by Florencia González
Some of my friends, five of us, cramped ourselves into a small bathroom in my friend Cathryn's House. We ended up saying Bloody Mary (more like chanting it) about 20 times or so for anything to appear. When we did finally see something it started out as a green glow)then the darkened portrait of a face became more visible, by that time half of us were screaming so we knocked each other down trying to get out of the bathroom and then I flipped on the light. It was a welcome relief. (Told on Internet, Dec. 21, 1999)[Original punctuation]
This narration written by an adolescent on the Internet refers to the popular story known as “Bloody Mary”. This story is part of the American folklore, that is to say, it is a folk tale, “a tale or legend originating among a people and typically becoming part of an oral tradition.” (Collins English Dictionary). As most traditional tales, the exact origin of this legend can not be established. Nonetheless, it is possible to set the events told in the tale during the witch-hunt period in North America (from about 1480 to 1750). As regards the written versions of the story, from the 1960s on, several variants of “Bloody Mary” appeared.
Taking in consideration one of these many written versions of “Bloody Mary” which tells the story of an old lady accused of murdering a group of girls from a village, it is possible to state that the legend may be appealing to adolescents for several reasons: the component of horror, black magic and suspense; its simple plot and short extension; and mainly because it challenges the reader to test his/her courage in front of a mirror. Besides its attractive features, “Bloody Mary” can be used in the classroom with adolescents because it offers an interesting opportunity to approach a folk tale critically. This paper will explore how the selected legend can be applied in the classroom to develop critical literacy and thought in adolescents. Bloody Mary’s underlying ideology will be discussed with this aim.
Adolescence, critical literacy and thought, and ideology
Before advancing towards the discussion of this story in particular, three variables need to be explained:
a) Critical thought is developed during adolescence and can be defined as the combination of rationality, self-awareness, honesty, open-mindedness, discipline and judgment. (Daniel J. Kurland, 2000).
b) Critical literacy “is the ability to read texts in an active, reflective manner in order to better understand power, inequality, and injustice in human relationships” (Kurland, 2000). The development of critical literacy skills enables people to interpret messages with a critical view, challenging the power relations within those messages. The purpose of critical literacy is “to be aware of the structures that serve as norms as well as to demonstrate how these norms are not experienced by all members of society” (ibid).
c) Ideology: according to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, ideology is:
1. The body of ideas reflecting the social needs and aspirations of an individual, group, class, or culture.
2. A set of doctrines or beliefs that form the basis of a political, economic, or other system.
To show the close link between the concept of critical literacy and ideology, it is worth highlighting Pennycook’s idea of the latter. Ideology for those with a linguistic background is a “particular framework of knowledge that is tied to social power and may be manifested in language” (A. Pennycook, 2001). Foucault’s idea of ideology is also interesting. He says that it “always stands in virtual opposition to something else which is supposed to count as truth.”
The story: discussing the ideology of “Bloody Mary”
The written version of “Bloody Mary” considered in this paper explains how in a village where many girls had disappeared mysteriously, Mary, an old woman who lived alone in the middle of a forest, was accused of being a witch and the responsible for such disappearances. She was burned at the stake by the villagers. The legend says that it is possible to summon her evil spirit by chanting her name three times in front of a mirror.
The points of analysis that may be used to develop critical thought and literacy are: women’s and men’s role, values and justice.
Women’s and men’s role
She lived deep in the forest in a tiny cottage and sold herbal remedies for a living.
In order to have a critical view of the story as regards women’s role, students will have to think about the context of this text to make connections and reflect about the main character situation at the time of the British colony in America. The acceptable role of a woman during that period was not living alone and being independent. The place of women was in the family as a mother or grandmother, that is to say, next to a man; and, for the most unfortunate ones ( those who can not get a husband) just as an aunt or sister in charge of younger brothers; nephews or nieces; and/or their old parents. The old lady of this story was not a typical woman because she found a way to survive without a man. The status of women has changed through time. Students can think about their own context and up to what extends society has changed to give women a different place.
Suddenly, a sharp-eyed farmer gave a shout and pointed towards a strange light at the edge of the woods.
If there is a “hero” in this story, it is clear that this role is played by a man. One who is very skilful with guns and can defend his town from witches. This is a very traditional view of the function of men in a society: to protect their people. On the other hand, there isn’t a heroine in this story and the main role played by a woman was the role of the witch. Through literature, one is able to trace the evolution of society, because texts are a reflection of the cultural group that produced it. A good exercise in the classroom can be to contrast this story with others which follows chronologically in which there are men using magic and competing against evil not represented by a women.
Values
Still, it was noted that her haggard appearance had changed. She looked younger, more attractive.
When the girls started to disappear, some men went to Mary’s house to ask about them. They noticed that there was a change in Mary’s appearance.
Values are part of ideology. They reflect Bloody Mary‘s society. In the quotation above one important value is mentioned: beauty. It has always been one of the values that women desire to be endowed with by nature or artificially, because an attractive appearance can be a means to ensure a good suitor. Furthermore, beauty was used by women to influence men. In this sense, beauty and power can be closely connected. This point can lead the students to a discussion about this value and others that can be found in the story to compare them with the values of our society nowadays. They may observe that appearance is still very important in the present, not only for women but also for men. The standards of beauty may have changed but it continues to be linked to power.
Revenge and Justice
The far-sighted farmer had loaded his gun with silver bullets in case the witch ever came after his daughter. Now he took aim and shot at her. The bullet hit Bloody Mary in the hip and she fell to the ground. The angry townsmen leapt upon her and carried her back into the field, where they built a huge bonfire and burned her at the stake.
Finally, the idea of justice which is always related to ideology and critical literacy can be put into question here. Again considering the context, adolescents can think about the way people proceeded at those times when they thought a crime was committed. There wasn’t any trial, jury, judge, lawyers, or evidence previous to declare a person guilty or innocent. At this regards, adolescence is a stage of idealism in which justice has a lot of weight in the scale of values. They can discuss about the differences between the systems of justice they know and that of the story.
Through the examples taken from this legend, it is possible to see that teachers and students can critically explore the ideology within a folk tale. If the main goal of this paper is achieved, the folk genre will be used in the classrooms for its potential for this kind of analysis. As a consequence, not only will adolescents be stimulated to think critically and understand the inner layers of a text which conveys ideological messages to the reader, but also they will be able to approach tradition critically.
References:
- Urban legends. Retrieved October 2011 from http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/horrors/a/bloody_mary.htm
- Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003. Retrieved October 2011 from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Folk+tales
- Wikipediea. Retrieved October 2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch-hunt.
- Daniel J. Kurland, (2000).Retrieved October 2011 from http://www.criticalreading.com/critical_thinking.htm
- The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
- Pennycook, Alastair (2001) Critical Applied Linguistic: A critical introduction. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Eribaum Associates.
- S.E. Scholosser. Retreived October, 2011 from http://americanfolklore.net
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