Response

Sorry for the late response, but I thought this was starting next week.

I think that the Bettelheim essay was much more interesting to me because of the way he discussed the role of fairy tales in terms of child development. I was especially intrigued by the section when he claims that in order for a story to be effective in developing a child it must "at one and the same time relate to all aspects of his personality-- and this without ever belittling but, on the contrary, giving full credence to the seriousness of the child's predicaments, while simultaneously promoting confidence in himself and in his future". I think it is a great way to look at how a story is able to help a child answer questions about the world around him or her, because these fairy tales can stimulate their imagination and allow them to see ideas from a new perspective. I've always thought about fairy tales having a minimal importance, and instead being more of a form of entertainment with a little bit of a moral thrown in at the end. However, after reading this essay and thinking about it, I am really able to grasp the potential effect that these types of stories can have on children.

My thoughts...

Well, obviously, since Bettelheim's argument was to highlight the importance of fairy tales in children's literary repertoire, I'd have to say Darnton's essay is more productive in separating fairy tales from children's entertainment.  By going into detail on the psychoanalytical interpretation of the texts like "Little Red Riding Hood," I mean, how much more detached from children's literature can you get?  Menstruation, virginity, sterility...not really kid-appropriate.

Darnton goes as far as to show that it certainly was much more than children who listened to these stories.  Clergymen, French refugees, and bourgeoisie benefitted mostly from these tales, indicating that these fairy tales were a socio-political response to more than just folklore to scare and excite little children.  There is deep symbolism that, in their young imaginations, they are not yet capable of understanding.

bettelheim wins

Just within reading the first few lines of Bettelheim and Darnton’s essays, one can see how very different they are. Even just the tone that the essays are written in is evident within the first few paragraphs. I agree that Darnton writes in a more intellectual way, but I feel that he is too wordy before getting to a point he is making. I also agree that Bettelheim’s essay is much more “dry”, but I feel like he hits upon his points faster and more effectively than Darnton. He also writes in a way “more everyday/conversational language”. And I think being a Child Development major and having read and studied a lot about how children’s minds are very influenced by what they read, see, and interact with, I find Bettelheim’s essay more productive in helping me understanding fairy tales as more than just children’s entertainment. I mean I definitely understand it more than Darnton’s essay. Bettelheim states that among the most important and hardest part of rearing children is helping them find meaning in life- what is their purpose in life? How can he better learn to understand himself and others? How can he learn to relate and live in harmony with others? I took a children’s literature class last spring semester, so I completely agree with Bettelheim when he says that young children are most heavily and greatly influenced by literature. They will learn a lot from what is read to them and what they will eventually learn to read. Thus, I strongly believe that since fairy tales do teach somewhat of moral lessons in the end, they do help to stimulate development in the minds of children. Also many times, fairy tales will have a concept of what is right and wrong, good and evil, and even to some extent the roles of masculinity and femininity (although many are of extreme stereotypical roles of men and women, but at least it does offer some insight into how boys and girls should be acting and behaving- like what is expected and deemed “appropriate”). Fairytales also introduce to children that there is evil in this world, because it can be hard sometimes for parents to just jump into that topic of how the world is not all that golden and jolly; the reality is that there is a lot of bad in this world, mixed in with good and righteousness. Fairytales are able to communicate to the mind of young children in a way that sometimes just lecturing to them wouldn’t. This of course is not to take the place of parents disciplining and teaching their children what is right and wrong, and righteous and evil, but it does offer another resource, a more creative and entertaining way, for parents to teach and raise their children. So a fairytale is everything but just children’s entertainment; it is satisfying, enriching, educational/intellectual, and a huge added bonus, it is also entertaining!

Darnton

Robert Darnton's essay is more productive in helping me think of fairy tales as more than children's entertainment. While Bettelheim's essay clearly explains how fairy tales help children to develop and learn important lessons, Darnton's essay goes deeper into the various parts of the tales. He explains the sexual symbols that can be found and the history of how they changed through the oral tradition but maintained the basic plot lines and motifs. Darnton shows how each tale can be analyzed to learn about different cultures depending on how they adapt them and that they were not created simply for their entertainment value.

Right On Darnton

If you are to look at both Bettelheim and Darnton's essays, it is easy to see that Darnton's view on fairy tales is of a much more intellectual, and less insipid view than Bettelheim. Bettelheim views fairy tales as a vessel of knowledge to reach adulthood. He talks of how they teach children to deal with growing up, and their place in existence. That may be so, but these stories should not just be viewed as symbolic lessons to relieve children of part of the burden of maturing. Darnton's message gives a more broad and academic view of fairy tales. He traces them back to their roots of oral tradition, and their many different primary authors such as Perrault and d'Aulnoy. He tells about how tales are not from one specific area, but rather many different cultures have the a similar basis for their version of the tale. Darnton's essay in general seemed much more informed and rooted in scholarly knowledge, rather than Bettelheim's pseduo-psychological use of psychoanalytic nonsense (not that I am bitter about psycho-analysis, just that I don't think people really apply it to much anymore... maybe they do?). At any rate, the essay which helps me think of fairy tales as more than children's tales is the one whose main purpose is Not to show how fairy tales help enrich and broaden the lives of children.

Assignment: 13 January 2009

Please respond to the question below by midnight tonight.

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,”

(both in Tatar, The Classic Fairy Tales)