Notes toward a Literary Analysis of Beatrix Potter's "A Fierce, Bad Rabbit"

Intended to amuse, and to mildly satirize those literary critics who actually do bother with such things.

Beatrix Potter's brief tale of A Fierce, Bad Rabbit may come off as a simplistic moralizing story, in which the bad guy gets his comeuppance and the good guy is vindicated. And certainly that comic-book morality is at least superficially present in this war of two rabbits. Their differing ethical statuses seem to lead inevitably to their respective ends: the unjustifiably rude “Bad Rabbit” is paid back in deus ex machina fashion by a wandering hunter to the benefit of the good rabbit. But take a closer look at the story and several serious issues begin to raise their metaphorical heads. Firstly, why such a strident condemnation for what is merely a breach of manners (if an inexcusably unprovoked one)? Given her propensity for depicting villains of truly sinister dimensions (the Fox in Jemima Puddle-Duck plans to eat Jemima; Mr. Samuel Whiskers even more horrifyingly makes Tom Kitten into a pie before the unlucky chap is rescued), one may wonder why Potter designates only this schoolyard-bully-esque carrot thief as “fierce” and “bad.” It seems, oddly enough, that this deplorable character's only offense is being unmannerly: in Potter's own words, the height of his offense is that “he doesn't say 'Please.' He takes it!” In sharp contrast to the visceral dangers of her other books, the threat posed by this villain seems perfectly suited to a Jane Austen novel. The second issue one can hardly help noticing upon careful reading is the disjoint between cause and effect involved in the Bad Rabbit's punishment. In the narrative framework most pleasing to authors who intend to moralize, the bad guy is ultimately brought down either by his own evil actions (see Dante's Commedia or Edward Lear's children's verses) or by an adversarial reaction against his dastardly deeds. Yet the cleverly-aimed shot that manages to take off both the tail and whiskers of the Bad Rabbit without harming him is not fired by some good rabbit rising in rebellion against the tyranny of carrot-thieves, nor does the Bad Rabbit try to steal an incendiary device in an excess of cupidity and harm himself in the process. These would be two fine examples of poetic justice, to which parents could point, as they might to the fable of “The Boy Who Cried Wolf,” and say “see children: if you do X then Y will happen to you.” Where in fact is Potter's ethical subtext in this story? Could it be—but it is!—that the Bad Rabbit is worsted by mere happenstance? By the mere fact that this hunter is apparently more than a little near-sighted despite his uncanny skill in aiming and so thinks the Bad Rabbit “a very funny bird”? The good rabbit witnesses his humiliated foe fleeing the field, yet no retribution, properly speaking, has been meted out. Potter seems, I would argue, to be pushing young children to doubt the most basic elements of the moralizing tale, if only subconsciously, in this fascinatingly subversive tale of bad manners and random acts of an indifferent higher power.

Ragueneau at the Bakery

A very much less-than-serious poem, on the subject of my all-time-favorite French swordsman, Cyrano de Bergerac.

Cyrano:
“Ah ! te voilà, toi, la Sottise !/ --Je sais bien qu'à la fin vous me mettrez à bas; / N'importe. . .
Quelque chose que sans un pli, sans une tache,/J'emporte malgré vous,/et c'est. . .

Roxane:
C'est ?. . .

Cyrano :
Mon panache.”

Cyrano de Bergerac, Scene 5, Act IV

He was dying for love when I first saw his face,
Poor Gascon with a nose like a cudgel of wood
So I gave him a pastry; he saw it was good,
And he wrote me a poem that was full of grace.

I read it with care as a gentleman should.
And what godlike esprit! Quel bon goût! What good taste!
But a fearsome quiver of that thing on his face
Turned my transports to silence, if anything would.

This bemusing appendage, it sets him apart,
Attracting disciples; yet from it springs his art
Of hiding beneath swirls of a rakish moustache
While he oversees others' affairs of the heart.
Well, I keep him well-fed as he plays his sad part,
Writing Christian's je t'aime's in a surge of panache.

Classic.

A rejection slip from a Chinese economic journal, quoted in Financial Times:

"We have read your manuscript with boundless delight. If we were to publish your paper, it would be impossible for us to publish any work of lower standard. And as it is unthinkable that in the next thousand years we shall see its equal, we are, to our regret, compelled to return your divine composition, and beg you a thousand times to overlook our short sight and timidity."

And now for some spiritual enightenment....

Here's a choice selection from our local retreat center; thought y'all might be interested.

Dowsing as a Tool for Self Knowledge and Decision Making

Many people are familiar with the ancient form of dowsing for water by using a Y-shaped hazel tree branch. Dowsing is enjoying resurgence in alternative medicine fields as a simple, powerful, and fun way to make decisions regarding your health, spirit, and emotions, for example. Anyone can dowse as long as they keep an open mind; appreciate listening to their inner spirit, and practice. We'll learn to dowse using L-rods, pendulums and everyday household items, and we'll learn how to use dowsing to aid in the decisions you make every day. You'll be amazed by how clear your answers become as you begin to learn and trust the ancient and fun art of dowsing.

You know, you just have to keep your mind wide enough open so that it can fall out somewhere near the beginning. Preferably around where they start talking about the water in the ground mirroring your chi patterns. It's when you get into how the energy of manifestation from the matrix of life follows an intuitive guidance along a path that seems to be new yet feels old, etc. that things really start getting interesting!

Labyrinth Day

On the first day of the last month of 2009, come and walk the indoor labyrinth. Where are the endings and beginnings in your life? Settle your heart, mind, and spirit for the season between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The labyrinth will be set up in the southwest room for your journey. Information about the labyrinth and reflective questions will be available for your use. Arrive and depart at your own pace.

If you get really lost, maybe they'll come find you if you yell long enough.

The Sacred Art of Healing Through Laughter: Become a Clown!

Allow your "inner child" some play time. Give yourself a new name and create a character that speaks to your inner dreams or outer fancies. Clowning can be amusing, transforming, and healing too. The basics of balloon sculpturing and a bit of magic will be included for fun.

Inner dreams? Outer fantasies???? Do we want to know?

Earth Stations

Join us as we journey in prayer with pictures, poetry, chants, and wisdom from many cultures to bring us into the spirit of solemn reflection on behalf of a wounded earth. Outdoors 3-4:30 pm unless it is raining (dress warmly), and indoors in the chapel 6-7:30 pm. Bring a drum, rainstick, or sound maker if you want. Walk the Earth Stations on your own anytime this week (call ahead to arrange). FREE.

But... donations to PETA are accepted. Oh yeah, and it's a good idea to have your costume incorporate a lot of bandaids, ankle wraps, and fake limb casts just to make the "wounded earth" motif extra clear.

Picturing Prayer

"Pray always," we have been told. This weekend retreat is an invitation to "Pray all ways." The movement will be gentle. From moments of tranquility born of centering prayer, we will 'pray' the Presence of God as captured through the eyes of a digital camera. The rhythm will be from inner stillness to outer awareness and back to our Center. Participants should come equipped with a digital camera. If you have no camera, come with a sketch pad and pencil in order to 'picture your prayer.' Come. Pray always. Pray all ways.

Capture your inner stillness on film using our new x-ray equipment. Or go old school with the "down-the-throat" camera. Outer awareness is well portrayed through keeping the eyes wide and mouth slightly open, hands hanging loosely at your sides. Come yourself to learn the gnosis of photographing your incorporeal Center from our tranquilizing guru!

Blog personality?

Hahaha... so now personality tests have made it into the blogosphere, eh? You know those ridiculous but quite amusing tests you have to take, for example, before being assigned a roommate? Well here's a one for my blog. Apparently they've designed an application to explore the site and analyze things like type of vocabulary, length of sentences, and to some degree, subject matter (kind of an expanded version of what those reading-level analyses on Microsoft Word do). It really is quite amusing.

The analysis indicates that the author of http://sesquipadalianmusings.blogspot.com is of the type:

INTP - The Thinkers
The logical and analytical type. They are especialy attuned to difficult creative and intellectual challenges and always look for something more complex to dig into. They are great at finding subtle connections between things and imagine far-reaching implications.

They enjoy working with complex things using a lot of concepts and imaginative models of reality. Since they are not very good at seeing and understanding the needs of other people, they might come across as arrogant, impatient and insensitive to people that need some time to understand what they are talking about.

The person in the picture looks just a tad schizophrenic. There's no way anyone has that many things going on in their head at once and stays sane.

Try it yourself if you've got a blog. It will make you chuckle... and everyone else is doing it (most novel reason in the world, eh?). http://www.typealyzer.com/