Zipes's View on Fairytales

Notably exempt from the essay is Tatar’s refutation or concession of the influence of modern novels and stories on young readers. Clearly, if fairy tales have a lasting power over children under 14 years old, then other genres are capable of having the same impact. However, her avoidance of the subject suggests societies shift from aged fairy tales to futuristic novels has the same impact on children. Furthermore, the “beauty, horror, marvels, violence, and magic” of fairy tales can now be found in fantasy novels, like The Hobbit(55). Therefore, the necessity of out of date stories with words abandoned terminology would decrease as younger generations grow older. Also, research studies have shown that individuals that are exposed to violent books and stories tend to be more aggressive and angry because literature is more interactive. As a result, more parents could be reducing their children’s exposure to fairy tales from authors like the Grimm brothers as a precaution. Thus, there could be underlying justification for the lack of interest in fairy tales. Although Tatar failed to include concessions in her work, she did

He quotes or cites text from 45 works by 36 authors as evidence for his claims. It can be observed that this textual evidence has neither been directly extracted from, nor been Haase’s interpretations of, fairy tales. He gives the example of various “contemporary literary version[s] of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’” (362), in lieu of using his own interpretations of the original story. By making sure that he does not impose his own interpretations of fairy tales on the readers, he saves his essay from falling into duplicitous hypocrisy, and maintains the crux of his argument, which is to allow “both adults and children to assert their own proprietary rights to meaning” (363). Nevertheless, the various citations do not always blend seamlessly together, and this leads to certain disharmonious vagaries in the essay, which when read with some attention, reveal themselves to be a somewhat convoluted web of contradictions and conflicts with regard to the views expressed by the author. This can be discerned when Haase takes a critical view on the nationalistic claims of fairy tales, suggesting that they lead to the development of stereotypical images of the identity of the people who belong to the nation claiming ownership, defining explicitly the stereotypical German image: “such social characteristics as

One of the world’s best known stories is that of Cinderella. Variations of this tale exist in cultures all across the world from Spanish America to Russia to Vietnam, and it has been pulled apart and reimagined into several different forms on the page, stage, and screen. But the incarnation of the story that is probably the most familiar is the one by Charles Perrault, with its signature Fairy Godmother and glass slippers. Despite being published in 1697, it is still popular enough that it was remade for the umpteenth time earlier this year. While the tale obviously has a timeless appeal, its ideological assumptions do not go unchallenged by modern writers. Sara Maitland’ s The Wicked Stepmother’s Lament criticizes how Perrault celebrates

In the piece “Yours, Mine, or Ours?, Donald Haase discusses on the ownership of fairytales. Fairy Tales originate from folklore, described as traditional art, literature, knowledge, and practices that are passed on in large part through oral communication. With fairytale's being passed down through generations its new ‘authors’ take ownership of them. Ownership impacts the reception of the fairytale and determines how the audience reads and interprets it. Haase discuss how fairytales are suppose to show and tell what is true and what is acceptable in the context it was written in. With fairytales being changed the reader is exposed to a different moral and purpose with its telling. Haase concludes by informing that fairy tales belong to everyone and that we must take

Grimm’s tale conveys a story of a girl whose morals, soul, and faith in God and her mother’s words are what defines her beauty. They reinstate this point by describing even the step-sisters as works of beauty. By

The folk tale of “Little Red Riding Hood” has numerous variations and interpretations depending on what recorded version is being read or analyzed. “Little Red Cap,” by the Grimm Brothers, and “The Grandmother,” as collected by Achille Millien, are different in numerous ways: the depth of the narrative structure, characters involved, length – yet, the moral lesson is largely unchanged between the two versions. One of the more glaring differences between the two versions is the way that the narrator and the actions of the characters are used to describe the young girl, female, and the wolf, male. Being either female or male are matters of biological makeup. The characteristics of femininity and masculinity that are associated with being

Original fairy tales restrict the opportunities of female protagonists, allowing their fate to be controlled by male characters and society’s restrictive expectations of women. Authors such as Perrault of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ were quick to provide advice to their suggestible female readers in moral that girls should not try to drift from the path that society has laid out for them. Thus they became ‘parables of instruction’ (Carter) to indoctrinate the next generation in the values of a patriarchal society. Fairy tales of this time consistently remind us that those of the female sex will not prosper if they choose to ignore and defy the social constructs. Pre 1900s, the roles of women were entirely predetermined. A clear female dichotomy was established portraying them as either ‘the virgin’ or ‘the whore’. Stereotypical perceptions of women reduced them to biological functions and stated that they should acquire the role of wife and mother – objectified to such an extent where they were essentially their male counterpart’s possession. Both authors scorn the importance placed on domesticity and conformity, stressing the vital nature of being able to choose and uncover the consequences of societal ignorance. Carter highlights to her literary audience a passive generation of women who face the inability to vocalise their thoughts and opinions in the context of oppressive patriarchy. Within her work ‘The Company of Wolves’ “The

Reading fairy tales or seeing them represented has become part of an everyday routine for children. As Baker-Sperry states, “Through interaction that occurs within everyday routines (Corsaro 1997), children are able to learn the rules of the social group in which they are a part” (Baker-Sperry 717-718). For example, through Red Riding Hood, children learn to listen to their parents and to be wary of strangers. Some of these messages are harmful though; not all girls have to be naive and weak while boys are predacious wolves. Not everyone has to play the role that society assigns them.

When imaging the ideal audience of fairytales, children are quick to come to mind, although, our perception of Little Red Riding Hood as an innocent fable is far from the truth. Alternatively, the origins of this story are derived from Italo Calvino’s “The False Grandmother”, a story immersed in symbolism and metaphorical symbols intended strictly for a mature audience. The preceding tale was “Little Red Cap “written by Charles Perrault and then later the “Little Red Riding” written by the Brothers Grimm. Although the details of these tales vary, they all maintain similar storylines. The stories revolve around the young female character Little Red Riding Hood who is sent off on a mission to bring her grandmother a basket of goods. During her adventure she encounters a wolf who engages in a hot pursuit to eat both the Grandmother and Little Red Riding Hood, only to succeed in the earlier rendition of the story. In this essay I will prove that when the Grimm’s Brothers and Perrault’s Little Red Riding Hood stories are critically analyzed, it becomes evident that they are inappropriate tales for children as they exemplify the consequences of a minor transgression by Little Red Riding Hood as being the misleading cause of the violence and seduction that occurs thereafter.

The second point explains how the plot brings ideas about gender, understanding the actions through the dialogues between the different characters. The tale describes the task that Little Red Riding Hood is given by her mother when she is said to go to her grandmother's house by herself in "another village" which refers to a far away place; it shows the ignorance of the mother to send a little girl alone without any warning; although in Grimm's tale the mother gives the child a very detailed warning where it is visible that the girl is less able to think and realize the danger by herself. This action demonstrates the danger for the girl to go alone since she can be persuaded by a stranger and fall in unfortunate consequences, in this case she is eaten by the wolf. Meanwhile,

Folktales has created men as the most powerful character in most stories but that does not mean always as there’s a difference in Grandmother’s tale and Little Red Riding hood. Different genders have different expectations according to their characteristics. The Red Riding Hood and Grandmother’s tale has produced ideas such as how a girl’s life is looked upon in the past and how the male has the upper hand in most situations according to the stories. This essay will argue about how the girl’s gender played a major role in the context of the story and how the wolf is represented by a male character and why the male is not always the most powerful character in all stories and the comparison

However, few realize that there are many communal ideas imbedded in the plots that often go unrecognized. Fairy tales, more often than not, highlight a multitude of social aspects which might seem inappropriate for children. Constantly evolving, fairy tales, as indicated by Yolen and Zipes, illustrate the sexist views of the dominating class, the societal beliefs as they change throughout history as well as the community’s values especially during crisis.

Conversely, Orenstein maintains that, by focusing on only the historical dimension of the tale as opposed to its larger social context, Darnton misses vital elements of the tale’s broader themes as well as the changes which occurred in the transition to the male-dominated written tradition. Orenstein begins by noting the wide breadth of oral cognates to “Little Red Riding Hood” which had been discovered across Europe and in Asia (Orenstein 69). Citing the work of folklorist Paul Delarue, she establishes that “Charles Perrault - whose 1697 text is the presumed source of the Grimms’ “Little Red Cap” - had dramatically revised the original folk tradition” (Orenstein 71). Most significantly, Orenstein observes - and criticizes Darnton’s lack of observation - that when authors began to put these stories onto paper, “the sense of female authorship - literally, female authority” (Orenstein 83) disappears from their tales. Fundamentally, Orenstein advances an interpretation of Little Red Riding Hood as a hero story whose “heroic heroine” (Orenstein 82), her cleverness, and most significantly her triumph over evil have all but vanished from the popular literary tradition.

Despite this, the cultural background has been adapted in both stories and each story holds a different comment on women and their identity. The Werewolf takes the folklore of the dangerous wolf and creates a bildungsroman journey about the usurping of the older generation. It retains several of Perrault’s iconic motifs; the path, the woods and the grandmother, however, it places the historically vulnerable child in a position of power. The Little Red Riding Hood character becomes the heroine of her own story and wields her knife in protection of herself as much as any male protagonists of fairy tales do. She is her own hero. Carter subverts the typical patriarchal idea that women, especially in fairy stories, are ‘victims’ and allows the young girl to be act aggressively when needed. This aspect of her character is alluded to as she wears ‘a scabby coat of sheepskin’, this refers to the well-known

Over time, many versions of common fairy tales have been released. Each one comes with unique differences, that separate them from the others. Snow White is an example. Commonly, what comes to the minds of many individuals when they hear the title “Snow White”, is Disney. They have the basic beautiful princess in a sticky situation, accompanied by their trustful sidekicks, in this case seven dwarfs. However, Walt Disney was not the creator of this story, or the evil queen constantly muttering ,¨Mirror, mirror, on the wall…”. It seems as though many in this world have fallen in love with this portrayal of the tale. Believe it or not, these ideas are based directly off a German version published by the Grimm Brothers. Both are very alike, and unlike too. Similarly, new versions, released in movies, have also changed the depiction of the common “Snow White”. These differences may be related to how society is beginning to view people, women, and heroes, or someone who is brave and courageous. This has helped shape these newer versions of the all-time classic.