Englih Journal: "Rose Daughter"

Did someone here say something about posting journals every Sunday? What a little liar that person must be...

So, today I have another journal. I'm still trying to pick things that are at least a little known, which seriously limits me choices. This one is rather long, though I'm not sure if this is more of a downside for me, or for anyone reading this self-indulgent tripe.

Without further ado, an English class journal on Robin McKinley's "Rose Daughter."

McKinley has a real "thing" for Beauty and the Beast. Good thing, too, because I'm the same way. I've read both her adaptations, "Rose Daughter" and Beauty", and another book with definite connections to the tale. So if there journals end up being about all three instead of just Rose Daughter, it's because I can't quite keep them straight in my head.

I've been reading a lot of books about magic lately. It's a little unusual for me, since I generally have little interest in it; my interest is in fantasy. The fact that the two often go together has softened me to warily accept the occasional magician. But the magic in these books is... quiet, maybe. Very Chronicles of Narnia, in a way. And I actually like it quite a bit. Particularly when magic is attached to the story in non-otherworldly ways. For instance, in "Rose Daughter" there are an awful lot of, who would've guessed, roses. (McKinley loves roses. I know this because I am now slightly obsessed fan of hers, and I read her blog every day.) In the story, roses are a symbol of, and a blessing for, love. "Not silly sweethearts' love," but real, true love. It's said that only wizards and greenwitches can get roses to grow because people didn't have enough love to give them. It's a continual question n the book whether our heroine, Beauty, is a greenwitch without knowing it because she got the roses in her new town to bloom again.

I'd kind of given up hope on roses - they're dreadfully overdone, in fiction and real life - but this has brought me back to them again. I think that's proof enough that "Rose Daughter" is a piece of literary magic.