Note: It's a true pleasure to post the work of Tracy S., a student whose enthusiasm and wonder about fairy tales makes her work fun to read. The post below shows that she worked hard to give her final project the kind of tone that fits well with an educational blog: fun mixed with insight and information.
Wrath is something that every human being on the planet suffers from. Whether it’s a mother who wants to choke the crap out of her whining kid or a father who wants to hang up when his daughter calls at
In stories such as “Snow White ”,“ Hansel and Gretel”, and “The Juniper Tree” the parents of the stories all do horrendous things to their kids. Some of the things seem almost minor compared to others, such as Hansel and Gretel’s parents leaving them into the forest to die. That actually almost seems like a mercy killing compared to the mother in “The Juniper Tree”. When she becomes angry with her step-son she actually kills him. However in the story it says, “The devil got hold of her so that she began to hate the little boy, and she slapped him around and pinched him…” The tale almost seems to give the step-mother a free pass at what she does to the little boy. It’s not actually her doing the terrible deeds, it’s the devil. Either way the poor kid only asked for an apple. This sent the mother from hell into a murderous rage. And so she lured the poor kid to the chest with her offering of the apple, and when he reaches in, she slams the chest shut, and off with his head.
An equally horrific mother and villain would have to be the Queen from “Snow White”. When this piece of work floats to her mirror and asks who is the fairest in all the land she nearly has a stroke when it’s revealed that it isn’t actually her. Why she believes she should be fairest is a mystery as her personality alone seems to completely lack. But when she finds out that the fairest in the land is in fact her step-daughter (Snow White was originally her daughter before Grimm Brothers changed it.) She goes into a murderous rage. This woman doesn’t just attempt to kill off her daughter once as that wouldn’t be bad enough. Rather she tries to kill her off on four separate occasions. The Queen orders a huntsman to kill off Snow White and of course the nasty woman wants proof the girl is dead as she commands the man, “You must kill her and bring me her lungs and liver as proof of your deed.” After this wonderful lady believes she has eaten her daughter’s organs she asks the mirror again, finds out Snow White lives and has a temper tantrum. Then she dresses up three different times as a hag, and tries to repeatedly poison Snow White, and of course fails to kill her off. Luckily for Snow White, the last try a piece of the poisoned apple is lodged in the back of her throat. When the super creeper prince comes slinking along and decides he wants to drag the beautiful corpse back to his lair, he inadvertently saves her by dislodging the poison apple chunk.
Parents in fairy tales reactions are extreme. They react in ways that no parent ever would. But if parents don’t behave like this in reality why would the stories exist? Well maybe as a warning. Abuse happens to kids every day. It’s something that happens now, and something that happened then. “What we have here conforms to the classic model of a cautionary tale for adults: those who threaten and abuse children become themselves targets of brute violence.” In the end of “Snow White” the step-mother dances to her death in hot iron shoes. The mother in “Hansel and Gretel” mysteriously dies, and the horrific mother in “The Juniper Tree” is smashed to death by her reincarnated step-son. The problem is, once the fairy tale has ended what happens to the children. “Hansel and Gretel” live with the father that agreed to abandon them, how is it alright to stay with a man who was willing the leave you for dead? The son in “The Juniper Tree” was eaten by his father, and once revived is perfectly okay with his dad… And Snow White has become her step-mother, “Thus Snow White is destined to replace the Queen…”(Gilbert and Gubar) If the parental figures merely took a deep breath, maybe counted to ten, the reactions would be less extreme and then maybe there would be a happily ever after.
The picture is by Warwick Goble and is from "The Juniper Tree."
16 comments:
I have realized for years how violent fairy tales are, but I have never read it all together quite like this. I appreciated your honest observations. I believe that the violence came from violent times and the purpose of delivering a message or lesson. I'd enjoy a class on the topic sometime. Beautiful illustration too.
Katharina
I've always wondered why people react so violently and extremely in fairy tales.
Very nice post (well, you know what I mean!). Any chance Tracy S. will be writing more about fairy tales anywhere? Starting a blog perhaps? (We can't have too many talking about fairy tales in my opinion.) :)
It is interesting to see how these fairy tales portray the parental figure. I am sure there was abuse when they were written and thus these tales could be used to warn, but possible to comfort those who suffered by letting them imagine the suffering happening to someone else other than them, the ones being truly abused. Imagination is often used to escape reality because every day life is so painful. By transferring the abusive suffering onto an imaginary figure or figures, a child or adolescent might live out what they would like to see happen in reality. I had never ever truly read real fairy tales before, and it is so interesting that the society today would change them. We have new tales today of suffering and getting vengance, good versus evil, like "Spider Man", which to me is like a fairy tale of sorts. LC
This post was very interesting to read as it made me think hard about the main point of abuse in fairy tales. This makes me wonder if the author was abused as a child or if the entire story is made up to make the step parents seem so evil, sometimes even the biological parents in fairy tales are the evil ones. I liked the idea that the author of this post had about how fairy tales are a warning sign about abuse. This makes me wonder though if fairy tales are used to warn parents about abuse then why have so many of these fairy tales turned into happy ending stories? This was a very interesting topic that made me realize that fairy tales do not always end in happy endings and a lot of them actually end with the death of children and sometimes even the parents. Thanks for taking the time to write this blog as it helps me get more interested in the fairy tales and makes me think beyond just what i am reading.
Kotie A
In class we have already discussed a great deal about child abuse in fairy tales. However, until reading this post I had not thought about it in this great of detail. I agree with the author stating it may be a warning for parents not to abuse children because of the potential repercussions. I also agree with Koties idea that maybe the writers of these tales were abused. That would definitely explain a lot about these detailed and often creepy stories. I also have to wonder if maybe these stories were written to either expose the guilt that parents feel when they are frustrated with their children. Also, to let parents know that it does happen and everyone gets frustrated with their children at some points in time. Poisoning your child like the queen from Snow White attempted to do, or trading their life for yours like the father from Beauty and Beast are extreme examples, but maybe this is where the warning variable comes into play. While the author is helping parents relate and let them know that these feelings are normal, they are also warning them that it is NOT normal to follow through with any crazy thoughts that we as parents may have.
Rasonda C
T390
Abuse was clearly evident in the times of which fairy tales were written, and it has continued to carry on over time. It truly amazes me how many innocent lives are taken each year due abuse or neglect. Like the Juniper Tree mothers and stepmothers pull the “I was not in my right mind” card and spend the rest of their lives in a State Hospital. And yes I do believe in Post- partum depression and psychosis, but when the other parent is completely aware of the primary caregiver’s illness why wouldn’t they step in and make arrangements so the parent is not around the children alone? So yes I think the abuse in fairy tales is extreme but very much apart of our daily lives (indirectly) but it happens everyday. Just turn to Nancy Grace on HLN, these extremes that occur in fairy tales are represented by mothers who cannot grow up and take responsibility for these little blessings that they have been given. A prime example was the little girl whose biological mother sold her little girl as a sex slave for drugs. Selfishness and greed are horrible things to allow ruling your life.
I agree with the posting. Fairy tales are very violent. They are chucked full of bad parents. The parents in these stories dump their children in the woods for the wild animals to devour. Our natural parental instinct tells us this is not right. Most parents would rather starve and give the food to their children. Also who in the right mind would kill their child or stepchild and cook them for dinner. It seems that them parent are bad, be the children get revenge as well. The mother in the juniper tree gets kill by the reincarnated stepson that she killed and cooked. The mother in Hansel and Gretel dies for some unknown reason. I am left to believe that years ago the thoughts about parenthood were different. These days a parent can go to jail for miss treating their child. These laws can be stretched to extremes such as spanking. This may be why we have laws on have to raise and treat our children because of these stories and in general a aged thought process in child raising. James B 3/7/2010
Very interesting point of view form a parent’s perspective. Fairy tales do illustrate a lot of anger towards children. Most parents would agree that at times it is very hard to control their anger when their child misbehaves. This doesn’t give one the right to kill their son and cook his. After reading many tales I realized that it is one big nasty cycle of child and parental abuse. The parent’s miss treat their children and kill them. In the story The Juniper Tree, the stepmother kills her son. However the son then kills the stepmother in his after life. Is this revenge or is the cycle starting over again. In Hansel and Gretel, the children are left of dead (essentially murdered) by the parents. There are seven relations made between the mother in the story and the witch that Hansel and Gretel kill. In these fairy tales it makes is ok to kill. I wonder no if Hansel and Gretel will be addicted to the habit of killing and continue the cycle with their children. This is just a different view on the subject. Thanks James B
I undoubtedly agree with the post about how extreme the abuse is in fairy tales. However, the abuse is very intriguing in that it is hard to tell where it is coming from and its purpose. Maybe it is a way for young children who are abused to identify with characters that are children in the stories. Either way it is clear that the actions of the parents in fairy tales are very scary. The children don’t deserve the terrible treatment that they receive, especially in the very extreme forms such as cannibalism or other forms of murder. I feel that when fairy tales produce fear they often make the reader more curious and this may be a factor in the author’s ideas. However, regardless of how small it may be, I do believe that there is always an underlying message that the author is trying to get across. As the blog addressed, maybe it is a warning for parents. Kayla W.
Before taking this class I did not realize fairy tales were so full of violence and bad parenting.I think these fairy tales serve as an example of the things that happen in real life. I think this world is full of bad parents who, in my opinion, should not have the privileged to be parents in the first place. We always hear about mothers who drown their children or kill them and throw them away in plastic bags, sometimes while they are still alive, and always claim that it was the devil that took over them. In my opinion I think it would be better to give the baby away before even thinking about killing him/her.
I just posted the last comment today 10/30/10 and forgot to put my name on it.
Yesenia C.
I really enjoyed reading this post because it focuses on “wrath” which is one of the seven deadly sins. Wrath has revolved around our daily lives and has even taken into account in the lives of women who become selfish, greedy, and obsessed by their appearances. This term is strongly embraced throughout most fairy tales for example, the stepmother in “Snow White” and the tale of “Hansel Gretel” shows their deep hatred and agony towards their children which leads them being swallowed by their own anger in both cases. I wonder if it is the devil that really gets hold of them or if it was just a psychological disorder that was unnoticed that lead these women to suffer internally.
I believe the whole concept of villainous parents in fairy tales is to teach children the morals of life. In the same way, fairy tales influences children in our society because it shows them what is right and wrong. Most fairy tales like “Hansel and Gretel” and “The Juniper Tree” show how the parents neglect, and abuse their children in terrible ways. Although, these stories teach the audience that children from this era were not just punish but eaten. In my opinion, “The Juniper Tree” is one of the fairy tales that show the most horrifying scenes of villainous parents because the stepmother cuts up her stepson into pieces. This is a cannibalistic terror to hear that most parents are capable of doing such awful things to their own children. But this is also seen in the real world, where people are continually throwing their children in the oven and in the trash.
~Mary Cruz A.
I have never actually read an original fairy tale before Walt Disney altered it but I have heard about the original fairy tales. I did not realize that the real fairy tales were so violent and gruesome. I wonder why fairy tales are filled with so much hatred from the parents to their children. It makes me wonder if there was a lot of child abuse that occurred back then during the time when fairy tales were occurring. I would be surprised that such had taken place since people at that time were supposed to be so Christian. If there was such abuse at that time and it occurred a lot it may explain why it is such a huge deal now. It seems as if people rarely punish their children anymore because they are in fear of having child services called on them. I also kind of wonder if the authors or creators of these fairy tales were abused as children, had a lot of anger, or if they just really did not like children, or even wonder if they perhaps abused their own children.
this is very very intersting to me. Being a new parent myself, these stories almost make me cringe. I would hope it would never come to this, but if my husband and I were to ever get a divorce I would be scared to death this new "step mother" would view our daughter as the step-mothers in these stories do...i guess i will have to try not to think about it too much...scary
Katie G
This is so true! The abuse seen in these tales is sometime overbearing. Often i read tales and think to myself what kind of person would do these horrific things. In the Juniper Tree i was not as horrified by the mother killing her stepson as i was to her manipulating her daughter into making her believe she actually killed her brother! Or the father in Donkeyskin actually believing that his previous wife and mother of his child would want him to remarry their daughter. I was just totally blown away by these behaviors. But like you have said these things are aspects of reality. Horrible things like this do happen in the world today but i think then need to do more then count to ten. :) they need a life analysis!
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