Blog 3

Swan and Cygnets Sand

The power of beauty is discussed by Cunningham in the introduction of A Wild Swan: "Vengeful entities strive solely to ruin the rarest, the ones who have somehow been bestowed not just bower and trumpet but comeliness that startles the birds in the trees, mixed with grace, generosity and charm" (Cunningham, 2015, p. 3). He directly transforms feminine qualities like elegance and beauty into male ones. The story of A Wild Swan, whose title suggests that the retelling is directly based upon Hans Christian Andersen's rendition, follows right after his meditation. The brothers had successfully transitioned back to their human state, with the exception of the youngest brother who still has a swan wing, when Cunningham's story picks up where Anderson leaves off. The author next investigates the boy's sentiments of awkwardness and fear of being subjected to fetishization from that point on (Wullschlager, 2000). Because they see him as "ninety percent robust muscled man-flesh and ten percent gorgeous blindingly white angel wing," for example, some women experience strange attraction to him (Cunningham, 2015, p. 11). Because he does not see himself as belonging to the hegemonic masculinity, he constantly feels inferior. As a result, he spends his time hanging out at a unique pub where other people who have survived fairy tale accidents gather.

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