The Paper Bag Princess
Author: The Paper Bag Princess
Publisher: Annick Press
Contents |
[edit] Summary
The story pertains to a princess who uses wit to outsmart a dragon in order to rescue the prince. The prince seeing that the princess only has a paper bag for clothes refuses to leave with her. The princess then tells the princes he “looks like a real bum” and they do not get married.
[edit] Guidelines for Philosophical Discussion
By Megon Jones & Qendresa Beka
This story portrays two different scenarios, each with their own separate values being explored. The first scenario deals with the dragon and it relationship with Princess Elizabeth; the ability for the princess to trick the dragon in order to save the prince. The second scenario deals with the prince and princess. The princess had to put herself into danger in order to save the prince who was ungrateful because she didn’t look like a princess since she was only wearing a paper bag.
Princess and Dragon
After the dragon burnt down everything in the castle and left only a paper bag which the princess used as her outfit; the princess went looking for her prince by following the dragon’s path of destruction. At the dragon’s cave Elizabeth knocks on the door and is greeted by the ferocious dragon. At this point a social contract is established where the dragons tells Elizabeth “Well, a princess! I love to eat princesses,... I am a very busy dragon. Come back tomorrow.” The dragon could have taken the princess prisoner to eat another time or ate her at that moment; however, it did not and gave the princess the ability to escape. The evidence of an unwritten social contract had been established. The dragon would not eat Princess Elizabeth until the next day when/if she came back. Princess Elizabeth then knock’s one other time but this time provoked the dragon to show how smart and ferocious it truly was. The dragon sees this as a chance to show-off its true immensity. The dragon shows off so much of it firing breath and its quick speed that it falls into a deep slumber. During this process, Princess Elizabeth does not lie and risks her life to save the prince. This is an aspect of utilitarianism, where she chooses to act morally by saving the life of the prince with the risk of her safety and life. She does this with the realization and assurance that she will be truly happy and married to her prince in the end. She achieves the rescue by using the truth to trick the dragon to show off which leads it to become tired and sleeps.
Princess and Prince
The relationship between the princess and the prince shows the two sides of Kantianism. For Prince Ronald, Elizabeth is just the princess that he should marry in order to have a prestigious family. In other words, Elizabeth is just a means to an end. Elizabeth, however, shows a Kantian attitude and treats Prince Harry an end in himself. Princess Elizabeth undergoes the challenges to save Prince Harry because she cares for him and feels that saving him is the right thing to do. There is also a social contract between the prince and princess. They are supposed to get married, so the princess feels she is obliged to do whatever she can to rescue her future husband. She does not even think about reasons against it but immediately starts her quest to save Prince Ronald. But is the obligation really there? There is no written or confirmed contract demanding her saving Ronald, yet Elizabeth still feels the obligation.
The story also explores relativism. The princess and the prince are from the same society but have different beliefs and values. The prince values beauty and material goods, whereas the princess values love, personality and morals. Although Elizabeth saves Prince Ronald, the prince thinks she is not a real princess because she does not look like a real princess. On the other hand, although Prince Ronald looks good, Elisabeth thinks that he is a “bum” for not appreciating what Elizabeth did for him. What decides whether a person is a princess/prince or a bum? Is it material wealth, looks, or someone’s actions that gives them a status? Although the prince has a noble status, his actions do not seem noble. Are those with higher status in society necessarily better people? Elizabeth and Ronald are seemingly equal in status but Elizabeth is the hero in the story because she rescues Ronald, whereas Ronald is portrayed a bad guy because he does not appreciate Elizabeth.
In most fairytales, the prince rescues the princess but in this story the roles are reversed. This shows a form of feminism because it contradicts the traditional roles of males and females in a society, where the female is the damsel in distress and it is the male’s job to rescue her. The story depicts how a woman may have the wit to trick a dragon, does not have to rely on her beauty, and does not require man to have a happy ending.
[edit] Questions for Philosophical Discussion
The story starts describing how Elizabeth is a beautiful princess with expensive clothes and is marrying Prince Ronald.
- Elizabeth’s beauty and expensive clothes are mentioned but Ronald is not described, other than he is a prince. Does this make Elizabeth seem better than Ronald?
- If Elizabeth was poor and ugly instead of beautiful and rich, would it make Elizabeth less important?
- Would the story be different if Elizabeth was not a princess and Ronald was not a prince? What if they were just two regular people?
- The story does not say that Ronald and Elizabeth love each other, just that they are getting married. Just because the two are getting married, can we assume that they love each other?
- In the picture, we see that Elizabeth has hearts around her as she looks at Ronald, but Ronald is facing away and does not have any hearts around him. What do you think this means?
After the dragon burns Elizabeth’s castle and all her clothes, all Elizabeth has is a paper bag and a crown on her head but she still wants to rescue the prince.
- Why do you think Elizabeth is left without any clothes? What do the clothes and her burnt castle represent?
- Why does Elizabeth still have the crown on her head? Is she still a princess without her castle or expensive clothes?
- Nobody tells Elizabeth to rescue the prince but she still decides to do it. Why does she feel like she has to save Prince Ronald?
- If you were Elizabeth, would you risk your own life in order to save Prince Ronald?
The confrontation between the Princess Elizabeth and the dragon
- Was the dragon both smart and ferocious? Why?
- Was Elizabeth smarter than the dragon?
- Why didn’t the dragon imprison the Princess?
- Why did the dragon decide to show-off?
- Did Elizabeth do the right thing by rescuing the Prince and facing the dragon?
- Why didn’t Princess Elizabeth escape when she had the chance?
- Why wasn’t Elizabeth scared?
- Is there really a happy ending?
When Elizabeth opens the cave door to rescue Prince Ronald, he does not hug her or even say thank you. He just tells her she looks bad and needs to come back when she looks like a princess.
- Were you expecting Ronald to say something else when Elizabeth walked in to save him? What were you expecting? Why?
- Why do you think Ronald cares about what Elizabeth looks like? What is important to Ronald?
- Just because Elizabeth is not dressed like a princess does it mean that she is not a REAL princess? What makes a princess a princess?
- Do you think that Prince Ronald really loves Elizabeth? Why or why not?
In the end, Elizabeth tells Prince Ronald that his clothes are pretty and his hair is neat but he is a bum and they do not get married. Instead the picture shows Elizabeth jumping happily into the sunset.
- Why does Elizabeth tell Prince Ronald that he is a bum? Ronald is a prince, so how can he be a bum?
- If you were Elizabeth, would you have still married Ronald? Elizabeth had already decided to marry Ronald, so should she still stick to that old decision? Should Ronald get a second chance?
- Are you disappointed that Elizabeth and Ronald are not married in the end? Why do most fairytales end with marriage?
- Even though Elizabeth is not married in the end, is she still happy? What is important to Elizabeth?
