Week 2 Story: Statues
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| (Two women walking in the park, from Flickr) |
Two coworkers were on their lunch break and had some extra time so they decided to take a walk through the park next to their building. It was bright, pleasant, and breezy outside as the two decided to start down the trail. They talked about their friends, family, the weather, and about life in general.
"I think I'm going to ask him about that big promotion," said Jane.
"What's the point? You know he's just going to give it to one of the guys, anyways," said the other woman, Jess.
"You may be right, but I have to at least try, just to say I did it," Jane said confidently.
They continued walking down the path and looked at street performers, a pond filled with paddle-boats and ducks, and various statues of historical figures. Jess kept walking and didn't even notice that Jane had stopped and was standing in front of a statue.
"What are you doing, Jane? Let's keep walking we need to be back at work in half an hour."
"Look at this statue," Jane told Jess.
Jess walked over to Jane and said, "What about it? There's nothing special there's a dozen more exactly like it along this path."
Jane replied, "You're right. It looks like every other statue of some random man who contributed to the history of the city in some way. Every ten feet there's more statues of more men."
"That's what I'm saying," said Jess. "What's the point of trying to get our boss to like you? Even if you do get that promotion it's not like you'll magically get your own statue one day. No one will remember if our Vice President of Finance is a woman. Looking around it seems like men are the only ones who have done anything important in history"
"Yes. But all of these statues were made by men."
~~~
Authors Note: This is based on the story of the Lion and the Statue. I was reading this story and liked it a lot but noticed that it was so short. I knew I wanted to somehow put a feminist spin on it, and I had recently seen an article about how of two dozen statues in Central park, none of them were women. History is all about perspective, and there are hundreds of unknown warriors and scientists and doctors who don't have statues but did important work anyways.
Bibliography:
The Lion and the Statue, The Fables of Aesop by Joseph Jacobs. Web source
Hi Hayley!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your story a lot because there is a sort of power to it. You bring up a lot of great points on how history is documented by a specific group of people. I think it is our responsibility to change this and I am very excited to read more of your stories in the future!
Hey Hayley! I liked what you did with the fable. You took the moral of the story but changed it so that it could have a more specific setting of feminism. It's a more modern take of the fable, and it's especially relevant to our modern era. I liked in the story how Jess was oblivious to it at first. It's like in real life where we forget about perspective all the time.
ReplyDeleteHey Hayley, I like the modern spin you put on the fable. The theme to this fable (essentially that perspective is everything), is one that withstands the test of time. You bring up a good point, it is interesting to wonder about all of the names history forgot. One could even posit there is an entire unwritten history. Overall, this was a great modern spin on the fable, and your balance between exposition and dialogue was really good.
ReplyDeleteHi Hayley! I think you did a stellar job keeping the spirit of the original story while successfully transforming it into a feminist narrative. I absolutely love the dialogue near the end, especially the closing line. You convey an enormous and resonant power in sparsity. Masterful writing! Saying that, I still would have loved to see this story continue onward and continue your exercise in perceptive beyond the statues and into the office asking for that promotion. That's less of a criticism and more of me just wanting more because it's so good! I wonder where you would go with the story from here though! Since you tackle the issue by framing it historically (concerning the statues), I think it would be cool to do some time-skipping, choreographing Jane's rise of success and seeing a statue of her and other successful women be put up with (or instead of) the statues she had encountered prior in her life. Thank you for the awesome experience that was reading your story!
ReplyDeleteHey Hayley!
ReplyDeleteI think you did a really good job with this story. I have not read the story of the Lion and the Statue but I still really enjoyed your retelling of it. I think that it is really neat that you decided to put a feminist spin on the original telling. Great job!
Hey Hayley! This story was so well-written! I loved the dialogue between the two characters. I also liked how you creatively added in your own twist and brought up women empowerment. After reading your story, I want to read the original one. I always enjoy reading the stories that are short and to the point, which yours was. I look forward to reading more of your stories. Overall, nicely done!
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