LITR 4533:
TRAGEDY

Genre Presentation 2006

Thursday, 15 June: Almeta Stonum

What are Fairy Tales?

 
Definitions:
                        Simple narratives typically involving supernatural beings or improbable events, settings, or characters, either in folk origin or individually authored in a style reminiscent of the folk tradition.  Gale Encyclopedia of  Childhood and Adolescence
 
                        A short narrative derived from the oral tradition of the folk tale, involving such figures as witches, giants, fairies, princes (sometimes miraculously transformed into frogs), princesses (usually in distress), and stepmothers (usually cruel).  They also invariably suggests that good triumphs over evil, an important moral function.  Beckson, Karl and Ganz, Arthur.  Literary Terms: A Dictionary.  New York : Farrar, Straus, & Giroux.  1989.
 
                        “…struggles over voice, storytelling, and the socialization of children…literary fairy tales were complex symbolic social acts intended to reflect upon the norms, and habits organized for the purpose of reinforcing a hierarchically arranged civilizing process in a particular society”- Jack Zipes, Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales, Children, and the Cultural Industry, New York, Routledge, 1997.
 
Related Genres:  fables, folktales, fantasy, fiction, legends and myths
 
Representational Genres: narrator + dialogue, in which two or more characters speak directly to each other while a narrator speaks directly to the audience.
 
Based of the definitions I offered, Fairy Tales can be critical sources for representational genres because according to our syllabus, Representation (or imitation) refers to a standard classical concept of art and literature: “Art imitates reality,” or “Art represents nature.”  That is, literature (or art) is not nature or reality itself, but something humans create that resembles, and can be interpreted as nature.  In this usage, “representation” or “imitation” therefore refers to the way art appears or presents itself.
 
Different Stances on Fairy Tales in Classrooms:
Argument against:
Some adults have been concerned about exposing children to fairy tales because: they are violent; they contain magic and magical creatures; children will confuse fantasy and reality; it will cause fears; and it is escapist.
Argument for:
“C.S. Lewis respected children’s abilities to distinguish between worlds.  He insists children often find the fantasy world more orderly than the real one.  They feel safe encountering uncomfortable frightening situations or characters in a fantasy world because they know these situations or characters are not real in their worlds.  Lewis asserts, children receive more detrimental, negative impressions from realistic genres and media then from fantasy.” (Goforth & Spillman, 7).
 
Structure of Fairy Tales:
 
In his 1928 publication, Morphology of the Folktale Vladimir Propp identifies 31 functions within fairy tales (A function being an action performed by a character that causes a reaction).  Not all 31 functions appear in every tale, but some examples are:
  • An  Interdiction is addressed to the Hero/Heroine (2):  Here the hero is being told not to do something.  Ex. In Bluebeard  the lord of the castle tells his young wife she can go into any part of the castle but this one locked room she must never enter.  This can also be inverted and the hero/heroine could receive an order to do something.  Ex. Little Red Riding Hood was told by her mother to stay on the path.
  • One member of a family Either Lacks or Desires to Have Something (8a):  This lack can be human, magical, non-magical, a specific thing, or something you need to live.  Ex. In The Singing Bone the king wanted his country of a destructive wild boar.  In The Snowmaiden the old man and his wife wanted a child so they built one of snow.
  • The Hero is tested, interrogated or attacked, which prepares the way for receiving a magical agent or helper (XII):  A magical agent can be an object, person or ability.  This shows up in many tales such as:  The Golden Goose where an old man asks the woodcutter for something to eat which eventually leads to the young man receiving the golden goose.
  • The Hero acquires the use of a Magical Agent (XIV):  This is where Aladdin gets his magic lamp, or where the Queen in Rumpelstilzkin acquires the help of the funny little man.  These objects can be acquired honestly or dishonestly.
  • The Initial Misfortune or Lack is Liquidated (XIX):  This is where the object is obtained honestly or dishonestly, poverty is dispelled, the spell is broken, a dead person revived, or a captive freed.  Ex.  Sleeping Beauty is released from her spell by the prince’s kiss.
  • The Villian is Punished (XXX):  In Little Red Riding Hood  the wolf is slain and the mean old woman who cut the sparrows’ tongue gets a basket of goblins and devils. The evil are punished.
  • The Hero is married and Ascends the Throne (XXXI):   Propp describes this function as having several possible ways of being expressed: the hero gets a bride and a kingdom, he may get it all at once or half now and other half after her parents die; the hero marries but doesn’t get a kingdom; the hero only gets a kingdom or a monetary reward.  There are many stories that end in marriage  already mentioned.
The interesting thing about these 31 functions is that not only do they apply to fairy tales, but they can apply to o0ther things as well.  This is because they are archetypes.  We can see these functions in films, comic books, novels and many other sources.
This Information was retrieved from: http://nekozuki.org/mine/Fairy
 
Teaching Ideas: Keep original fairy tales and discuss elements that might be archaic or demeaning. Write different versions of fairy tales to give a new perspective to the intended moral.  Let students learn what elements make up a fairy tale by providing a wide variety of literature within the genre.  Have students look around their own communities to find fairy tales.  Have students write their own fairy tales.
 
 
 
Questions:
1.      How relevant are lessons portrayed in Fairy Tales to the teaching of literature in today’s classrooms?

 

2.      How do you feel about C.S. Lewis’ argument for the use of Fairy Tales in the classroom?