Fairy Tale Essay
Children encounter problems with family, life, and love all throughout their younger years and have many questions that may be difficult to answer or discuss. In his essay "The Struggle for Meaning", Bruno Bettelheim argues that the fairy-tale provides the child with information about death, aging, and poverty and many other issues that the typical "safe" story would never even attempt to conquer (311). By doing this fairy-tales provide the child with a good balance of morals and values that hopefully will help them to mature and solve problems of their own. The fairy-tale simplifies the situation, so that all of the elements and figures are clear (312). Three fairy-tales that provide good examples of these attributes are "Hansel and Gretel", "Cinderella" and "Hop O' My Thumb". Poverty, growth and independence are the major issues raised in the archetypal fairy-tale "Hansel and Gretel". "Hansel and Gretel" is a typical model fairy-tale in which there is a tension raised between the security of home and the fun of adventure. Poverty creates the predicament in this tale, which cause the children to immediately grow up and become independent. The children use their quick thinking wit to overcome the evil witch in this stor
"Cinderella" is also a story of maturing and coming of age to be married. Cinderella goes through a transition period from the beginning of the story to the end when she is finally ready for marriage. Cinderella is told to be home at midnight and conditions such as this help teach responsibility. Perhaps Cinderella was just not ready to stay out all night with the prince and having to come home reflects on her youthfulness and innocence. Finally when she does get back together with the prince, she is more mature and ready for the responsibility of marriage. In "Hop O' My Thumb" issues such as sibling rivalry and poverty are raised. The character Hop O' My Thumb is seen as an inconvenience and even as a nuisance to his family. He is "the butt of the household", the youngest and smallest of a family of seven kids (86). He is thought to be a mute and stupid but in fact Hop o' my Thumb proves himself to be quite the opposite. This story helps children come to terms with living in a large family and helps the reader realize that everyone is important in a household. Even though he is small, Hop o' my Thumb is brilliant and uses his brain to overcome the huge ogre that threatens his life. Thus proving that being small does not have anything to do with your brain or your ability to overcome problems. y, which provides a good standard for any child reading this story. The poverty dilemma is typical in fairy-tales; there is no food at all for the family so the "evil" parent suggests le
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Approximate Word count = 1015
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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