Among all the copious themes of fairy tales, cannibalism was indeed a more ambivalent one. Despite the obvious manifestations of good karma, positive characteristics and amiable nature, the common depictions of cannibalism alluded that fairy tales were more than stories that were “too good to be true.” Fairy tales such as The Juniper Tree and Hansel and Gretel even presented cannibalism with an attitude of apathy, as if cooking human stew were nothing churlish but ordinary. However, those vivid descriptions of cannibalism, though appeared to be too cruel and baleful for innocent children, played significant roles. It completed their coming of age journeys, providing them masculinity while“relieving their preconscious and unconscious pressures”(Bettelheim, …show more content…
271). By vanquishing cannibalism, a symbol of inevitable obstacles, children earned their tickets to adulthood. Similar to the coming-of-age-themed poem The Odyssey, Hansel and Gretel, who were also compelled by completing the task of returning home encountered their tribulations - the witch who beguiled the children, then “killed it, cooked it, and ate it”(Grimm,188). The utilization of “it” instead of “them” as referring to human, corresponded with the thousands of birds eating the bread crumbs that Hansel left to guide their way. This illustrated that both incidents betokened the challenges that required to be overcome, while homecoming was the symbolization of the journey to adulthood. Also, in the end of The Juniper Tree when the boy finally chastised his evil stepmother who cooked him, he returned home peacefully, holding hands with his father and sister as “they went into the house, sat down at the stable and ate”(Grimm, 197). This as well was a conviction of using cannibalism as a threat to their coming of age journey. In the end, the characters obtained maturity and peace. Thus by escaping cannibalism and leading “the godless witch [to be] burned miserably to death”(Grimm,189), children were qualified to become an adult. Cannibalism was also an indication of children’s unconscious fear of abandonment. Children were often troubled by their “formless, nameless anxieties,” and “turmoil of [their] feelings” (Bettelheim, 270). However lacking ways to alleviate such fidget sense of insecurity, they could only impose the anxieties to their surroundings, using imagination to create inhumane characters who practice cannibalism. the boy in The Juniper Tree was oppressed by his stepmother and always “lived in terror,” having “no peace at all” (Grimm, 191) for he was also afraid of being abandoned by his family. While for him, his stepmother was then not only a mental threat, but also a physical one, cannibalism which devastate one both spiritually and corporeally was the perfect symbol of his fear. In the end, he defeated the evil stepmother and cannibalism, returning to his home with peace and a sense of security. Similarly, Hansel and Gretel, who heard their parents’ conversation and were afraid of being abandoned by them, were sensitive, insecure and “wept bitter tears” (Grimm, 184). Even though they already knew that they were being abandoned, their fear manipulated them to exert denial by listening to “the sound of an ax, [for] they were then sure that their father was close by” (Grimm, 185). As they were vulnerably exposed in the hunger, the cold and the dark, their anxieties were greater; the most desperate time had come when they experienced further discomposure. Finally, their fear dispirited them and disclosed the witch. Thus, the emergence of cannibalism was due to children’s own inner fear and pressures. Finally, cannibalism, especially for boys, manifested their inner anxieties to women.
According to Stephen A. Diamond, a psychiatrist, the castration anxiety could lead to “anxiety, vulnerability, and fear of women in man” (Diamond, 36). Compared with girls, little boys tend to have more anxiety since their natural competition with their fathers abashed themselves. While terrified unconsciously that their father would deprive their masculinity, they sank into self abnegation. Such anxiety and vulnerability could evoke their unconscious fear and distrusts towards women for Freud believed that their fear of castration by their father would make him less powerful as a man. In both The Juniper Tree and Hansel and Gretel, cannibalism was practiced by women who camouflaged to be benign in order to earn their trust. The stepmother in The Juniper Tree dissembled her hatred and “the devil got her to speak sweetly” (Grimm,191) to the little boy. The witch in Hansel and Gretel “had only pretended to be so friendly” in order to “lure them inside” (Grimm, 188). Both descriptions of women depicted the little boys’ distrusts and the unconscious threat to their well-being. Thus, showing anxieties and fear that were suppressed by children’s budding egos, cannibalism represented little boys’ ambivalent feeling towards
women. Though the benevolent figures could provide children positive attitudes and feelings, it is those that seemed less bland that enabled children to placate their psychological and emotional being.
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).
A grotesque body is one that is open, sickly, comprised of many parts, and overflows in excess. In Montaigne’s Of the Caniballes, Europeans view figures of cannibalism as the Native inhabitants of the New World. The consumption of humans involves opening up the contained body, allowing its inner parts to be abjected beyond its internal boundaries. For colonizers, participants of cannibalism are barbarians who eat their victims by transforming their classical bodies into grotesque forms. As a result, these cultural practices make them inferior and savage compared to the modern Europeans. However, in reality, Europeans are also closely related to cannibalistic practices. A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies written by Las Casas show how Spaniards are barbaric in their character. They lack control and engage in a series of horrific excesses due to their insatiable hunger for power and
In “The Company of Wolves” Carter employs conventions of gender construction and didacticism, which help establish a fairy tale space (Koske 323). Carter presents a world in which fairy tale notions of gender are upheld. In her paper, “In Olden Times, When Wishing was Having: Classic and Contemporary Fairy Tales”, Joyce Carol Oates explains that the girls and women in fairy tales “are the uncontested property of men”. Carter alludes to this male dominated reality in her tale (99). When the girl, Carter’s Red Riding Hood, insists on venturing into the woods, the narrator says that “[h]er father might forbid her, if he were home, but he is away in the forest, gathering wood, and her mother cannot deny her” (1224). There is perhaps no gendered element to a parent preventing his child from wandering into the wilderness, b...
...n” is a great example of an old myth or tale reconstructed and adapted for a modern audience in a new medium. It is a progression on one hand in its use of modern language, setting, and style but it is also the product of the old myths in that it is essentially the same on the thematic level. In addition, the level of self-awareness on the part of the narrator and, by extension, the author marks it out as an illustration of the very notion of evolutionary changes of myths and fairy tales. Adaptation is the solution to the fairy tale, and fairy tales have been endlessly changing themselves throughout history and, by some strange transforming or enchanting power endlessly staying the same.”
Bettelheim, Bruno. The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. New York: Vintage, 2010. Print.
Tatar, Maria. Off with Their Heads!: Fairy Tales and the Culture of Childhood. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1992. Print.
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...
Fairytales express the creative fantasies of the rural and less educated layers of common man (Cuban, 1984). They are characteristically full of magic, often involving upper class characters (Cuban, 1984). In short, Fairytales are organically grown with the creative material of a collective group. The Grimm Brother’s fairytale, The Frog Prince, is no exception. The Grimm Brothers’ fairytale is about a handsome prince trapped in the repulsive body of a frog, but who nevertheless overcomes and transcends this bewitched state through his wit, perseverance, and magic (Prince, 2009). Until the seventeenth century, it was the adult population that was interested in fairytales (Cuban, 2009). Their allocation to the nursery was a late development (Cuban, 2009). This allocation can be credited to the rejection of the irrational, and development of the ra...
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.
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...
Throughout history people have always been telling stories, whether it is how some ones day went or something strange they saw. One place that has a particularly strong connection with storytelling is Ireland. Telling stories in Ireland was usually for entertainment told at a bar or by the fire in a friend’s home to hear what someone else saw or experienced leaving one with new knowledge. Fairy- legends were stories that were told quite often in conversational type settings telling people something they had heard of experienced about the fairies. The people of Ireland used to strongly believe in the fairies during the nineteenth century. Fairies are not human but look somewhat similar to us except that are usually a lot paler. They live their
Most modern fairytales are expected to have happy endings and be appropriate for children, nonetheless, in past centuries most were gruesome. Consequently, fairytales have been modified throughout time. The stories “Beauty and the Beast” by Jeanne-Marie LePrince de Beaumont and “The Summer and Winter Garden” by Jacob and Wilherm Grimm share similarities and differences. The two stories are distinct because of the peculiar year they have been written in. LePrince de Beaumont’s story is written in London of 1783 and Grimm’s in Germany of 1812. At the time, wealthy people in London, were educated and had nannies who would read to their children; whereas, in Germany, the Grimm brothers created their own interpretation into a short story. Because many high class parents in 18th century London would not be able to spend time with their children, nannies would read “Beauty and the Beast” to them since they were intended for children and considered appropriate. In “The Summer and Winter Garden,” the Grimm’s’ story was mostly based to entertain misbehaved children and teach them the valuable lesson that everyone should be treated with kindness. The Grimm brothers’ goal in rewriting this short story is to better children’s behavior which worked quite well. Since these stories have been re-written for children, it would be safe to say the reason why parents expose the two stories to their children is because they both portray the same moral: good things happen to good people. The two interpretations of “Beauty and the Beast,” although written in separate countries, share important similarities and differences even though the authors have different interpretations and came from different cultures.
Bettelheim, Bruno. The Uses of Enchantment: the Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. London: Thames and Hudson, 1976. Print.
Fairy Tale Text & Motif. Prod. Distribution Access. Distribution Access, 2001.Discovery Education. Web. 1 December 2001. .
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.