The Tale Of Fairy Tales

Throughout history, many stories are handed down generation to generation. When the brothers, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, started to publish a different type of story that depicted ordinary characters that overcame tough situations through supernatural and violent means, it caught attention among the people. These stories portrayed characters that not only possessed abnormal characteristics, but also had the lives of their adversaries end rather abruptly. The Grimm brothers collected extensively on fairy tales depicting violent behavior that were directed to be read to the children of that time which in turn gave a whole new meaning the term “fairy tale.”

The Brothers Grimm set up the story with cinderella a girl who promised her late mother that she would be “pious and good”(J. Grimm and H. Grimm) for all her life. Respectively there are her step sisters who are “beautiful with fair faces, but evil and dark hearts” (J. Grimm and H. Grimm). For example when cinderella’s father goes to town he asks the girls what they would want. The Stepsisters say that they want “Beautiful Dresses” and “Pearls and Jewels”(J. Grimm and H. Grimm). But cinderella wishes only for “The first twig that brushes against [her father’s] hat on the way home.”(J. Grimm and H. Grimm)Cinderella is described as the heroine of the always doing good and never stepping out of line, while her stepsisters and stepmother are described as avaricious villains.

Most people cannot imagine coveted childhood fairytale with pure sadistic characters, blood, death and neglect. Disney motion pictures have depicted their classic fairytales by painting picture of princess with a loving parent, a dead parent, and a wonderful outlook on life with just the hope of dreams coming true. Many people cannot fathom the idea of a beloved fairytale containing the dark acts of rape, torture, and cannibalism. After all, Snow White’s apple was just meant to put her to sleep; and Sleeping Beauty did find her prince right? Wrong. In the original Grimm Fairytales Snow Whites apple was meant to kill her for good and Sleeping Beauty’s prince was

The stepsisters were cruel to Cinderella therefore not receiving any happiness in the end. The step sisters attended Cinderella’s wedding “[They]...wanted to get into favour with Cinderella and share her good fortune” Since the stepsisters were obedient to someone who is not obeying natural order they get punished. “...the pigeons peck out one eye of each of them...afterwards they came back..the pigeons pecked out the other eye of each...thus, for their wickedness and falsehood, they were punished with blindness as long as they lived.” The stepmother was punished as well, it may not have been a physical punishment as the sisters received but she never really achieved power outside her home and that could possibly be worse to her than any physical punishment. Cinderella on the other hand got all of her “rewards” due to the fact she was obedient, but disobedient when it seemed

“Fairytales tell children what they unconsciously know, that human nature is not innately good, that conflict is real, that life is harsh before it is happy and thereby reassure them about their own fears and their own sense of self” (Tatar). Many adults wish they had grown up in a fairytale family or childhood seeing this as idea,l but in reality the fairytale family is very similar to our modern mixed families and rings true with the pattern of abuse and change that so many children face in our society. Audiences tend to overlook the abuse and neglect that Cinderella endures at the hands of her evil stepmother and stepsisters and focus on the happily ever after ending with the handsome prince and the glass slipper. However, the struggle

For centuries fairytales and folk stories have been created and told to entertain and to explain the mysterious world. Each story holds a clear message for its readers but it also underlines more subtle messages that teach readers. Fairytales are especially targeted at an audience of children as those stories are told by parents each night before bed. But some of the stories that have been told for a long time across many different cultures have effected peoples’ perspectives more than is realized. One of the most popular examples of a fairytale that has been influential in American culture is the classic tale of Cinderella. Though the details of the tale can vary with different authors and cultures, aspects of it have

"Once upon a time," the most used introduction phrase in common fairy tales used to start an adventure. These adventures have been around for years. The importance of some tales might be more significant than others, also based on culture. My goal for this paper is to educate my readers with the importance of fairy tales, especially for younger children. Fairy tales have been around for centuries from generations to generations. Different cultures, such as the Japanese and Western, have also expressed them differently. All these fairly tales teach children different aspects of life, which make these tales so important.

In a few short months you are going to become a father to a baby boy. That being said I was wondering if you are going to read your child fairy tales as you did for me when I was a child. As a child I, remember sitting on your lap and listening to you read me fairy tales in funny accents as you tried to put me to sleep, and even adding your own twist to them. By the time you were done with the first story I would want another and another until I was actually asleep. By you reading me fairy tales, when I was a child, it made me closer to you and gave us a special bond. The fairy tales you read to me as a child played a major part in fostering my imagination and creativity that I have now. The article “The Importance of Fairy Tales” states different reasons why you should read your child fairy tales, some being that fairy tales give an understanding of what is good and of what is bad. Fairy tales can teach children a lot of meaningful life skills and abilities that as they get older they will be able to bring into real life, such as, helping them learn how to overcome a struggle or a problem that they would face. Fairy tales also helps and teaches children how to confront their fears. Fairy tales give children the desire for adventure and to be comfortable moving beyond my comfort zones. Reading fairy tales to your son once he is born and starts to grow will create a bound between the two of you that will last forever, just as our bond does. A fairy tale that I would suggest

Despite the similarities of both scholars about children’s autonomy, there are few differences that sets them apart. Haase claims, “After all, teachers…exert a certain control over the popular reception of fairy tales by determining to a great extent not only the nature of the tales that are made accessible to children, but also the context of their reception” (445). Haase believes that teachers are the problem why children are having a hard time claiming their power over fairy tales. Apparently, teachers hold the power over what children can observe in fairy tales. The perception of teachers who read the fairy tales to children can maneuver through the story to make children believe in what they believe in. Haase also states “It is no

Fairy tales like Snow White and Cinderella both contain the struggle of good vs. evil. The struggle of good vs evil in these tales teaches us that good always prevails over evil. The fairy tales often times contain common elements that represent good and evil in the story. Both of these tales show the good and evil elements in similar forms. Both tales have the same outcomes where good prevails and they live happily ever after. These tales expose important concepts like good and bad for young readers. Tales such as these two can also teach young readers about good and bad things in life and ways of handling them.

This article by Christy Williams was published by Marvel and Tales, the journal of fairy-tale studies. This article emphasize how the idea of a wicked stepmother became a staple of popular fairy tales traditions. The author uses different grimm’s fairy tales such as, Cinderella, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, etc. To support her argument of the use and image of an evil stepmother. She gave opinions of actually stepmothers and how they felt about this stereotypes. Finally she emphasizes that postmodern fairy tales have made a change in the use of evil stepmother as a villain and how this could improve the use of negative gender roles. The audience for this article can be specifically blended families and writers.

With this essay, I’d like to convey what fairy tales mean to me as an artist, which is everything. (Ever since I was a child I have been happiest living in the sphere of a story. That in itself is a fairy tale.) I’d also like to demystify the idea that fairy tales are of use only to writers of fantasy or fabulism.

1. What is the genre of this story? Are there any other possible genres this story could fall into?

As we grow up, we hear fairy tales and we read them into our lives. Every word and every image is imprinted into our minds. The fairy tales we read are never abandoned. They grow with us and our dreams become molds of the many morals and happily ever afters fairy tales display. We tell children fairy tales when they go to sleep and they read them in school and we even have them watch Disney adaptions that reinforce them further. Generally, they were everywhere while we grew up and they continue to be present while children are growing up now. But what influence do these stories have? We casually expose our children to these tales, but in some cases they can have particularly, harmful personal effects on them, although there is nothing completely or visibly “bad” about them or about the characters in them. Before we divulge our youth to these stories, we should assess their substance and see what sort of effect they may be having on them. They have received so much scrutiny and have been studied by many. Recognizing fairy tales effects on the minds of children is vital in their development. This paper will focus on the underlying messages that the average person wouldn’t recognize in these everyday stories. There’s a modern distort with fairy tales because while they still are widely popular with the youth, they influence children’s self images, outlooks on reality and expectations for their futures, especially for young women.

Fairy tales are something that everyone has read or seen, they all seem to have important lessons at the end of each one to teach young children some of the lessons they need for life. These fairy tales when we were younger all seemed innocent and something we all hoped that would happen to us. Little did we know as we got older that the fairy tales we all knew and loved when we were younger, weren't as innocent as they seemed.