Personal Experiences In Tatar's An Introduction To Fairy Tales

In An Introduction to Fairy Tales, Tatar asserts that the true value of fairy tales in everyday life is immeasurable, yet overlooked. When most people are young, Tatar states that fairy tales are read and viewed as a way of escaping from reality. As years pass and it becomes time for childish things to be put away, the impact that fairy tales have had start to show by the beliefs and actions of those that have read them. Tatar exemplifies this impact in her own life by referencing to her personal copy of the Grimm’s fairy tales. She depicts her reading experiences as something that takes her “into a reality that is familiar in the double sense of the term-deeply personal and at the same time centered on the family and its conflicts rather than

During childhood, full intellectual capacity has not yet been reached. Due to this, it is unreasonable to think that a child would be able to fully grasp the exact meaning of a literary piece. As an alternative, their mind will focus in on certain portions or details, and they will use those elements, whether they are good or evil, to guide their imaginations in developing their own understanding of the piece. When I was a child, my mother read Rumpelstiltskin to me many times. This particular fairy tale sticks out to me, because after reading it, my mind was not absorbed by the happiness of the miller’s daughter being able to keep her baby, it was instead absorbed by the cruelty of Rumpelstiltskin, the imp that was planning on taking the baby away. The experience that I had with Rumpelstiltskin was not limited to itself; I had similar reactions to almost all of the fairy tales my mother would read to me. One in particular took place after my mom was reading Little Red Riding Hood, and instead of trying to copy the pleasantness of Little Red Riding Hood, I found myself trying to copy the wolf’s actions of swallowing her grandmother whole. When I am called to read these tales to small children, due to my childlike perception, a similar insight is created within their concept of the piece. My personal experiences greatly illustrate the ignorance of Bennett’s idea that “moral literature can produce good citizens” (232). Due to this, Bennett’s Book of Virtues is not nearly as reliable when it comes to transmitting “timeless and universal cultural values” (232). As fairy tales are read, not everyone will focus on the most understandable and positive elements, just as I