Grimm Brothers Collective Culture

Tales from the past still teach lessons and morals that everyone can implement in society today. The Grimm’s others Tales were first told aurally but only did they get documented when the brothers decided to write them down. and perseverance. These stories are still read today because, they help us transform ourselves and our conditions to live in a better world. These tales all have morals and warnings about the importance of family, seven deadly sins, and perseverance.

Through the many years the Grimm brothers were alive, an array of children's literature was produced. Actually, the correct term would be reproduced. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were masters at reproducing and even changing early children's stories so that they had more meaning for the children of the time. More times than not, they censored out sexual meanings and added violence to children's stories that had already been told for centuries. By doing so, the brothers got an effect out of the story that would change it from a story with a subtle theme or moral, to a vivid story of lessons to be learned and consequences to be dealt with. There was one thing about their' writing that was always

Although there are many versions of virtually every fairy-tale known to man, not all of the different adaptations are contrasting. The bases of stories tend to remain the same, due to the fact that the main plots are unvarying. Throughout history, these famous fairytales have been passed on by word of mouth. The two most well-known authors who wrote their interpretations of fairy-tales are French author Charles Perrault (1628-1703), and The Brothers Grimm / Jacob (1785-1863) and Wilhelm Grimm (1786-1859). Although Perrault wrote down his thoughts much earlier than the Grimm Brothers, the brothers appear to have gained more credit and fame from their works. One of the darkest and most intriguing work of theirs is the story of Bluebeard. The

The first term to be discussed is Group. States by Henslin as “Set of people who interact on the basis of shared expectations and who possess some degree of identity”(145).

Before the Brothers Grimm transcribed what is known today as one of the most recognized fairytales ever recorded, it was being passed down orally from generation to generation at every corner of the globe. Various versions of Cinderella’s myth can be found in almost every culture in the world, all very distinct with their own specific qualities, reflecting each society’s predominant interpretations of religious themes. For instance, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s works were known to promote their Prussian culture and language, such as “Aschenputtel”, their German version of Cinderella. Most of their adjustments were heavily influenced by the criticism of their fellow countrymen, their audience, and their Christian beliefs.

Most of you have probably heard of the Grimm brothers, and if you haven’t heard of them, you have most likely seen their work. Disney movies like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Cinderella are child friendly versions of the Grimm brothers’ original fairy-tales. Ironically, the brothers had no intention on becoming story-tellers, when first starting their journey. The book The Annotated Brothers Grimm stated, that when trying to study other languages they found it easiest and best to share stories that had been passed down generation to generation. The brothers kept all the stories they had heard and published a book in 1812 called Kinder und Hausmarchen, which translates to “Tales of Children and thee Home”. Believe it or not, fairy tales were not always about finding true love, and “having a

In Germany, nationalism included the racial and cultural purity as a removal method of ‘weak people’ within the state. Including the sustenance of

Germany was unified by “blood and iron” in the Prussian wars before Germany was one nation. The Prussia war campaign against Denmark, Austria, and France led to the creation of the German Empire. After each victory against these countries the German Empire gained more and more territories and continuously expanded. The idea of nationalism was not only used to fuel these wars, but also afterwards in creating a limited government. In fueling these wars, the citizens were promised that a unified German Empire will lead to prosperity and peace. They were only too happy to go on the offensive and try and claim new lands in the name of their great nation. Once they had conquered these lands and claimed a small piece as a prize, they set up Kaiser Wilhelm as the Emperor on July 18, 1871. After this the Reichstag was formed as the limited government with the illusion that they could make a difference. In truth, Kaiser Wilhelm would shoot down any bill he seemed to disagree with. Also they all reported to Wilhelm and could easily be fired for causing too much trouble for them. With the German

The Grimm Brothers were extremely supportive of the unification of Germany, and in their eyes, they saw that one of the ways that they themselves could increase and contribute to the nationalistic feelings of the German people was by writing fairy tales in the vernacular. Their stories became incredibly famous throughout Germany, and especially with children as it promoted the idea that they were sharing a reading experience with other German children. It was one thing that made everyone feel as if they were all connected together in some way, even if it was simply through children’s stories. However, that was not all that the brothers did, throughout their various fairy tales, they continuously connected the mentality of their tales to that of the German folk, and thus, connected their stories to the German race. One way that they did this, for example, was through their story Cinderella. The story of Cinderella is well-known by almost everyone in the world, it’s the story of a girl whose father remarries once her biological mother dies. Cinderella is stuck with her cruel stepmother, and her two-sisters (who are described as having ugly, black hearts). The two sisters took every single piece of finery that Cinderella owned from her, forced to wear

The Brothers Grimm, Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm, encountered problems that made them print these folk stories. After their books were printed, other problems were created because of it. They had to exchange ideas with many people to be able to write their books. Many forms of literature were explored to create the masterpiece that Jacob and Wilhelm made. Stories like Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Rapunzel had horrendous storylines that would probably not make many people show them to their children.

Everyone must go through different challenges and transformations in order to reach their full potential. In fairy tales, physical transformations are not uncommon: a pig turning into a handsome prince or a frog turning into a beautiful woman. However, in some tales, the physical transformation has nothing to do with a spell or curse. In these stories, physical transformation can be seen as representative of the psychological transformation the character is experiencing. The characters diminish themselves, becoming something other than human, to discover who they really are. The psychological changes they experience can be described by Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. This pyramid shows the progression by which individuals become self-actualized, or reach their full potential (Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs). By transforming into an animal, like a sparrow in both Lin Lan Cinderella and the Grimm Brothers’ Juniper Tree, the characters are able to further move up the hierarchy, so that eventually they can return to their human form. In Lin Lan’s Cinderella, a girl named Beauty transforms a number of times on her path to self-actualization. She goes from a meek girl, to a woman standing up for her rightful place. By diminishing herself, she is able to more fully understand who she wants to become. She is able to move up Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs by taking ownership of her own life.

This time of political and economic turmoil and grief forced the Germanic people to look for some kind of national unity. They looked to form a system of cultural cohesion among their people instead of some kind of political unity because "it seemed that political unification had not brought with it the

Many attempts to unify the separate German-speaking countries were made prior to its official unification, however, they were all ultimately unsuccessful. This was due to the fact that although the people were Germanic, they had little sense of a national identity. Nationalism was a driving force behind the development of a national consciousness as it assisted people in realising that they were all German and, as a result, were all similar in many ways. These commonalities encouraged the emergence of a distinct German identity. The biggest cultural factor was undoubtedly the German language. Although there were different dialects used among the states, these variations emerged from the same source, hence, the German people had shared a common language. All the states also shared customs and a common culture, which stemmed from similar tastes in literature and music. There was an increase in German literature, from the works of Goethe and Schiller, that recognised common German characteristics and an interest in folklore also emerged at the time, as a result of the works of The Brothers Grimm, who presented these tales as German in origin and changed details that suggested different origins. What became the German national anthem was a poem that read “Deutschland über alles / Über alles in der Welt”, which translates to “Germany above all else / Above all else in the world”. The task of creating the German nation state was one that required and generated a significant amount of hope in the citizens of Germany, who were able to transcend territories, borders and different cultural

For centuries Germany has not always been unified and if they were not for a long time not till a foreigner came along. Such foreigners such as the French invasions by Napoleon Bonaparte ruined the German self-identity and a strong union not until other movements came along to help bring upon ideas to conjure up. Movements such as Romanticism has had given a significant influence to German people, philosophers, writers, and to its artists to help create an identity for Germany which soon later developed into romantic nationalism. Now for a look as to whether or not the Romantic period actually shaped and paved a way for German Nationalism from the early 1800s to the 1850s period. German Nationalism can be traced back to the Napoleonic era where the study of folklore and popular Art by Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm, and the study of folk songs by Johann Gottfried von Herder can be discovered. To better understand how German Nationalism was it is important to have an intellectual understanding what was the starting cause of the idea and how it was influenced by Romanticism where Romantic Nationalism is derived from. The ideology of Germany on the political sense was parse for them at that time as it consisted only of the loose groupings of states united only by a common language, vague cultural ties, and the weak government of the Holy Roman Empire. The need for a

Below you will write a brief comparison between the modern tale and Grimm’s original tale. You should include the key aspects that are different