READING ASIGNMENT: GRIMM’S FAIRY TALES. Online at this link:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/11027/11027-h/11027-h.htm
Read any six fairy tales from this selection. You might want to choose some you are already familiar with, like Snow White or Cinderella, as well as some you have never heard of before.
Next, read the following passages about the interpretation of Fairy Tales:
Some common characteristics of fairy tales
Related to mythology although the stories are on a smaller scale
Earliest versions have no titles and change the basic plot and characters as needed
Feature conflicts arising from social order and traditions (for example, harvesting, marrying, monarchies, etc.)
Define gender roles (especially within marriage)
Show an individual finding a place in community and world
Symbolize society’s struggles against nature (represented by dragons, ogres, etc.)
Celebrate wit and clever solutions to problems
Show magic at work in the world, influencing fate and characters
Show terrible consequences of doing evil or failing to take appropriate action
Do not promote any particular modern religious tradition and cannot be connected to known historical events, as they seem to date back to times when people believed in magic, fairies, and monsters
May have been used to bind cultures together and share survival information
Characters seem to be flat and one-dimensional (unlike in more sophisticated literature) and often come from humble origins (though they are elevated to royalty in many tales).
Some are 6,000 years old (possibly more). They come from oral or folk traditions and branched off into literary versions (printed), which introduced them to various social classes who could read and pass them on in written form. (This is a complex topic scholars are still working on). Travelers spread them from community to community.
Aesop’s fables date from 600 BC, though the form was already 200 or more years old by then and probably came from the Middle East. Aesop was supposedly a slave in ancient Greece who was eventually granted his freedom but thrown off a cliff when he angered some townspeople by criticizing their greed. No one knows if this is true or if he really existed. Yet the stories were used in Greek academies for 300 years and eventually written down. These featured animals and a moral used for teaching purposes (a truth that could be used in real life when faced with a choice).
The earliest tales were not meant for children. They are frightening, gruesome, and contain questionable scenes involving various sexual taboos (rape, incest). On the other hand, they do reflect the coarse social standards of life in the early days of European civilization. Many fairy tales, like fables, are about characters making choices and being rewarded or punished for them (as in fables).
They can be studied for literary, historical, psychological, political, and anthropological reasons (among others).
—DISCUSSION TOPIC: —
Consider that most people today are only familiar with the modern, sanitized Disney versions. The original tales are quite shocking in their violence and crudeness. How does this affect modern readers’ response or interpretation of these tales? What do you think people in the 21st century can get from studying the original tales? How do these stories help shape culture in today’s world (for example, some people say most modern love stories are based on tales like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty)?
Write at least 3 paragraphs.
