Blog Post #3 Little Cog-Burt// Cotton Candy

Analysis of Little Cog-Burt and Cotton Candy 
"Little Cog-Burt", by Phyllis Shand Allfrey, and "Cotton Candy", by Dora Allonso, on the surface appear very different. Some of the few immediate similarities one can see are the they're both about Caribbean people, they include mothers, and they're written by Caribbean women. To make other connections, the reader must look deeper into the context and what the authors are trying to get across. 

Phyllis Shand Allfrey

Dora Allonso 

In both stories, readers meet a person who is seen as repugnant.  These would be Little Cog-burt and Lola. Lola is seen as lesser and untouchable because her mother kept her away from men and made her be a spinster. She never marries and becomes a sex-crazed old virgin. Cog-burt, we learn, is sick. Moira spends seemingly half the story talking about how gross he is and how she never would want to touch him or be near him. She knows his sickness is due to worms according to his mom, "Oh, he suffer from worms...", (p. 8) which is admittedly super gross, and rather than take pity on the boy she chose to look down on him and criticize his mother for not doing better with him. 
Mothers also play a big role in both stories. In "Cotton Candy", the entire reason that Lola becomes this mind-warped sex obsessor is because her mother denies her any physical or emotional contact with a man for her entire life. Even after her mother is gone she mentions being uncomfortable. "Lola, followed by the furious ghost of a mother, wanted to flee..." (p. 16) The mother had implanted her harsh ideas into her daughters head so strongly that she couldn't even watch animals having sex without feeling her dead mother's disapproving thoughts. On the other hand, in "Little Cog-Burt", we meet a mother who has lost her children when they move away and go to boarding school. This has turned her cruel and angsty, so she doesn't want to throw a party for other people's children since she won't have hers near for the holiday season. It also adds to the reasons that she can't stand Little Cog-burt. Her disdain is also with the way he's being raised, not just the fact that he exists. She shames the mother for his behavior and his appearance. Both mothers have strict and demanding personalities that affect those around them in a negative way. 
The authors of these books wanted to display the way that motherhood and high demand-parenting can affect the people around us. It doesn't do anyone any good to be rude or condemning. They also highlight the working class people of their country in very different ways. 

  

Teiyette and the Devil

In Teiyette and the Devil, we are told an old Guadeloupan funeral story. We're told about this story by a 17 year old girl. In the story we meet a young girl who is very picky about who she wants to marry. The purpose of this story is to warm young girls, universally, that just because a man is handsome doesn't mean they're a good guy. The author uses several writing styles, which I think are in an attempt to secure the story in the reader or listeners mind. The author uses prose for most of the story, then switches to poetry when something really needs to be emphasized.

A a great example of this are when the goat and the pig come around looking to meet the young girl. Obviously, a goat and a pig didn't come looking to marry a human girl nor could they speak. The author both sets the scene, you can assume they're somewhere rural due to the livestock, and describes the men who came. By using barnyard animals with a reputation for being ugly, dirty, overweight, and unkempt, the reader or listener can get an idea of how gross and undesirable these men were.

During the story, we learn that the girl has chosen to marry a devil in disguise. This devil has dressed up in an attempt to win the girl's heart and take her as his own. Her mother warned her that he seemed like he was no good, but the girl chose to lie to her mother and cover up the truth when she discovered it. When the girl is eventually forced to suffer the consequences of staying with the man just because he was so handsome, he began to swallow her whole. "Oh, Mama! Oh, Mama! Bel-air drum! The man to whom you married me, Bel-air drum! Is a terrible devil! bel- air "Oh, Mama! Oh, Mama! Bel-air drum! The man to whom you married me, Bel-air drum! Is a terrible devil! bel- air drum! He's eating me up! bel-air drum!! He's eating me up! bel-air drum!" (p. 3) She cried out for her mother and father, who bother responded that they warned her and she was on her own. The author chooses this time to slip into verse and poetry. The stanzas are repetitive and include verbalizations to sounds. This helps create a pattern and since humans can remember songs better than regular spoken words, this sticks in the reader or listeners mind. Thoe moral of the story is that handsome men can be devil's in disguise and not to fall for their clever tricks and lines. I also think that it's a story warning of staying with a man after you know what a devil he is. Once you see your partner for who they really are, in this case a slime oozing devil, don't ignore that or try to rationalize what they are. Instead we should heed others warnings and do what's best for us even if it means not being with a super attractive guy.