The story of Rapunzel, and me.

The story I read that evokes the strongest emotional response for me has always been “Rapunzel”. The tale of a girl who was locked in a tower by an evil woman for many years and who was then rescued by her prince was some of the juiciest drama that you could get as a third grader. One day while I was in class, our teacher announced that it was reading time since we would have those every day. I didn’t usually look forward to reading time since I would get bored easily. I was not necessarily a bad reader, but I had never been the most motivated to do much in class.

On the other hand, one thing I did enjoy was finding something that caught my eye. Whether it was a toy in the classroom or a book with incredible pictures, I only ever needed that small detail to peak my interest in doing something productive. When I found this book I was mesmerized by the beauty of the pages and the artwork. I have always been very fortunate to have access to many books and resources at our school. I loved going to the school library since it was filled with scholarly posters, and 3D images of old book characters, like a series of unfortunate events, and a story about a girl who had stripes all over her body. After analyzing the cover, I sat down on the colorful carpet in the reading section of my classroom, which was at most a couple of feet away from our desks and began to read. Surprisingly, the story was a very different version than I had originally read. At the time, I had only ever watched the tangled movies, cartoons, and books about Rapunzel. However, I couldn’t fathom why this variation was so intense. In the story a poor family lived near a witch, the wife became pregnant and couldn’t help but crave the radishes that were growing in the witch’s garden. One night, the wife was craving the radishes so much that she asked her husband to get her some, this was the beginning of a very bad decision. The wife and husband were forced to make a deal with the witch and give them their child once she was born. I remember thinking it was so insane that the pregnant woman craved radishes so much that both she and her husband were willing to make this awful agreement with a witch, and if it had not been for this craving, Rapunzel would have grown up with her parents. I was also the type of kid who would talk out loud and comment on things even if people were around me. So even though they knew this was going to happen they went through such a betraying and saddening experience with the witch and all I could think was “Why couldn’t they just find something else to eat?” and “This is a bit silly”. I can picture myself as a younger girl sitting down, taken back by everything that was happening in the book, and I couldn’t believe that Rapunzel had grown up in the tower, and gotten pregnant by the prince, who went up to visit her. It was so different from the Disney version of the story that I had been introduced to previously. Also, the fact that the prince was so determined to find Rapunzel again after the witch had thrown him out of the tower causing him to prick his eye on the thorns, and search blindly for Rapunzel for years after was truly beautiful. It made me think about how love is so powerful, and that he was willing to risk himself and his safety to find her, being willing to go anywhere or do anything to be reunited once again.  

I can see how the story relates to me because the lesson was honestly as simple as stealing is wrong, and that you shouldn’t take things from others that aren’t yours. Parents could tell the story to their children, or simply reflect on the fact that in the story, there was a couple who would have had their child if it wasn’t for their stealing. The story made me reflect on my own life, and how stealing can take what’s good away from you, and lead to punishment. I have never been the kind of person who enjoyed reading as a child. I would often Fall asleep during reading time or not do the assignment because I was too bored or uninterested in the work. However, when I read the story, it brought excitement into the world of reading for me. The illustrations in the story made me want to finish it and continue reading afterward. I would also argue that this had been the longest and most complex book I had read at that point. 

This story made it simpler to express myself while reading other books afterward, and I grew the urge to continue reading after hearing Rapunzel’s story. I feel like the lessons, and the complexity of what happened in the book made a big impact on how I viewed reading, and it truly demonstrated that I was capable of keeping an interest in books as a whole. I feel like I wasn’t motivated as much as a little girl because my teachers would give up on me very quickly, and would quickly begin thinking of me very poorly. Because of that, there wasn’t much I could do for my self-esteem, or motivation in doing any sort of class work, since it would lead to benefit either way. However, after reading this book, it was as if I had proven to myself that I wasn’t the problem and that reading could be fun and interesting if I wanted it to be.  It also showed my teachers that I wasn’t completely hopeless and that I was capable of sitting down to read for more than a couple of minutes. It showed them that I could do it and that I wasn’t completely hopeless. Nonetheless, I had definitely reflected on the lesson of  “stealing is wrong”, but ironically, after reading Rapunzel a few times in class, I decided to take the book and stuff it in my bag. I didn’t think I could find it anywhere else, and felt such a strong connection and love for the way that it looked, and made me feel, I just couldn’t help but take it with me. It’s funny that I stole the book myself, but I don’t regret doing so, since back then, I genuinely loved sitting down and going through the pages to see those beautiful pictures. It also was not wasteful, since I didn’t stop reading it until years later, and I would take the book again if I was back in school since it’s still in my house to this day.