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Godfather Death Analysis

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The Grimm Fairytales Fairytales have been told for thousands of years. Some of the most famous fairy tales were German in origin and were collected by the Grimm brothers. Jakob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm were scholars that spent most of their time together. In 1838, they began writing a German dictionary while they were working as librarians. In 1840 king Fredrich Wilhelm IV sent both brothers to the Royal Academy of Sciences. (Gioia) (pp.12-13) Following this the two brothers spent the rest of their lives teaching at the University of Berlin. The two brothers were also known for other projects such as, books about mythology, scholarly works on topics such as, linguistics and medieval studies. They also worked on compiling an ambitious German …show more content…

The New Yorker featured an article depicting a different, yet similar story from the brothers that also touched upon a unique aspect of human nature. The author of the article described the tone of the story as such, “It feels like a glimpse of the dreadful side of the nature of things.” That is true of very many of the Grimm’s’ tales, even those with happy endings.” (Acocella). This outlook towards the brother’s work gives a darker point of view towards the fairy tales that are enjoyed as children, however this leads to a different interpretation to many stories as an adult. One specific subject critics have touched upon are life lessons. Many scenarios in life can teach valuable lessons, in the story “Godfather Death” there are three main lessons that can be learned. The first lesson actually is in the lesson itself, many times lessons can be what makes people stronger or it can become a person’s undoing. This kind of lesson can only be learned after making mistakes. How you react is the ultimate factor in determining your future. You can choose to appreciate the lesson and avoid further similar mistakes, or you can become a victim and be unable to continue life …show more content…

In the story “Godfather Death” the godson of death betrays Death by curing a patient that was meant to die. The Godson, then receives his second chance when Death forgives him because he is family, However Death also warns him this is his only chance. The story “Godfather Death” shows that even the most powerful and wealthy people cannot escape death, this reality is sometimes too much for a person so they chose to ignore the warnings life provides us. This is displayed when the Godson takes the second chance for granted and assumes Death would forgive him one more time, the godson was driven by greed. This is a major fault of humans, many people take others for granted and forget eventually they will grow tired of the deception. Just as Death promised when the godson betrayed his godfather again he showed no mercy. The godson was taken into a cave where all the lights of people’s lives were lit. This cave contained many candles, the shorter your candle was the closer to death you became, Death showed his godson, his candle, it was beginning to flicker out. Death pretended to fix his godsons candle when he begged for forgiveness, but it was not granted when death lets the candle fall and the godson fell to the ground dead.

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