Which of the following essays do you find more productive in helping you to think about fairy tales as more than children's entertainment? Why?
- Robert Darnton's “Peasants Tell Tales: The Meaning of Mother Goose”
- Bruno Bettelheim “The Struggle for Meaning,”
Bruno Bettelheim's piece seems to do a better job at elevating fairy tales above petty entertainment, claiming that the tales are able to vent repressed emotions and give perspective to an often conflicted inner world. Where Darnton sees fairy tales as an encapsulation of a culture's flavor, this explanation does not necessarily mean the genre itself is worthwhile or meaningful.
ReplyDeleteA story that can define a certain culture has powers, indeed. Think of all the books that are written that can only describe a part of society. Even Bettelheim points this out when he laments the state of children's books nowadays. Bettelheim does have a strong point that fairy tales are conduits for children to discover their inner strength. But what about finding their place in society? Psychoanalysists stress the importance of the identies of the self so much that the meaning of a social context is disenfranchised. Fairy tales are powerful tools of understanding the self and the the social circles in which the self belongs. Therefore, Darnton's brief history of the fairy tale and its origins from oral traditions deserves as much attention as Bettelheim's piece.
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