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The impact of children's literature in our society
The nature of fairy tales
The impact of children's literature in our society
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Fairy tales is a good perspective for each reader because it shares life situation in society. Furthermore, fairy tales in general are suitable for young children. For three main reasons: it keeps them from fear, help them develop knowledge, and empowerment. The Goose-Girl by Grimm brothers is a fairy tale story based on a princess who grew up to marry a prince who lived far away. On her journey the chambermaid took her crown. In the end the old king found out that the chambermaid was insubordinate. So the real princess took her prince and lived happily ever
Jessica was suspicious of the queen, and rightfully so. When the queen entered the black room, the ghastly sight caused Jessica to faint in disgust. Suspicious, black, ghastly. These are just a few of the words an author can use to imply evil in a character. The connotation of dark as evil is prevalent in many stories throughout the history of western civilization. Fairy tales “emanate from specific struggles to humanize [forces initially perceived to be evil], which have terrorized our minds and communities in concrete ways” (Zipes), and their usually-heroic endings make us forget on a conscious level the lessons they’ve taught us. However, their impact remains on our subconscious views of the world. Because of this, fairly tales often address issues far more serious than one would think to teach to a young reader. The Brothers’ Grimm tale “Ashputtle”, the basis of our modern-day Cinderella archetype, takes advantage of this to address the issue of the continued oppression of women.
Throughout history it is known that fairy tales were written to teach children lessons about life in a way they could understand and that is fun and unique. Authors of fairy tales put simple lessons into the stories so the children could understand them easily while reading. Whether this be a lesson to be nice to all people, like in Cinderella, or to not judge someone by their appearance, like in Donkey Skin, both by Charles Perrault. Each fairytale has a moral that can be found throughout reading the stories that teach children right from wrong while letting them use their imaginations to discover that moral. The good and the bad lets them express their thoughts openly, rather it be their negative thoughts through the villian or their
Fairy tales connect to our owns lives, dreams, anxieties, and help us to consider what we would do in their shoes. Many cultures have their own spin on common fairy tales like Sleeping Beauty, with their own cultural flavor. We read those versions and know that we share something important and the hope for good to overcome evil.
Children can identify themselves with fairy-tale characters; they imagine themselves as heroes, who are capable of killing dragons, or simpletons, who demonstrate the superiority over clever people. Fantasies based on the fairy tales are extremely important part of the children’s lives, and this is not only because they describe threatening situations that resemble main fears of a young child such as the fear of getting lost, fear of wrong decisions, fear of monsters or evil animals. Happy endings, which are always present in fairy tales, give children the confidence that despite all their fears they will be able to win in the end. This knowledge helps them to prepare for the difficulties of life, regardless whether they are real or imagined (Doughty, 2006).
The telling of fairy tales has changed tremendously as they have been around for a great amount of time. As a child, fairy tails are read by someone who is older, that understands the deeper meaning of the tale. The Brothers Grimm tales were not meant to be for children because of the content that they contained. In Zohar Shavit criticism, he made the point that as time went on, fairy tales were transformed into ones that were more appropriate for children that did not contain all of the violence, sex, and dark meanings. They wanted children to look at the world in a different way than how it was intended for adults (Shavit 327). Literary critic, Robert Sale, once
I love little pussy, /Her coat is so warm, /And if I don’t hurt her, /She’ll do me no harm. /So I’ll not pull her tail, /Nor drive her away, /But pussy and I, /Very gently will play. (http://www.zelo.com/family/nursery/pussy.asp)
The Grimm’s stories have strict criteria for good and evil. Good women are not the hero, they do not plan, nor do they get themselves out of bad situations; they are obtuse and wait until a Prince saves them. These qualities doom the female protagonists (and readers) to pursue the only destiny women have, and that is to be a wife and mother (Rowe, 1978). Cinderella is the heroine and the ideal good girl. She is unambiguously beautiful, kind, and compassionate. She does not complain or get angry. This is foreseen early in the Grimm’s Cinderella story:
Aspects of fairy tales are woven into many novels as a way to bring a sense of familiarity to the reader. Foster writes, “...we want strangeness in our stories, but we want familiarity, too. We want a new novel to be not quite like anything we’ve read before. At the same time, we look for it to be sufficiently like other things we’ve read so that we can use those to make sense of it,” (Foster 36). Fairy tales will be the same year from now and therefore hold the same familiarity to the reader. Evil stepparents, a magical fairy godmother, and the ultimate rescue to the castle are all component to the perfect fairy tale that is seen in many novels. J. K. Rowling’s infamous Harry Potter Series follows the journey made by the powerful, young wizard Harry Potter. While Harry Potter is not a fairy tale, it has many subtle attributes woven in throughout the novels. The first book in the series, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, while not a fairytale, has many attributes woven throughout the novel. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone introduces the reader to Harry’s home life which compares to that of a fairy tale. Harry is mistreated by his step parents and wishes for his fairy godmother to save him, clearly showing the distinct evil and good characters like many fairy tales have. However, Harry’s fairy
While fairy tales are entertaining stories and can be used to educate children of the normal social manners of reality; however, it can be used to entertain and educate people of all ages. It can be used as a method of escaping the real world or to teach valuable life lessons than just the normal social mannerisms of society.
At first glance, what makes a fairy tale a fairy tale may seem obvious—some kind of magic, hidden symbols, repetition, and of course it’s evident it’s fiction—but fables are more than that. As Arthur Schelesinger puts it, it’s about “[expanding] imagination” and gaining understanding of mysterious places (618). While doing this, it also helps children to escape this world, yet teach a lesson that the reader may not be conscious of. A wonderful story that achieves all of this is Cinderella, but not the traditional tale many American’s have heard. Oochigeaskw, or The Rough-Faced Girl, and Ashputtle would be fitting for a seven-year-old because they get the gears of the mind turning, allowing for an escape on the surface, with an underlying enlightenment for children of the ways of the world.
That, of course, is something to be appreciated, because it encourages the child-parent bond and the exploration of emotions is not a process the child takes upon himself/ herself. However, fairy tales go further. They can be used as tools for understanding the inner life of the child and the concerns that lie there and influence their acts. For Hohr, fairy tales address various socio-emotional challenges with which children are confronted with/by the course of socialization [7]. For Bettelheim, only fairy tales speak of everyday characters that confront crucial existential problems and emerge joyful and unscathed [8], has found a 'solution ' to the problem. Yet, children end up with joy, while the fairy tale ends, as well. This is, mainly, because 'the fairy tales have a clear identification of good and bad characters, a happy ending and a clear moral'[9]. No matter how many hardships the character experiences, he, she or it results happily. Some of the hardships may coincide with the child's ones because they address the age group the child belongs to and the instructions in dealing with them are presented in fairy
Fairy Tales have been around for generations and generations. Our parents have told us these stories and we will eventually pass them down to ours. In this time of age the most common fairytales are Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and The Beast and many more. Children idolize their favorite character and pretend to be them by mimicking everything they do in the stories. The character’s behavior is what is viewed as appropriate in society. These fairy tales show a girl and a boy fall in love and live “happily ever after”. The tales in many people’s eyes resemble a dream life that they would want to have of their own. However, have you ever really looked at what makes up a fairy tale? Many things are unrealistic but the most unflattering aspect of these tales is how women are depicted in them. Fairy tales give an unrealistic view to how women should look and behave in real life.
I am writing this paper because I was assigned to write it as a class project. Along the way I realized the importance of sharing the real meanings of all these stories. Stories are important because in the society we live in things are constantly changing. Fairytales change but the base of the story always remain the same no matter how many times it has been retold. It’s important to reveal the true meanings of these stories, even with its dark characteristics, because the world is dark .Children need to know that there are people that have told stories relatable to what they are going through. Fairytales help the development of children; it helps their maturity as they confront someone else’s tough situations, instilling hope of a more positive ou...
There are many fairy tales that have been discussed in this class. The most interesting stories to me are Snow White by Brother Grimm and Ever After: A Cinderella Story directed by Andy Tennant based on Cinderella by Charles Perrault. There are many different versions of Snow White and Cinderella from numerous cultures. In every version, both stories are known as children bed time stories. In addition, the purpose of both stories is to give a life lesson to the children about overcoming evil to attain happiness. At first, every fairy tale has to deal with evil that threatens the protagonist, but in the end, good must always win. In the same way, both of the fairy tales have a similar scenario of a character that is beautiful and has an equally sweet disposition, but is thwarted by an antagonist
..., Maria. “An Introduction to Fairy Tales.” Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. Ed. Laurence Behrens, Leonard J. Rosen. Toronto: Longman, 2013. 230-235. Print.