Happily Ever After: The Aid of Fairy Tales in Children's Soc
Happily Ever After: The Aid of Fairy Tales in Children's Societal Assimilation The fairy tale has existed for many centuries and has been handed down from generation to generation for the pleasure and education of children in every culture and nation of the world. In modern times, however, the age-old oral tradition of storytelling has been replaced with mediums that are capable of reaching a far wider audience much faster, such as magazines, books, television shows and movies. This increased exposure of society to fairy tales, and the inevitable evolvement of multiple versions, has led many researchers to conduct examinations of the influence that fairy tales exert on a child's views of themselves, and of their place within the world. One such researcher that analyzed this field extensively was Bruno Bettelheim. Utilizing the criteria set forth in Bettelheim's The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales, one can critically analyze the Grimm versions of the classic Cinderella and Snow White stories, "Aschenputtel" and "Snow White" by Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm, in order to determine how their stories serve the needs of society. Arguably, the most fundamental of Bettelheim's findings is that fairy tales co
For society, these events serve several positive purposes. While not directly applicable in Snow White's case since she was a newborn, Aschenputtel's pain described by how her dying mother, "called her only daughter to come near her bed, and said, "Dear child, be pious and good, and God will always take care of you, and I will look down upon you from heaven, and will be with you," (Grimm, 220), reinforces the closeness and love that exists between mother and daughter. Second, for Aschenputtel the mother's dying words appear to suggest that her continued protection, and presence at Aschenputtel's side, is conditional on the girl remaining good and pious. Another important function of fairy tales, according to Bettelheim, is their ability to provide characters that are either entirely good or entirely bad, therefore allowing a child to easily identify and understand their attributes and behaviors. First, they emphasize the importance, and desirability, of the stable and loving family. However, the exaggerated contrast between the "pious and good", natural mother and the selfish, evil stepmother who takes her place, may have a confusing effect on many children in today's society, in which there are many families that contain step-parents. Although modern society and politics, has become expert in the art of advertising, image creation, and public persuasion, it has yet to produce a form of propaganda that is as efficient at reinforcing socially desirable values, and promoting the needs of society, as the fairy tale. In both stories this is demonstrated by the heroine's happy-ever-after marriage to the prince, while the evil, criminal behavior of their stepfamily gains them nothing more than a bloody and painful punishment. nfront many of the basic human predicaments, such as the death of a parent, which many other, modern, children's stories seek to avoid. Bettelheim argues that, although in reality, the potential for both good and evil exists within everyone, by separating them from on another, and providing characters that exhibit either one or the other, a child's mind is more able to comprehend the actions and the consequences of both (Bettelheim, 217). However, in keeping with Bettelheim's theory, the father's complex character is kept to a minimum within the tale, so as to avoid confusing the reader, and ensuring that the tale's emphasis is on the reinforcement of socially desirable acceptance of goodness and rejection of evil. The claim that, "many fairy stories begin with the death of a mother or father; in these tales the death of the parent creates the most agonizing problems, as it (or the fear of it) does in real life," (Bettelheim, 216), addresses a universal predicament which is faced by children, and adults, in every form of society and culture. It also comforts both Aschenputtel and the reader by emphasizing that death will not separate them. If their mothers had not died, then the remainder of the stories would not have happened as they did.
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Acceptance Essays
