Thoughts on Re-telling a story

When I first read the introduction to Weight, my first thought was that the author was right, it is important to keep these stories alive, to keep them from falling into decay from misuse or misunderstanding. If we don't retell them, then they will be forgotten, their message lost in the frabic of time. But at the same time, we need to ask ourselves, is their message the same? Is it valid anymore? Is it right to keep it alive? I think by altering the story slightly, by digging deeper into the story, by questioning the characters, their motives, their emotions, we can better understand the story and in time a new meaning will appear, one that fits the era. Our world is changing around us, we need to adapt these stories to fit the times, so their message is not completely lost but rather renewed.



The Mother's Ghost does that for the reader; it alters the original story slightly so we gain new insight into the characters and into ourselves. Before reading it, I thought Cinderella was passive, didn't do anything for herself but let these things happen to her, and let other people clean up her messes. But after reading Ghost, I've realized that sometimes people need help, that they can't do it all themselves sometimes. The burned girl drained the cow, the cat and the bird, but maybe next time she won't have to. Or maybe she will. We as readers don't know how the story truly ends, we don't know if she's learned her lesson, that we all have to stand on her own two feet. We can only speculate which allows us to question ourselves: could we stand or would we drain the cow, the cat and the bird?