Yum: Cannibalism

Note: Christina continues a trend that the squeamish among you need to be aware of: Yes, this is one of a number of cannibalism entries my students produced. This is not the first and won't be the last. I think there are three reasons: 1) Child-devouring stepmothers and others are a major part of the dark side of fairy tales. 2) The final assignment was to be about the dark side of fairy tales. 3) I very foolishly shared with my students my genuine, absolute terror of cannibalism. There is almost nothing else that scares me more. Well, you go and tell students, or daughters, or your son-in-law, or even, God help me, husbands, information like that, and every thing's coming up cannibals. All of that said, Christina was a lively class contributor and helped make the semester a great one.

In many fairy tales there is the evil witch, or scary monster, or creepy step mother that wants to eat our young hero/heroine up. Cannibalism is a very common occurrence in fairy tales. From wicked stepmothers who use your insides in potions to scary monsters in the woods who love to eat children, cannibals are everywhere. Many tales have the ever so popular witch, whose main source of nutrition happens to be people. The most recognizable tale would be that of "Hansel & Gretel." Two little children are left in the woods, only to come across the home of an evil witch. It just so happens that her meal of choice is little boys and girls. As Sheldon Cashdan says in his book The Witch Must Die, “Everywhere you look in fairy tales, someone is either looking for a meal or trying desperately not to become one.” Another witch of this nature is Baba Yaga of "Vasilisa the Fair." Baba Yaga “…never allowed anyone to come near her and ate human beings just as if they were chickens.” She lives in a hut that is surrounded by a fence made of human remains with posts that have skulls with empty eye sockets staring down at you. Anyone who ventured into the woods and came near her home was eaten up. This could easily be seen as a clear warning. Do not go into the woods alone or you will be eaten by evil witches. Another common cannibalistic character would be that of the wicked stepmother. From Snow White to the Juniper Tree, they are present and ready to boil and dine. In the Grimms’ Snow White, the evil queen demands that the hunter come back with Snow White’s lungs and liver, so that she may boil and eat them. This is seen by many as an act that is supposed to then give her the beauty that Snow White possessed. As Maria Tatar states in her book, The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales, “Like the witches and ogres of folklore, the queen engages in cannibalistic acts, hoping that by incorporating her stepdaughter, she will also acquire her beauty.” Another evil step mother makes her stepchild a meal in The Juniper Tree, also by the Brothers Grimm. The stepmother is so filled with hate, that she murders her step son. “And so the mother took the little boy and chopped him up. Then she put the pieces into a pot and cooked him up into a stew.” As if this terrible act was not enough, she then feeds the stew to the boys own father. Of course the evil stepmother never wins, and is killed for her terrible deed. This obsession with cannibalism is extremely prevalent in fairy tales. In his article titled: “Cannibalism and Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe: Reading the Visual Images” Charles Zika discusses how the witch of the Western world is so commonly associated with cannibalism. “She represents the persistence within European culture of the terrifying fantasy of being cooked and eaten…” This fantasy has continued into modern times with the popularity of movies like Silence of the Lambs and its multiple spin-offs. Most have heard the line done so well by Anthony Hopkins, “I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.” As long as the fear and fantasy of cannibalism is still around, so will the evil witch and wicked stepmother, who cannot control their cravings.