Introduction Fairy tales existed in the oral traditions of many civilizations before they were adopted, adapted and transcribed into the corpus of literature, and more recently, popular fiction. They evolved and reflected the changes in society. Many of the ancient fairy tales were in fact dynamic and empowering discourse on womanhood which were later re-written in order to teach women their passive, submissive role in society and aimed at maintaining the status quo. The intent and purpose of many of the original folk tales had thus been distorted to suit prevalent view. Hence it is clear that a certain social dynamics existed behind the telling and subsequently re-telling of these tales. The psychological approach …show more content…
It is a Cinderella kind of transformation of the young and vulnerable Janu into a more determined stronger and empowered woman who is capable of taking decisions about her own life. “My marriage ended today”. With this stark statement Misra begins her novel. “ Ma has said, as we left the court, her voice and her eyes brimming with sadness, that it had been my fate”(3). Narrated in the first person in flashback, Janu’s story, by Misra’s own admission, is a thinly veiled autobiography. The author traces the events leading up to Janu’s divorce, as she travels back home from the court on a rainy night in Kerala. As a young eighteen year old girl from Delhi, Janaki or Janu was forced to give up Arjun, her first love, who leaves for England to pursue higher studies. Pressurized by her family she enters into a loveless arranged marriage with a businessman who is several years her senior. Suresh Maraar, heir to the Maraar fortunes is seen as a prize catch for an ordinary middle class family like Janu’s. The pressure from her extended family is subtle when the mighty Maraar clan approves of her so easily: “What are they going to think? They could even retract their offer by tomorrow!”. “Be grateful for what you’re getting”. “They don’t even want a dowry…It’s nothing less than arrogance to say no to people like that’ (61). Janu’s feeble protests are brushed aside. She is forced to sacrifices her love for Arjun because she says she is ‘tired of fighting off my family”. Ridden with guilt for the pain she has caused her parents by transgressing the boundary they had set, and daring to fall in love, she looked upon her marriage to Suresh as a kind of compensation-“to ensure that I began to pay off some of the debt that has accrued against my name somewhere’(68). Suresh has nothing in common with her but agrees to the ‘alliance’ because she fits into his specifications of being pretty,
Overall, in these fairy tales Carter succeeds in delivering a feminist message and provides a counter argument for the moral message of traditional fairy tales in which young women were encouraged to remain obedient and pure. Unlike in earlier fairy tales, in these stories it is the straying from the path that results in transformation and releases women from the subjugation that women over history have been subjected to.
A fairytale is a fictional fantasy fable that passes through generations of children as source of interest to them. Though used for the intent of entertainment, fairytales often indirectly advocate a moral or message to readers (whom are usually children), in hopes that they will grow up to apply these ethics and lead a righteous life. This criteria, however, often originates from the occurrence of a magical transformation; it is this paranormality that introduces the characters of the story to a side of life far from what they have grown to know and learn to adapt to the dramatic amend in their life. This is evident in the characters in world-renowned tales such as The Little Mermaid, Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast.
Fairy tales have been told for generations and now every child has dolls, movies and books filled with magical adventures. Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White have become classics in every household. However, J.R.R. Tolkien described in his essay “On Fairy Stories” that the world has corrupted fairy tales by making them childlike and denoting them evil. Our culture prescribed fairies to be diminutive, supernatural creatures; however, fairies are neither small nor necessarily supernatural. A fairy is a direct product of Faerie, which is “the realm or state in which fairies have their being” (Tolkien “On” 2).
During the 19th century, Grimm’s fairytales were strongly disapproved of due to harsh, gruesome details and plots. One American educator from 1885 stated, “The folktales mirror all too loyally the entire medieval worldview and culture with all its stark prejudice, its crudeness and barbarities.” As childre...
One of the main themes that I noticed when I was reading through the fairy tale texts was the theme of stereotypes. Firstly, what are stereotypes? Stereotypes are essentially an offensive generalization or an over exaggerated view that is used to categorize a group of people. I noticed that in two of the three texts that I have selected for this paper, the authors, Jakob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm, tend to portray women as being very dependent on men. In addition, to being depicted as being very dependent, they were also shown to be weak and very naïve. My goal in this paper is to highlight the numerous accounts of stereotypes that are cast mainly upon women and sometimes men as well, whether it be fictional or non-fictional, through the use of two texts. These texts are “Cinderella” and “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. For my third text I chose to use “Precious” by Nalo Hopkinson, because it challenges the stereotypical ideas presented of women.
In a society unbridled with double standards and set views about women, one may wonder the origins of such beliefs. It might come as a surprise that these ideals and standards are embedded and have been for centuries in the beloved fairy tales we enjoyed reading as kids. In her analytical essay, “To Spin a Yarn: The Female Voice in Folklore and Fairy Tales”, Karen Rowe argues that fairy tales present “cultural norms which exalt passivity, dependency, and self-sacrifice as a female’s cardinal virtues.” Rowe presents an excellent point, which can be supported by versions of the cult classics, “Cinderella” and “Snow White”. Charles Perrault’s “ The Little Glass Slipper” and the Brothers Grimm’s “ Snow White” exemplify the beliefs that females are supposed to be docile, dependent on the male persona and willing to sacrifice themselves. In many cases, when strong female characters are presented they are always contradicting in these characteristics, thus labeled as villainous. Such is the case of the Cinderella’s stepsisters in Perrault’s “Cinderella” and the stepmother in the Brothers Grimm’s “Snow White.” These female characters face judgment and disapproval when they commit the same acts as male characters. With such messages rooted in our beloved fairy tales it is no wonder that society is rampant with these ideals about women and disapprove of women when they try to break free of this mold.
Fairy tales portray wonderful, elaborate, and colorful worlds as well as chilling, frightening, dark worlds in which ugly beasts are transformed into princes and evil persons are turned to stones and good persons back to flesh (Guroian). Fairytales have long been a part of our world and have taken several forms ranging from simple bedtime stories to intricate plays, musicals, and movies. However, these seemingly simple stories are about much more than pixie dust and poisoned apples. One could compare fairytales to the new Chef Boyardee; Chef Boyardee hides vegetables in its ravioli while fairytales hide society’s morals and many life lessons in these outwardly simple children stories. Because of this fairytales have long been instruments used to instruct children on the morals of their culture. They use stories to teach children that the rude and cruel do not succeed in life in the long run. They teach children that they should strive to be kind, caring, and giving like the longsuffering protagonists of the fairytale stories. Also, they teach that good does ultimately defeat evil. Fairy tales are not just simple bedtime stories; they have long been introducing cultural moral values into young children.
The simplicity of fairy tales and non-specific details renders them ideal for manipulation allowing writers to add their own comments often reflecting social convention and ideology. Theref...
Tatar, M. (1987). Sex and Violence: The Hard Core of Fairy Tales. The hard facts of the Grimms' fairy tales (p. 3). Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
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.
Thinking back to our childhood, we all remember hearing many kinds of fairy tales. Some of them inspired us others confused us, and most of them taught us valuable lessons. Through out centuries tales and stories have been used as a valuable tool to pass on our culture to new generations. There is a strong belief that these fairy tales mirror and influence society. All cultures interpret tales in their own unique way. They add and subtract various aspects of the tale to fit the needs of their particular society. The same tale in the United States is different from the tale told in Asia. A good example of tale evolution can be seen in one of the most famous tales ever told which is “Cinderella”. As a professor of women’s history Karol Kelley points out in her essay Pretty Woman: A Modern Cinderella “There are some 700 versions of Cinderella”.This fairy tale as many others has been changing for many years, and in recent years Cinderella has come under some criticism for its depiction of women’s roles in society.
“The fairy tale, which to this day is the first tutor of children because it was once the first tutor of mankind, secretly lives on in the story. The first true storyteller is, and will continue to be, the teller of fairy tales. Whenever good counsel was at a premium, the fairy tale had it, and where the need was greatest, its aid was nearest. This need was created by myth. The fairy tale tells us of the earliest arrangements that mankind made to shake off the nightmare which myth had placed upon its chest.”(Walter Benjamin). For generations fairy tales have brought happiness to hundreds of people. Through childhood to adults, people still enjoy the mysteries of fairytales. In society, fairytales are a great way of connecting
Hansjorg, Hohr, (2000). Dynamic Aspects of Fairy Tales: social and emotional competence through fairy tales. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, Vol 44, No 1, Department of Education, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Countless treasures of human thought and experience still accumulate and live in the world even after thousands of years. Fairy tales appeared in the world a long time ago. Every culture has its own variety of stories. Although, fairy tales differ because of places, cultures, and periods, their unique impact on teaching and entertaining people has not been changed. Every class of people, in all parts of the world, has passed down this great tradition for generations, gaining its popularity.
Garg in ‘Hari Bindi’ discusses the story of a common woman and made it extraordinary by the active force she was experiencing in herself to live her life. The husband of the protagonist symbolises the power and control of patriarchy that had restricted her life in such a way