Revision of Little Cog-Burt and Cotton Candy

After reading both “Little Cog-Burt” and “Cotton Candy” I noticed the many differences and similarities. Lola and Little Cog-Burt shared some of the same behaviors. Lola was able to communicate verbally, however, she could have been labeled as bashful or even strange. She would send the men she loved dead butterflies and she did it in secret. The butterflies symbolized the men she had fallen in love with and wanted to be with sexually. She was not satisfied sexually.  When Lola would visit the zoo, she would feel a connection with the zoo animals. Some might consider this very odd. I think Lola was missing that personal connection with humans and a lot of this had to do with the way her mother was. Her mother was very strict and tried to control her.

 Little Cog-Burt had  issues with connecting to humans but in a different way. The story calls him a

little boy who always whined. Moira did not care for Cog-Burt because of his whining and he always hid from her. On the day of the Christmas party all the other children gathered around in a circle and received their gifts from Moira and Richard happily. Poor Cog-Burt was last and sat in the corner very quietly. He did not want the large ball that Moira had picked out for him. Unlike Lola, Cog-Burt would cry or “whine” to show expressions and communicate. In today's culture, someone would automatically assume Cog-Burt suffered from autism or another mental disability. If someone is not familiar with autism someone might be like Moira and just think he is ungrateful and rude. Like any mother would, his mom was able to tell them what he was saying and communicate for him. I think this is Allfrey’s way of letting the reader know that Cog-Burt has a social disorder whether it be Autism, social anxiety, As burghers, or any other mental disorder. Communication skills, fairies, butterflies, mothers, and other similar aspects of the readings made me believe that it was done so on purpose. Caribbean kids and the women in these stories were very interesting and I would have loved to visit their towns and their people.

Little Cog Burt and Cotton Candy

After reading both “Little Cog-Burt” and “Cotton Candy” I found there are many similarities but also differences. Lola and Little Cog-Burt shared some of the same behaviors and the way the interacted with others. Lola was able to communicate verbally, however, she could have been labeled as bashful or even strange. She would send the men she loved dead butterflies and she did it in secret. From my personal experience from working with children of all ages and special needs, most of them are not interested in the dead bodies of an insect. When Lola would visit the zoo, she would feel a connection with the zoo animals. Some might consider this very odd. I think Lola was missing that personal connection with humans and a lot of this had to do with the way her mother was. Poor Cog-Burt had the same issues with connecting to humans. The story calls him a little boy who always whined. Moira did not care for Cog-Burt because of this and Cog- Burt always hid from her. On the day of the Christmas party all the other children gathered around in a circle and received their gifts from Moira and Richard happily. Poor Cog-Burt was last and sat in the corner very quietly. He did not want the large ball that Moira had picked out for him. Unlike Lola, Cog-Burt would cry or “whine” to show expressions and communicate. In today's culture, someone would automatically assume Cog-Burt suffered from autism or if not familiar with autism might be like Moira and just think he is ungrateful and rude. Like any mother would, his mom was able to tell them what he was saying and communicate for him. I think this is Allfrey’s way of letting the reader know that Cog-Burt has a social disorder whether it be Autism, social anxiety, As burghers, or any other mental disorder. Communication skills, fairies, butterflies, mothers, and other similar aspects of the readings made me believe that it was done so on purpose. Caribbean kids and the women in these stories were very interesting and I would have loved to visit their towns and their people.

Tétiyette and the Devil

“Tétiyette and the Devil” is a short story that is told by a young Guadeloupean seventeen-year-old girl in Creole. The story begins with “once upon a time" which cause the reader to believe this is a story like that of a fairytale with your typical happily ever after ending. Tétiyette was the only daughter of her parents and was very hard to please. Her mother is trying to find her a husband but none of the men are good enough for her. The men are referenced as ugly animals like a pig, goat, and the devil. When the devil finally approached the house and asked to be with Tétiyette, she accepted. He wore his best suit and was decked out in gold and beautiful clothing. After Tétiyette agreed to marry this handsome man her mother tried to warn her of him. She gave her a handkerchief and a pin and told her daughter to stick him when he went to sleep. If blood flowed, it was believed that he was a human being but if slime oozed out then he was the devil. Tétiyette tested the stick on herself and her new husband. Her husband slimed but she had blood flow. She showed this to her mom to deceive her that her husband bled so she would be proud of the husband she chose. After the honeymoon days passed, the devil began to eat her. She cried out to her mother in law, mother, father, and lastly her brother. No one came to her aide until her brother felt sorry for her because she was his only sibling. The little brother said: “oh no! Oh no! She’s my sister, she’s my only sister and she’s being eaten up! Oh no! Oh no! “(Esteves, Carmen C., and Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert,1991 p. 4).” He ran to the kitchen where he grabbed a knife and slit the devil’s stomach open and his sister emerged all whole. 

In my opinion, I think this story was written to remind young girls not to lose themselves and forget who they are when looking for their soul mate. It is easy to see someone as someone they are pretending to be and not who they truly are.