Overview:
In each of these stories, young people are deliberately placed in harm’s way by the adults who are supposed to protect them. The preferred method of abuse employed by these parents in almost every case is that of abandonment. Apparently, vast and impenetrable woodlands were readily available to the peasant families of pre-modern times and these frightening wastes served nicely when burdensome offspring needed relocating. Hunger is always the cause and the justification, though we can (as usual) derive psychological interpretations to the tales as well.
Notes for Individual Tales:
Hansel and Gretel:
It is important to note that the “wife” in the “Hansel and Gretel” we know today is not the children’s biological mother. This differs from the manuscript version of the tale, in which the Grimms had written her as their actual mother and made both parents equally complicit in their banishment. As revisions mounted though, the maternal character morphed into the sole aggressor with the father becoming a more hen-pecked and unenthusiastic participant in the crime. In the first official edition he does stand up to her (still the kids’ natural mother at this point) by telling her “No, wife. That I can never do” but she eventually wears him down and off go the children just the same. Throughout the revision process the maternal character’s evil nature is never in doubt and by the time the fifth edition is produced (1843) she has ceased to be “the mother” and has become simply “the wife.” With this critical change of biological perspective she takes on the most sinister of all the classic fairy tale roles – the wicked stepmother.
It is possible that the Grimm brothers wanted to soften the impact of the parental betrayal by removing the blood connection between the woman and the children but, in doing so, they created a family environment with a much greater potential for violence. Consider the actions of the stepmother in Joseph Jacobs’ “The Rose-Tree” who used an axe to “part the hair” of her husband’s daughter (from his first marriage) and then fed her to him. Grisly stuff but hardly rare in the fairy tale world. Stepmothers, and a few actual mothers too, routinely murder and consume their young in the pages of these stories and though they are usually repaid with appropriate justice in the end (like a millstone on the head for the aforementioned axe-wielder), the darkness of the original acts often shade the entire narrative.
What then are the true motives of the stepmother in “Hansel and Gretel?” If, like many modern scholars believe, she is one and the same with the witch the children later meet in the woods, than her intentions are clearly of a similar cannibalistic nature. And why not? It is, after all, hunger that drove her to cast them out in the first place, hunger that she uses to lure them into her alter ego’s lair and hunger still that requires her to devour them literally if she gets the opportunity. The entire tale seems saturated by the idea that the lack of nourishment, both real and figurative, provokes the worst in us.
That our mini-heroes will outsmart and defeat their witch/stepmother nemesis is never in question since this kind of story follows a fairly well-defined path. Resourcefulness and a certain calm under pressure are obvious in the siblings from the start of the tale, first in Hansel and then most critically in Gretel when it matters most. They are thrust into a terrifyingly confusing world in which the maternal comforts they rely on have become suddenly hostile. To be suddenly unwanted by an adult they should be able to trust and then just as unexpectedly wanted again by one they clearly shouldn’t forces Hansel and Gretel to mature in an instant.
The Juniper Tree:
Many folklorists interpret evil stepmothers as stemming from actual competition between a woman and her stepchildren for resources. In this tale, the motive is made explicit: the stepmother wants her daughter to inherit everything.
Symbolism in the tale: This is a highly symbolic tale. The millstone in the story would have had Biblical connotations for the readers of the Grimms' days, especially as the verse Luke 17:2 says that anyone who causes a child to sin would be better off being thrown into the sea with a millstone about his neck; both refer to a millstone as a punishment for those who harm the young and innocent.
In his essay "On Fairy-Stories", J.R.R. Tolkien cited The Juniper Tree as an example of the evils of censorship for children; many versions in his day omitted the stew, and Tolkien thought children should not be spared it, unless they were spared the whole fairy tale.
What do you think? Do you think these tales should be so violent?
Mollie Whuppie:
Molly Whuppie is a female trickster, an underdog who outsmarts her adversary, the giant. The story describes how she internalizes the sad abandonment by her parents and becomes resilient, willing to take on and complete the three quests set by the king. She seizes on he opportunity to secure a better place for herself and her sisters. It is this sense of having control over one’s actions, of having the power to change one’s station in life that makes this story precious. We see in the Molly Whuppie story perhaps the story of our society; today, there still remains a great divide between the few who are wealthy and the masses who are not. Through modern media, we are increasing confronted with stories of innocent victims of life’s tragedies who are left to fend for themselves. Some will survive, some will not.
The original story describes the girls as having “traveled and traveled” in the woods soon after being abandoned, as if some great length of time went by, and, by the end of this short story, the girls have matured a bit after having met the giant and are old enough to be married off at story’s end.
You can see a repetition of elements in sets of three, i.e. the three sisters, three lassies, three feats. Three is a popular number in fairy tales, and the third try is usually the “luckiest.” The number three symbolizes hope and resolution of conflict.
Maria Tatar [3] explains that poverty-stricken families, who were usually desperate abandoned their children, and that infanticide was not an unknown practices even up to the time when the Grimms were collecting their stories in the early 1800s. Many psychologists, including Bruno Bettelheim, consider this tale to be about children's fear of abandonment and their oral greed. Children have a fear of abandonment by their parents. They are also orally greedy and fear starvation from their parents if they are overly greedy. The tale supposedly helps them come to term with these fears. Many psychologists have not considered the opposite themes of parental abuse and poverty until recently. One of the earliest articles on the topic is: Hoyme, James B. "The 'Abandoning Impulse' in Human Parents." The Lion and the Unicorn. 12:2. December 1988. 32-46.
As for the “bridge of one hair”, in the Scottish variant of the story, “Maol a Chilobain”, the female hero plucks a hair out of her own head and it turns into a bridge. Norse gods reached their home by riding over Bifrost, a bridge between Midgard, the realm of man, and Asgard, the realm of the gods. Since it is the only way for the giants to enter Asgard, the bridge is closely guarded by Heimdal, the watchman of the gods. In Arabic storytelling, the bridge over which Muslims pass on their way into Heaven is as fine as a single strand of hair.
Male heroes greatly outnumber female heroes in folk tales. Although women frequently were the storytellers through the ages, somewhere down the line female heroes have been omitted, replaced, or retrofitted to meet the requirements of a patriarchal society.
The story is complex in that there is much that can be analyzed and criticized. Oral tales require listeners to co-create, to interpret stories according to their own levels of experience and understanding. Children interpret tragedy in their own ways. Ellin Greene places this story in the 3 to 5 year old group, perhaps because she expects it to be told lightly, with great animation. I place it in the 6 and older group only because my style is more somber manner.
Although the hero causes harm to the antagonist’s family, the story illustrates the sacrifices one makes in the name of survival, which is a universal element in this plot. The story is simple, spare and real. Molly, the child, faces great hardship. She matures into an archetype of feminine endurance and inner strength.
Groups: I will divide up the tales among groups. For each tale, answer the questions below (1-8) about your tale. Be prepared to read aloud passages from the tale.
Fairy Tale Discussion Questions. For each question, select 1-2 passages that illustrate your ideas from the tale you're responsible for discussing in your group.
1. In the tale, what symbols convey meaning? How are they significant?
2. How is the child/children treated?
3. Are there parents in the tale? If not, is there a surrogate authority figure(s)? How does power/authority work in the tale(s)?
4. Do the characters in the tale have basic necessities--food/water, shelter, love from others, human companionship? If so, how does it affect the tale (in your opinion)? If not, how does it take over the tale's themes?
5. Is gender and/or gender roles significant in the tale? How so?
6. How does the tale deal with siblings or the absence of siblings (or other family members)?
7. How does the tale treat the idea of a spirit life, religion, or other divine or theological framework? Is it there and/or neglectful, absent, or judgmental?
8. What kind of moral, lesson, or appeal do you think the tale is offering to readers? If you don't think there is a moral, how is that significant for understanding the tale?
Group Seven Question:
1. From among the tales, which tale would you tell to your children? Do you think the tale is only appropriate for an older, adult audience?
Alissa Nutting's "The Brother and the Bird," pp. 30-41
1. Discuss religion in this tale. How is it depicted? What is the author's point about it?
2. Do you think the story is a faithful adaptation of "The Juniper Tree"? How is similar/different?
3. Discuss horror in the text. How does it contribute to the tale's lesson?
Francine Prose's "Hansel and Gretel," pp. 42-58.
4. How does Prose's story retell the earlier "Hansel and Gretel"?
5. What do you think is Nelson's relationship to the artist/witch, Lucia?
6. Is there some significance to Lucia's lineage from the famous de Medici family? Why make a point about it?
7. What do you think is the author's point with this adaptation? How do you think she interprets the original "Hansel and Gretel"?