuice, “The afterlife is imagined as a mazelike bureaucracy of incomprehensible rules and constant roadblocks, constructed of junkheaped illogic designed only to demonstrate that the afterlife is full of frustration and petty problems as life.” Author Toni Morrison and director Tim Burton illustrate the fearsome similarities between the dead and the living ironically, through an entity that exists between the two worlds of life and death. Each provide one shared and clear message, being dead really doesn't solve anything.

(^your face after reading this post)

Decimated

Decimated, not a berry in sight. 

Across the earth lay millions of strawberry bushes flourishing with ripe red berries. Each berry connected to a special vine producing only the freshest of fruits. Roaming around this lush land were a gentle group of wood nymphs. These creatures were the friendliest of earth’s inhabitants and only snacked on enough strawberries to fill their stomachs. Never did a wood nymph eat more than their fill of the precious berries. Never did a wood nymph break this unspoken law, all except one. Known as the black sheep, the outcast, the ghastly nymph named Frankiorsus. Not one creature dare associate with this woman who so blatantly took more than her fair share of berries. Each day the wood nymphs would rise and begin their morning harvest of berries before heading to the forests to work and play. One nymph usually consumes one full bush of strawberries  on it’s most exhausting day. Frankiorsus on the other hand, would consume four or five bushes on a regular day. Although many days, Frankie spent merely asleep in her tree. One summers day at the peak of harvesting season, Frankiorsus awoke hours after the others and felt an intense hunger. Groaning she stretched and jumped to the forest floor. Rummaging through the barren bushes she located the prized strawberries and began devouring them in handfuls. Before she even glanced up she had eaten every berry off of ten bushes. Though she felt content in her stomach she continued on the hunt for more and more berries to consume. Eventually the other nymphs began to take notice to this disturbance in the shrubbery. A few confronted Frankiorsus saying “You mustn’t eat that many berries Frankie! Every forest creature depends on those for food!” Oblivious to her neighbors Frankiorsus continued shoveling berries in her mouth. After every minute more and more bushes were stripped of their fruit. “Why must you be so greedy?” yelled one nymph from the trees. By the hours end, Frankiorsus had eaten the entirety of the forests supply of berries. Every nymph from miles around became enraged and tried everything to halt the beasts eating. None of them could stop her. It was as if Frankiorsus was in a hunger trance. Frankie then turned her attention to the rest of the strawberry bushes across the land. Each berry eaten brought it one closer to it’s extinction. The wood nymphs powerless began weeping and praying to the gods to end the rampage of Frankiorsus. At the very edge of the land stood Frankie, hunched over the last berry bush. She plucked the last strawberry from it’s vine and pressed it to her lips.

Decimated, not a berry in sight. 

At that moment young Frankie the wood nymph awoke from her dream in a panic. Her mother came rushing to her side. “What’s wrong my darling?” questioned her mother. Frankie replied simply, “I’ve just had the most terrifying dream…”

Inspired by: Don't It Feel Good? By Francesca Bartos

A Raindrop in Time

Four seasons, spring, summer, fall, and winter. Each define a literal and symbolic meaning in the form of written word. Most cliché symbols include death, rebirth, cleansing, etc. All the seasons invoke certain types of weather that can add to the symbolic themes. 

One in particular being rain which is often interpreted as a way to show a clean slate of either a terrain or a character. For me watching rain or experiencing rain outdoors is a tranquil feeling. Both during a light drizzle and a heavy thunderstorm I can seek a sense of peace. At the same time I can also smell what I would describe as a fresh scent which contributes to the rebirth symbolism one might achieve from a sudden downpour of water. In an adjacent season, the weather might include fog and humidity which in my experience is accompanied by a great deal of uncertainty. This is especially true when I'm driving and have such a limited sight distance. The unknown has a mass impact on my daily actions and in most cases you'll see an increase in carefulness. This increase in care is due to the erie and mysterious feelings that are brought on by fog and its unknown aspects. Alternatively, a high intensity heat of an august summer day can cause a series of impacts and actions on a character. A man can be literally caught in the sizzle of the sun causing him to become consumed by delusions. Similar to this, heat can symbolize a drought of many kinds, not just an agricultural loss. In my mind a drought can equal infertility which can effect not only soil, but characters in a story. A woman may be told that she is unable to bear children which can be intensified by a serious drought occurring in the character’s location.

Weather, no matter what season it occurs, adds both a physical and metaphorical meaning to a story. In my opinion it’s biggest influence is on the characters’ mood. Changing something as natural as weather can drastically alter how a character feels at a certain time on a given day. For instance in the novel “And Then There Were None,” by Agatha Christie, an on set of stormy weather completely changed the tone of all the people on the island. The storm morphed the guests into a state of fear and panic. At the time they were merely afraid of the destruction that could be brought on by the storm, but later the characters realize the real danger was the murderous nature of the inhabitants of the island. 

Weather doesn’t just occur to prove reality, it happens to shape a story in one way or another. This may be through something as simple as changing a characters means of transportation or something as drastic as allowing the character to experience a life changing epiphany. What ever it is that happens, I know now that a single rain drop can alter even the largest of events in the universe.

She Is In Everything I Read

The main aspect of this chapter is brought to you by a literary device known as repetition. This is commonly defined as the repeating of an idea or object. The entirety of all stories use the repetition of character types and other devices to help the reader connect with the story on a deeper level. 

For myself, I pull a lot of memorable aspects from movies or songs I have experienced in the past. The biggest pull comes from the 1994 film “The Lion King.” Now as childish as that may sound, this favorite Disney movie of mine allows me to compare present and future characters to the characters such as Simba in the film. It grants me the ability to relate new characters to ones I already know and make myself more familiar and connected with their stories. 

Another shocker from this chapter was the statement Foster made about there being no such thing as original stories. From a first hear basis that seems outrageously silly considering that there are new stories being made every day, but after further review I began to realize the validity of that statement. If you were to take a minute to think about this every plot, character, and theme has already been thought of and implemented into a story. Every story now is just a different use of these same aspects. If you were to read a novel and not notice any resemblance to another story I’d tell you to take a harder second look. As humans were constantly making connections between our lives and the media we experience especially including stories. 

One habit I have is placing myself into the world of the characters I read about. In some cases that means putting my whole being into the story as my own separate character or I portray myself onto one of the characters already established in the story. When this occurs, I usually connect with a character based on a shared interest or personality trait. This lead me to believe that authors do the same thing when creating their own stories. They pull ideas and traits from previous literature. They don’t do this simply because they're uncreative and don’t want to make new ideas, they do this to allow the reader to know their characters on a deeper level and be able to create character development without saying too much about said character. 

Although some may believe the use of repetition in literature is a crippler, the basis of stories came from an unknown origin, yet since that time nothing has been new. Even if you were to apply this concept to humanity, you'd see that the STORY of history continuously repeats itself just like in literature.

An Unholy Eating Experience

A big blow to the Christian population, the author Thomas Foster, explains how the word communion has more than just it's holy meaning found in the Bible. Communion’s true basic definition means sharing a meal with a set of people whether it be two or a hundred people as a form of meaningful bounding. He goes on to mention one incident to support his theory from the novel, Tom Jones where a couple shares a meal that I would definitely categorize as far from holy.

Myself raised as a methodist Christian found this non-religious definition quite shocking. I always pictured communion as a cup of grape juice and a bite of bread given to you by an old man in a robe while you kneel at the front pew. The thought never crossed my mind that I take part in communion three times a day almost everyday, (breakfast/lunch/dinner) so when Foster said that a meal was more than just a meal I was skeptical. How could a simple silent dinner of grilled cheese and tomato soup at home on my couch with my mom really mean anything, much less be considered a communion?

After a reread or two, the theory started to make sense. The simplest gestures or lack there of at a meal could give any outside person, in literature’s case being the reader, a huge insight to the relationships between those sharing the communion meal. This leads me to believe that Foster’s point for sharing the importance of communion in literature was to prove how mundane activities in literature can provide massive character development to it's selected characters.

This shed some light on the subject of teen or young adult novels for me especially. I frequently questioned society on how books like Twilight by Stephanie Meyer, contained such common main characters, yet still built up their supposedly normal characters to create an interesting enough plot for people to want to read. With such mundane seeming lives, how did readers really get to know the characters? According to this author’s theory about communion, reading about a character sharing a meal can give the readers a look into the character’s personality and the feelings towards others.

Our job as the reader is to infer about the events, people, places, and things in a story, thats what makes reading such an engaging activity. We then form our own opinions about these things from what we've learned throughout the book as well as from what we've experienced in our own lives. Tying this back into eating a meal is the always present need to feel connected to what we read and thus why authors place events like communion in their stories. Mundane things like sharing a meal allow us to say, “Hey I do that too!” Because lets face it, every human wants to feel a connection…Its in our nature.