I enjoyed how Robert Coover, like Tom Kealey, used the framework of a famous fairytale, in which a princess kisses a frog and becomes a prince. Coover reimagines it by applying it to modern-day, ordinary human lives. He reverses the fairy tale by adding a twist to the story: living with a frog that turns into a “human prince” is rather unpleasant rather than an idealized, romantic notion. Coover interprets the transformation literally by depicting what it would actually be like for a girl to live with a guy who has just turned from a frog to a man.
Because there is no dialogue in the short story, the narration allows for an extended description of the girl’s evolving relationship with the frog. Coover pokes fun at the “happily ever after” fairytale by writing wryly that “nothing lasts forever, least of all ecstasy.” The most profound quote that made me rethink the fairytale is when she understands that “he had been not an enchanted prince turned into a frog but a frog turned into a prince.” The fact that he is not a Prince trapped in the body of a frog but a frog that was content being a frog until she kissed him is an important realization the girl has that allows her to return to her ex.
"Fairytales-with-a-twist" fiction is definitely my guilty pleasure, and I loved that Coover chose such an ugly twist. It's told in the style of a fairytale--matter-of-fact narration that understates everything we would normally find surprising or abnormal like magic or crazy drugs; indirect rather than direct dialogue; and heavy reliance on the readers' suspension of disbelief. However, pretty much every word in this (rather hedonistic) story seems to have been chosen specifically to repulse--an interesting decision when fairytales are traditionally used to teach or entertain.
I definitely agree with Liu's point, that an important part of "The Frog Prince" is the circumventing of the happy ending trope--the idea that once everything is over and done with you can just settle down and be blissful forever. The first way Coover does this, of course, is by starting his story where "The Frog Prince" usually ends--after the prince and the "princess" get together. The second is that right from the beginning, it's apparent that the protagonist's "happiness" isn't tied to the prince at all, but to the pleasure he brings her, physical and metaphorical. The fact that she's perfectly content for hours (due to the drug high) after he leaves her is obvious proof. The third is that, when the story ends, the protagonist is still very much concerned with the "now"; she gives no thought to the future, or her future, only her immediate concerns.
I agree with both Liu and Leena and the fascination with the idea of challenging the "happily ever after" ending we often find in stories. Coover makes it apparent in the first line of his story that the story will not end "happily ever after." I love how upfront he was in doing this. It made me look for the part in the story where the happiness takes a turn. When I found this point, I was able to pick up on more things. One thing I recognized after seeing the change of tone was how relevant the title of "The Frog Prince" was. It is the idea of the reverse to what we are typically used to. In addition, this idea of not having a happy ending sparked me to contemplate some aspects of life. I came up with the common theme/motiff that we always want what we can't have. This is the idea that we are never pleased. We can work so hard for something that we think we really want in life and ultimately we find that this thing will never be enough. In society today, it is hard to be fully satisfied. I think Coover's story is a reminder of this and thus encourages us to just be happy with what we have and realize that things might not get any better after all.
In “The Frog Prince,” Coover speaks to the difficulty of creating a long-lasting relationship and the human tendency to search for a “happily ever after” that will never arrive. As my classmate have already mentioned, Coover subverts a typical fairy tale. He starts after the traditional story has ended—with the “happily ever after”—and follows the life of the main character and the frog prince. The frog prince, after the infatuation wears off, isn’t quite what the main character expects. He burps, he is slimy, and he is not as attractive as he was originally.
Coover’s story is short, but his unique choice of chronology—starting the story at the end of the traditional fairy tale—gives him free reign to explore darker and more mature themes. He is able to refer allegorically, through a discussion of the prince’s skin, to the problems of drug and alcohol addiction. Coover also portrays the parallel structure of two relationships, both of which start well and inevitably turn for the worse.
Robert Cooper takes a playful jab at the popular fairytale ending of "happily ever after" in The Frog Prince. One of the benefits of using a well-known story as a framework is that much of the structures that the narrative has already established. However, in the case of Cooper's story, I think this worked against him. I found the story an uneventful read. Since I knew from the first paragraph that the story was a satire, the narrative was predictable without much action surrounding the story. It seemed very formulaic - the girl dumped her ex for the frog prince, and when it did not turn out as she had hoped, she sought to go back to her ex.
One element of the story that I do appreciate is the importance of contentment in a relationship. In a world that is becoming increasingly competitive and comparative (e.g. digital/social media makes it easy to compare lifestyles), a state of contentment is arguably more difficult to achieve. I liked how Cooper ended on this note that the couple found "a certain contentment" in their lives together.
I found Coover’s double-layering in the context of a fairy-tale interesting. Fairytales typically already have lessons or other meanings ingrained, but they are generally of the positive and family-friendly variety, whereas Coover’s manipulation is evidently sexualized. It reminds me of the subtle maturity found in some children’s movies: images and dialogue innocent to their ears, but carry other, often sexual, meanings to adults. I finished reading this story with the thought that I definitely didn’t catch all the innuendo. Although the double layering was impressively done, by the time I reached the end, it felt too overused and drawn out.
Honestly during a lot of the story I was musing over the fact that Cooper must have spent inordinate amounts of time thinking over frog anatomy and how it could potentially impact human sexual performance. As others have pointed out, the story is very short, but packed with rather revolting images and descriptions.
Initially I thought this was supposed to be the purely "realistic" version of the tale, but there are still fantastical aspects beyond the froggy transformation. The story has its ad absurdum peak when she allows him to stay on her back for four days. At first this bit annoyed me because it seemed almost too far fetched - the "princess" felt less like a real person in this episode. Then I realized that Cooper was probably trying to parallel the idiom "having a monkey on your back" . The prince is the frog on her back that she cannot seem to remove.
I think the story was an interesting exercise, but I found that I finished reading it without much to say or very many deep impressions about it. Also, I'm surprised at how much I didn't like it, since this sort of surrealism is usually my style. The narrator recovered from her frog/drug addiction with very few negative consequences to face. I felt as though I'd been handed a happily ever after to a rehab story, with a wink and a nod that said, "Don't worry, she'll be unhappy again soon."
The narrator certainly isn't the kind of person who learns anything fruitful from her experiences. I think part of the point of this story was to remind us how frustrating fairy tales are because they let their characters waltz through obstacles and come out completely emotionally unscathed, with a couple of cherry-picked fable-style morals to sort through in their down time. But if this was part of the point, the drug metaphor didn't work well. You really can't get through that kind of chemical experience without some lingering issues unless you're David Sedaris, in which case you'd at least be funnier about it.
I did not particularly enjoy "The Frog Prince," likely because I could not determine if the frog was actually changing form into a person or not. If not, then I find the satire of the fairy tale strange and disturbing. If so, then my mind was limited in its ability to make the distortion required by this story. Furthermore, I anticipated that the story was a critique of the modern dissatisfaction with good things and the constant craving for something better. However, at the end, I was not convinced that she had learned to be content with what is good but rather decided to settle because she found she could not have what she wanted.
Like others, my favorite line was “he had been not an enchanted prince turned into a frog but a frog turned into a prince.” I felt like this line best captured the sentiment introduced in the beginning, that we chase after the illusion of excitement to find it is not what it is portrayed to be.
I’m surprised to see that so many people disliked the story or found it unsatisfying. I thought it was masterfully written -- I loved how we got so many vivid scenes and so much story in a very short time. I also appreciated that it worked on multiple levels, both literally as a subverted fairy tale and allegorically as a metaphor for drug addiction. I think even if you just read it literally, it’s really fascinating. My favorite part was at the beginning, when he mentions that “It meant the end of her marriage, of course, but her ex was something of a toad himself...” Giving her a backstory not only made the allegory possible, it also made the fairy tale infinitely more interesting. She hadn’t been waiting around for her frog prince; she had her own life, with a husband and friends at the bridge club. She jumped at the frog prince because he was new and interesting, but she wasn’t one-dimensional like so many fairy tale princesses.
I am also surprised that others didn’t think that there was a lesson at the end, or that the narrator learned anything new. I found the ending more satisfying because she did “kick” the drug and realized it wasn’t worth it. The real change in her comes not after the frog prince dumps her, but after she spends another year searching for a frog and then gives up. She comes to her own catharsis.
However undeveloped or chaotic this story was I really enjoyed it. I think the author did a great job of making the narrator and the storyline chaotic enough for the reader to feel frazzled like the character. We understand this false elated high that she gets as if she is living in a fantasy world and then we are smacked back to bland reality with her when she returns to her previous boyfriend. I will admit that some details were more necessary than others, but then again every author has their own style.
Aside from the unclear aspects of the plot, the descriptions and metaphors were great. I think the vivid images did put my mind in a fantasy-like world. Maybe one of the reasons this story didn't work for a lot of us was because we tend to seek hints of reality even in fantasy and we didn't get much of that until a few lines at the end. Regardless, I think Coover was very creative and risky with his writing and took an entirely different spin on the classic fairytale. As I mentioned in class, my stories tend to have a gloom over them, so perhaps I was just drawn to that in this story.
I enjoyed how Robert Coover, like Tom Kealey, used the framework of a famous fairytale, in which a princess kisses a frog and becomes a prince. Coover reimagines it by applying it to modern-day, ordinary human lives. He reverses the fairy tale by adding a twist to the story: living with a frog that turns into a “human prince” is rather unpleasant rather than an idealized, romantic notion. Coover interprets the transformation literally by depicting what it would actually be like for a girl to live with a guy who has just turned from a frog to a man.
ReplyDeleteBecause there is no dialogue in the short story, the narration allows for an extended description of the girl’s evolving relationship with the frog. Coover pokes fun at the “happily ever after” fairytale by writing wryly that “nothing lasts forever, least of all ecstasy.” The most profound quote that made me rethink the fairytale is when she understands that “he had been not an enchanted prince turned into a frog but a frog turned into a prince.” The fact that he is not a Prince trapped in the body of a frog but a frog that was content being a frog until she kissed him is an important realization the girl has that allows her to return to her ex.
"Fairytales-with-a-twist" fiction is definitely my guilty pleasure, and I loved that Coover chose such an ugly twist. It's told in the style of a fairytale--matter-of-fact narration that understates everything we would normally find surprising or abnormal like magic or crazy drugs; indirect rather than direct dialogue; and heavy reliance on the readers' suspension of disbelief. However, pretty much every word in this (rather hedonistic) story seems to have been chosen specifically to repulse--an interesting decision when fairytales are traditionally used to teach or entertain.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with Liu's point, that an important part of "The Frog Prince" is the circumventing of the happy ending trope--the idea that once everything is over and done with you can just settle down and be blissful forever. The first way Coover does this, of course, is by starting his story where "The Frog Prince" usually ends--after the prince and the "princess" get together. The second is that right from the beginning, it's apparent that the protagonist's "happiness" isn't tied to the prince at all, but to the pleasure he brings her, physical and metaphorical. The fact that she's perfectly content for hours (due to the drug high) after he leaves her is obvious proof. The third is that, when the story ends, the protagonist is still very much concerned with the "now"; she gives no thought to the future, or her future, only her immediate concerns.
I agree with both Liu and Leena and the fascination with the idea of challenging the "happily ever after" ending we often find in stories. Coover makes it apparent in the first line of his story that the story will not end "happily ever after." I love how upfront he was in doing this. It made me look for the part in the story where the happiness takes a turn. When I found this point, I was able to pick up on more things. One thing I recognized after seeing the change of tone was how relevant the title of "The Frog Prince" was. It is the idea of the reverse to what we are typically used to. In addition, this idea of not having a happy ending sparked me to contemplate some aspects of life. I came up with the common theme/motiff that we always want what we can't have. This is the idea that we are never pleased. We can work so hard for something that we think we really want in life and ultimately we find that this thing will never be enough. In society today, it is hard to be fully satisfied. I think Coover's story is a reminder of this and thus encourages us to just be happy with what we have and realize that things might not get any better after all.
ReplyDeleteMy childhood has been ruined. As a kid, “The Frog Prince” was one of my favorite stories because it was sweetly romantic and childish and the young princess learned a valuable lesson in the end. However, this rendition of the same story has none of these things. There is no childish naiveté since it has been sexualized and made into one of the least romantic love scenes I have ever read (Burping and mud-flavored semen are quite possibly the least sexy and romantic things on the plant). However, the worst part of this story for my romantic heart was that the woman learned nothing through all this. She gained no deeper understanding of her world or anyone else’s perspective.
ReplyDeleteEven through all that, though, I have to respect the author for a job well done, because I truly think I was supposed to feel this way. I was supposed to be disgusted because when you think about it, these are the things that pervade the original fairytale that we do not think of. Do not want to think of. Coover made us consider the reality of a fairytale and it was anything but happily ever after.
In “The Frog Prince,” Coover speaks to the difficulty of creating a long-lasting relationship and the human tendency to search for a “happily ever after” that will never arrive. As my classmate have already mentioned, Coover subverts a typical fairy tale. He starts after the traditional story has ended—with the “happily ever after”—and follows the life of the main character and the frog prince. The frog prince, after the infatuation wears off, isn’t quite what the main character expects. He burps, he is slimy, and he is not as attractive as he was originally.
ReplyDeleteCoover’s story is short, but his unique choice of chronology—starting the story at the end of the traditional fairy tale—gives him free reign to explore darker and more mature themes. He is able to refer allegorically, through a discussion of the prince’s skin, to the problems of drug and alcohol addiction. Coover also portrays the parallel structure of two relationships, both of which start well and inevitably turn for the worse.
Robert Cooper takes a playful jab at the popular fairytale ending of "happily ever after" in The Frog Prince. One of the benefits of using a well-known story as a framework is that much of the structures that the narrative has already established. However, in the case of Cooper's story, I think this worked against him. I found the story an uneventful read. Since I knew from the first paragraph that the story was a satire, the narrative was predictable without much action surrounding the story. It seemed very formulaic - the girl dumped her ex for the frog prince, and when it did not turn out as she had hoped, she sought to go back to her ex.
ReplyDeleteOne element of the story that I do appreciate is the importance of contentment in a relationship. In a world that is becoming increasingly competitive and comparative (e.g. digital/social media makes it easy to compare lifestyles), a state of contentment is arguably more difficult to achieve. I liked how Cooper ended on this note that the couple found "a certain contentment" in their lives together.
I found Coover’s double-layering in the context of a fairy-tale interesting. Fairytales typically already have lessons or other meanings ingrained, but they are generally of the positive and family-friendly variety, whereas Coover’s manipulation is evidently sexualized. It reminds me of the subtle maturity found in some children’s movies: images and dialogue innocent to their ears, but carry other, often sexual, meanings to adults. I finished reading this story with the thought that I definitely didn’t catch all the innuendo. Although the double layering was impressively done, by the time I reached the end, it felt too overused and drawn out.
ReplyDeleteHonestly during a lot of the story I was musing over the fact that Cooper must have spent inordinate amounts of time thinking over frog anatomy and how it could potentially impact human sexual performance. As others have pointed out, the story is very short, but packed with rather revolting images and descriptions.
ReplyDeleteInitially I thought this was supposed to be the purely "realistic" version of the tale, but there are still fantastical aspects beyond the froggy transformation. The story has its ad absurdum peak when she allows him to stay on her back for four days. At first this bit annoyed me because it seemed almost too far fetched - the "princess" felt less like a real person in this episode. Then I realized that Cooper was probably trying to parallel the idiom "having a monkey on your back" . The prince is the frog on her back that she cannot seem to remove.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI think the story was an interesting exercise, but I found that I finished reading it without much to say or very many deep impressions about it. Also, I'm surprised at how much I didn't like it, since this sort of surrealism is usually my style. The narrator recovered from her frog/drug addiction with very few negative consequences to face. I felt as though I'd been handed a happily ever after to a rehab story, with a wink and a nod that said, "Don't worry, she'll be unhappy again soon."
ReplyDeleteThe narrator certainly isn't the kind of person who learns anything fruitful from her experiences. I think part of the point of this story was to remind us how frustrating fairy tales are because they let their characters waltz through obstacles and come out completely emotionally unscathed, with a couple of cherry-picked fable-style morals to sort through in their down time. But if this was part of the point, the drug metaphor didn't work well. You really can't get through that kind of chemical experience without some lingering issues unless you're David Sedaris, in which case you'd at least be funnier about it.
I did not particularly enjoy "The Frog Prince," likely because I could not determine if the frog was actually changing form into a person or not. If not, then I find the satire of the fairy tale strange and disturbing. If so, then my mind was limited in its ability to make the distortion required by this story. Furthermore, I anticipated that the story was a critique of the modern dissatisfaction with good things and the constant craving for something better. However, at the end, I was not convinced that she had learned to be content with what is good but rather decided to settle because she found she could not have what she wanted.
ReplyDeleteLike others, my favorite line was “he had been not an enchanted prince turned into a frog but a frog turned into a prince.” I felt like this line best captured the sentiment introduced in the beginning, that we chase after the illusion of excitement to find it is not what it is portrayed to be.
I’m surprised to see that so many people disliked the story or found it unsatisfying. I thought it was masterfully written -- I loved how we got so many vivid scenes and so much story in a very short time. I also appreciated that it worked on multiple levels, both literally as a subverted fairy tale and allegorically as a metaphor for drug addiction. I think even if you just read it literally, it’s really fascinating. My favorite part was at the beginning, when he mentions that “It meant the end of her marriage, of course, but her ex was something of a toad himself...” Giving her a backstory not only made the allegory possible, it also made the fairy tale infinitely more interesting. She hadn’t been waiting around for her frog prince; she had her own life, with a husband and friends at the bridge club. She jumped at the frog prince because he was new and interesting, but she wasn’t one-dimensional like so many fairy tale princesses.
ReplyDeleteI am also surprised that others didn’t think that there was a lesson at the end, or that the narrator learned anything new. I found the ending more satisfying because she did “kick” the drug and realized it wasn’t worth it. The real change in her comes not after the frog prince dumps her, but after she spends another year searching for a frog and then gives up. She comes to her own catharsis.
However undeveloped or chaotic this story was I really enjoyed it. I think the author did a great job of making the narrator and the storyline chaotic enough for the reader to feel frazzled like the character. We understand this false elated high that she gets as if she is living in a fantasy world and then we are smacked back to bland reality with her when she returns to her previous boyfriend. I will admit that some details were more necessary than others, but then again every author has their own style.
ReplyDeleteAside from the unclear aspects of the plot, the descriptions and metaphors were great. I think the vivid images did put my mind in a fantasy-like world. Maybe one of the reasons this story didn't work for a lot of us was because we tend to seek hints of reality even in fantasy and we didn't get much of that until a few lines at the end. Regardless, I think Coover was very creative and risky with his writing and took an entirely different spin on the classic fairytale. As I mentioned in class, my stories tend to have a gloom over them, so perhaps I was just drawn to that in this story.