Hansel and Gretel Find Their Way Home

          This chapter, while thankfully my last for now, has by far been my favorite. Foster discusses an issue that I face as both a reader and a writer: how do you make something that's completely new, but familiar at the same time? And I have to say, Foster's conclusion made me both surprised and happy-fairytales. Writers draw parallels between those stories we were told as little kids and their new works. He mentioned the popular ones, Shakespeare, Brothers Grimm, etc., and as soon as he said Peter Pan, I instantly thought of Lord of the Flies. Those boys, stranded together on a tropical island and forced to work together to survive, reminded me of the lost boys. However, the beauty of alluding to fairytales is that you get to play with what people expect from them, as was done in LOTF. What you expect to be a fun tale of young boys getting to run wild and have fun is quite the opposite, quickly taking a dark and twisted turn towards violence and barbarianism. It puts a harsh reality on a carefree fantasy, and some might consider that a bad thing, but as the reader that just made it so much more interesting.
          What surprised me the most in this chapter was the that Foster claimed that Hansel and Gretel would be the fairytale most utilized by writers of modern literature. the most used by writers. The way he explained it, I suppose it made sense to me, however, I couldn't think of a very good example other than the ones he stated. The closest I could get was the movie August Rush, in which an orphan runs away to New York City, gets taken in by a group of street performers, only to end up attending Julliard for music and finding his long-lost parents. I guess I mostly found parallels in that he was a kid, lost in the wilderness of the city, tempted by the life of a manipulative street artist. The only difference is, this movie ends pretty happily for everyone, unlike in the fairytale. Perhaps I just haven't noticed the connections elsewhere, or I just haven't read enough literature, but I feel as though I could make a bigger case for any number of other fairytales. Personally, I would argue the prevalence of Cinderella in modern literature. Take any Jane Austen novel, and they all follow the same story line as our favorite princess: a down-on-her-luck, semi-attractive girl meets the love of her life and after a few mishaps and twists of fate, they live happily ever after together. Sound familiar to you? Whichever fairytale you choose as the "best", I love the idea that everything I read is in some way inspired by a fairytale. Like Foster says, it adds multiple levels of complexity and harmony when there's something familiar, yet new. It allows the reader to experience the text on a deeper level, playing with different levels and expectations. It's kind of magical, almost like a fairytale.