Talk:Hop-Frog

Relationship to the True story of the Bal des Ardents

There is an event in 28 January 1393. Bal des Ardents, where Charles VI of France (the mad king of France) almost died dressed as hairy wild man (in resin-soaked costumes covered with flax to look like hair) along with 5 other members of the nobility in a dance at a party of the nobility -- all chained together. The king's brother Louis, Duke of Orléans "accidentally" caused a torch to be brought to them and 3 of the dancers died and the king was wounded.

This is clearly the precedent for the Hop Frog story. 71.225.92.207 (talk) 04:35, 28 January 2014 (UTC)

Cool. Did you see that it's already mentioned in the article? --Midnightdreary (talk) 20:27, 28 January 2014 (UTC)

Terminology for Hop-Frog

An editor has rightfully pointed out that the term Poe uses in relation to the title character of his story is now considered a derogatory term. We cannot change the fact that Poe exclusively refers to Hop-Frog (and Trippetta) as a "dwarf", but the question is if the article should reflect Poe's 1840s term, or if it should be updated to the more serviceable modern term "little person". I would take care to note that we cannot assume Poe's intentions, either in the tone in which he referred to the character's condition, or in the condition of the character itself (i.e. is Hop-Frog really an early representation of today's "little person"? Or something else?). Something, in other words, may be lost in translation here. A hastily made search of Poe scholarship among modern critics shows the preferred term as dwarf, mirroring Poe's language, with scant use of "little person". Considering the sensitive nature of the term, I would love further commentary/thoughts on this. --Midnightdreary (talk) 03:02, 16 August 2016 (UTC)