Week 2- Entry B

In The Fourth Bear, there are a lot of references to drugs and violence like in our world. Although there are fairy tale characters present, these problems are still seen in their society. The bears are forbidden to deal with porridge or honey. Early in the book, Jack Spratt has to take care of some bears who are dealing with porridge. It is very funny, because the bears cook the porridge on a little hot plate much like a drug user today would deal with some types of drugs. Violence is also prevalent in the mythical world much like our world today. The Gingerbreadman escapes from a mental hospital and causes havoc by killing people right and left. Everyone is scared for their lives with this killer on the loose. These examples show how society can’t avoid problems like drugs and violence. These things are unavoidable.
It is funny how the fairy tale characters are portrayed in The Fourth Bear. Their faults are very obvious. When reading fairy tales, everything seems perfect and there is an easy to see line between good and evil, but in this book, everything is altered. It's hard to see who is good and bad and things are obviously far from perfect. The example of drugs and violence show this. No world can be perfect, no matter what ficticious fairy tales tell you. Good and evil is difficult to decipher between. There are always gray areas. The Fourth Bear shows how life really is, not how we wish it to be.