Fairytales: Children’s Greatest Companion Throughout my childhood, my sister loved to write unique fairytales for me that would make my little mind soar. Although I didn’t read modern fairytales, fairytales played an important role in my childhood as they first helped me to read, gain knowledge about the world and understand myself. According to Bruno Bettelheim’s book, The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairytales, fairy tales give children much knowledge about their identity, others emotions and their environment. Children gain knowledge by reading about life experiences similar to their own and use this knowledge they gain through out their development, just as I did. Grimm’s Fairy Tales, written by the Grimm Brothers …show more content…
Children often experience many difficulties concerning their families in their time of development. Children turn to fairytales during these hard times, because, “fairytales recognize children’s problems found in all cultures and societies” (Bettelheim 5). “Snowdrop” recognizes difficult periods children have with their family and that there are times children put their trust in non-parental figures. In the fairytale “Snowdrop” due to terrible events caused by her evil stepmother, Snowdrop’s trust is put in the Dwarfs who promise to care for her. Snowdrop’s evil stepmother turns to deadly ways to get revenge on Snowdrop for being the “fairest of all the ladies in the land” (Grimm 91). Snowdrop’s …show more content…
“For a story truly to hold the child’s attention, it must entertain him and arouse his curiosity” (Bettelheim 5). Fairytales are a type of literature meant to develop a child’s mind and personality in a way they can enjoy. Numerous children’s stories incorporate talking objects and animals, because as Bettelheim states, “child’s thinking remains animistic until the age of puberty” (46). According to Dictionary.com, “animism is the belief that natural objects, natural phenomena, and the universe itself possess souls”. In “Snowdrop”, the fairy-looking glass, which holds conversation with the evil stepmother, is an example of animism. The fairy-looking glass is parallel to that of a mirror, in which a child might look in and talk, but not receive an answer they are expecting. This inanimate object can’t talk, but a child might believe otherwise until they gain rationality. Fairytales often obtain figures of speech similar to that of animism to hold the child’s attention. Figure of speech is defined as, “a word or phrase used in a nonliteral sense to add rhetorical force to a spoken or written passage.” An example of figure of speech in “Snowdrop” is after the evil stepmother first attempts to murder Snowdrop, but is told she failed by the fairy-looking glass. After she was informed, “her blood ran cold in her heart with spite and malice, to see Snowdrop
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).
For centuries, the tales that capture the youth of society or the adult 's mind are continually under speculation. To whom do the fairy tales of our literature belong, and have they been disassembled from their true meanings? Jack Zipes ' Breaking the Disney Spell and Donald Hasse 's Yours, Mine, or Ours? essays focus on the answers to this pressing question.
A Response to “The Child’s Need for Magic” Bruno Bettelheim, in his essay “The Child’s Need for Magic”, states that although fairy tales and myths help children understand the world on their own terms, children have more empathy with fairy tales due to children’s animistic thinking that they were born with. After reading Bruno Bettelheim’s essay, I was intrigued by Bettelheim’s view that fairy tales give more empathy for children to understand the world on their own terms than myths do. Myths and fairy tales have the same purposes in a society which help people to learn lessons from past mistakes and identify certain values in those stories. However, different story themes give children different levels of cognition.
Fairy tales have been used across time and in every culture to teach people lessons. Different versions of the same fairy tale can teach a person completely different lessons. Because of the many different fairy tales, many diverse methods of analyzing the stories exist. For example, Bruno Bettelheim’s method sees children as using the fairy tales to help them grow up. One of the most popular fairy tales, Cinderella, has been told since ancient China and there are thousands of versions.
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.
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...
A fairy tale is seemingly a moral fiction, intended mainly for children. A lesson in critical analysis, however, strips this guise and reveals the naked truth beneath; fairy tales are actually vicious, logical and sexual stories wearing a mask of deceptively easy language and an apparent moral. Two 19th Century writers, the Grimm brothers, were masters at writing these exaggerated stories, bewitching young readers with their prose while padding their stories with allusion and reference: an example of which is "Rapunzel." Grimm's "Rapunzel" is packed with religious symbolism, which lends a new insight to the meaning of this classic story.
Fairy Tales are made of many different ideas. There is no exact author because there are many versions. The beauty about Tales is that anybody can make it their own. Because ones imagination is unique, many come up with ideas to slightly alter the tale to make it their very own. very always leave the readers thinking, and leaves the reader to interpret a moral. There are many different lessons an audience can take from just one tale. However, Different versions of “Snow White” are comparable to each other because they all show the positive and negative aspects of the expectations that society has on each gender.
Fairy tales have been read to children for many years by parents hoping these tales of heroines and heroes would provide a fun and interesting way to teach moral and values. Fairy tales provide children with a fun and entertaining way to deal with strangers. Children learn that when you don’t follow the rule and talk to mysterious strangers you’re put into situation that can cause pain or suffering to others.
Though the evils of the world may discourage us from reaching our full potential, fairytales such as Little Snow-White by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm teach us that good will always triumph over evil. As many tales of its kind, Little Snow-White uses a number of literary devices to attract a younger audience and communicate to them a lesson or moral that will remain with them throughout their lives. Since children have such an abstract stream of thought, it is vital to use language and devices that will appeal to them as to keep them interested in the story.
When anyone thinks about a children’s fairy tale the most common ones that can come to mind is “Little Red Riding Hood”. Fairy tales convey a hidden message to children. Like how in “Little Red Riding Hood” the message is to not talk to strangers. Fairy tales have been created to help children understand things in a fun and enjoying way. Not every kid can learn and understand things the same way; it all depends on what they have been taught and exposed to in their life. There is controversy between the way these messages are conveyed to young children, like how in “Little Red Riding Hood” the story ends with Riding Hood and her grandmother being eaten by the wolf which can be frightening to children but it explains to you the bad things
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...
...s, J (1988) a scary thought considering that most of us believe that these Fairy Tales are wholesome moral messages crucial for a child’s development. Which brings me to my next point.
Fairy tales make childrens have high expectation on life but become shocked when they come face to face to what it’s really
A fable is a narrative that teaches a moral through the use of animals as the main character. Fables toy with the idea of human vanity. Fables are very popular in children’s literature as it teaches children lessons while keeping them interested with the animal characters. Fables were westernized through the help of Aesop. It is unknown whether or not Aesop was a real person but is viewed as one of the fathers of fables. Modern editions contain up to 200 fables and are growing.