The Struggle In The Shroud By Jacob And Wilhelm Grimm

Learning to deal with difficult situations is a part of growing up, throughout our lives we face many challenges and situations that we must learn to overcome and move on from. The most challenging of all is learning to deal with the death of a loved one or someone very close to you such as a best friend, especially when it is premature. The short story by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm ‘The Shroud’ is to do with the loss of a once adored seven-year old boy and the grief and mourning which occurs as a result of such a loss by the mother. However, this story does not teach us to dwell on such a problem, but in fact embrace it, accept it and overcome it, perhaps with the help of a higher person, in this case God. Although, the tale is very short the main aspects of the plot are still evident throughout the story, for example, the exposition introduces the main two characters of the story, the mother and her child, the Grimm brothers wrote that ‘the little boy of seven years old, was so handsome to look at and lovable, that no one could look at him without liking him.’ The rising action of the short tale occurs when the little boy ‘suddenly became ill, and god took him to himself.’ (Grimm) This builds the story

Also, it is written as if the narrator is a storyteller recalling and retelling a folklore to the reader. The narrator uses speech and quotes within the story, such as, “ Oh mother do stop crying..’ to give the tale seem more realistic as it makes the characters much more life-like, important and the story much more dramatic. (Grimm) Added to this, the writer does not share the feelings of the mother he just implies them with her actions, for example ‘crying.’ This also makes the story much more relatable because when someone is upset we only see their actions which in turn infer their feelings, rather than being told what they