Chapter 6 Reflection Question

Upon reading the text in chapter 6, I have decided which of the approaches to interpreting folklore is best for me. When I started this class, I had a brief understand of what folklore was and how it affected my everyday life. Now I have no trouble discussing folklore because I think the easiest way to interpret and understand it is through the Structuralism approach. I live a very structured life, so obviously it is easiest for me to recognize structure in folklore when I am trying to understand it. On page 179 of Living Folklore, it states that structure is more than the plot; it includes the characters and actions they perform, places, names, repeated words and phrases—any basic elements that make the story more recognizable. Although this is just talking about the fairy tale stories discussed previously in the section, it can easily be seen how structure can help understanding folklore universally. No matter where you are in the world, what language you speak, or festivals you celebrate; there is always a structure that makes it recognizable. F.A. de Caro says that a structural analysis reveals a basic, underlying patter which accounts for the whole. This is easy for me to understand, because I feel that if you can characterize certain aspects of something and see similarities and differences between separate events or groups, than you truly understand that subject. In my schoolwork, I go about studying and understanding through looking at similarities and differences, so naturally the structuralist approach comes to me easily. The book goes on to use the example of a knock-knock joke to show how words can be used as “markers” in order to indicate that the joke is about to start. If someone says “Knock-knock,” you automatically know what is coming. Just as if someone says “Once upon a time,” you are most likely going to hear a fairy tale. Structure is the most compelling to me because it connects all types of folklore. Whether it is ritual, performance, tradition, or anything else worldwide, it is easy to strip it down to its core and see how the structure can relate to a concept more essential to you. If I witness a religious event in some foreign country, there is a good chance I would be completely lost. But if I can look at it from a structuralist point of view, I will definitely be able to see something I can relate to. This has been a response to the Chapter 6 Reflection Question for my blog in F-121 World Arts and Culture