Skip to main content

What's up with produce as vehicles in stories? Why do you think this is a thing?

I think there are many reasons that produce as vehicles are a thing.

The first is the same reason why I think we refer to objects by what size of produce it is similar to: produce is familiar. We can all picture a watermelon or an apple or a carrot. If someone refers to an unfamiliar object by comparing it to produce, we have a pretty good feel for it. Making a magical object a piece of produce helps ground it in reality and makes it still somewhat familiar and not totally foreign (which it would be if it was a magical vehicle with no groundingin reality).

I also think taking the familiar and giving it a twist feels somewhat magical. Peaches, I'm sure, can be larger than your average peach, but they certainly don't get to be vehicle sized (a tree would snap surely from the weight). Twisting the familiar is whimsical and makes us look at ordinary objects with a new magic.

I think that new magic is also part of it. If we take ordinary objects and make them extraordinary, couldn't that make us look at ordinary objects as extraordinary? Now a pumpkin isn't just a pumpkin, it's the base for a magical carriage. The story has brought a touch of magic to our everyday lives now.

In concert with that, using produce as magical vehicles makes us think of the story when we see the produce. Now I'm not saying that all writers are like "Aha! A way to make people think of my story in their everyday life!" However, I do think this is a factor for some authors. Once you've read a story with a giant piece of produce as a vehicle, you may think of it when you see that produce. Hopefully, it is a lovely memory you have and it makes you think fondly on a story that meant something to you. This is, again, a way of adding magic to the everyday.

To continue with the magic in the everyday theme, I also think that is how writers often see the world. Writers can be inspired by the smallest thing and it isn't unusual for writers to keep a notebook filled with random snippets of inspiration. One day, Roald Dahl may have seen a peach and just had the random thought about what if it was a vehicle. Seeing the magic in the everyday could be why produce is chosen as vehicles.

I also think it's just somewhat funny for things to not be the size you expect. Maybe this is a very basic sense of humor, but subverting expectations is a big part of humor I think. So something small like a peach being huge is just somewhat funny. And adding humor to stories is often a good choice.

Sometimes, I think it goes along with the theme. With Cinderella, the idea of appearances not matching the true nature of something is a major theme. So something ordinary like a pumpkin being transformed into a beautiful carriage fits perfectly with the story.

Anyways, what do you think?

Full prompt: What's up with produce as vehicles in stories? (e.g. Cinderella & pumpkins, James & the Giant Peach) Why do you think this is a thing??

(Prompt by Kimisha Cassidy)

"Pumpkin carriage" by soyoung jung. Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-ND 2.0).


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

15 facts I learned from a random Wikipedia article

Original prompt: click on "Random Wikipedia Article" and write about whatever comes up (you can try 3 times and pick your favorite). For the record, I got Alejandro Estivill , Fencing at the 2011 Pan American Games – Women's épée , and Benjamin F. Jonas . I chose Benjamin F. Jonas because it was the longest of the three entries and it had a photo. He was born in Kentucky, moved to Illinois as a kid, and went to college and spent the rest of his life in Louisiana Jonas's father was a merchant and lawyer His father knew Lincoln (like they were real buds) Despite this, Jonas sided with the confederacy Not only did he side with the confederacy, but he joined the Confederate army and rose to the rank of major He went to University of Louisiana (now Tulane) Jonas was Jewish (I didn't know there were Jewish senators who served the Confederacy) He was the second Jewish U.S. Senator from Louisiana and the third Jewish Senator overall Jonas was the first Ashkenazi Jewish US...
Post a Comment
Read more

Origin story or first issue of a superhero whose super power is geometry

Arya sat in history class and was bored. She longed to get to geometry, where things made more sense. She liked geometry so much that she had joined the math team to be able to do it more. Okay, there was also the extra time with her friends who loved math as much as she did, but some of the appeal was just the math itself. Finally the bell rang and Arya had four minutes to get to her geometry class. She passed right by the chemistry class next door where her least favorite teacher was conducting experiments. He needed to be more careful, thought Arya. The teacher had once exploded a glass beaker and not on purpose. Arya took her seat and excitedly pulled out her notebook. It was her favorite color: hot pink. She assigned her notebook and folder colors in ways that felt right to her. And since geometry was her favorite subject, she made her notebook and folder for it her favorite color. As the teacher started to go over the most common mistakes from the last quiz, Arya could've swo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Color palette

Original prompt: "Google "color palette," pick one, and write something inspired by it." I actually Googled "color palette public domain" to be sure I could use it and found the image on this post. I used the "floral" section for my inspiraiton. The soft sunlight somehow didn't dim the shine of the fireflies. Such it was in the fae realm. Fern loved this time of day in the faewild where it wasn't quite day, but it was far from night. Fern frolicked alone in the glade as she was want to do. It didn't matter to her that her laughter carried itself alone on the breeze; she was content. She wasn't sure how long she'd been alone as she watched the suns begin to set, but it was pleasant in its own way. But then, she heard a noise. It wasn't the noise of leaves on the wind or twigs snapping from some comforting creature. It was the noise of someone approaching with grim determination. Fern wasn't sure how to ready herself to ...
Post a Comment
Read more