Hana Nikac
Dr. Zaluda
English 202
Midterm: Essay
Beginning during the 1970s and continuing into the present time, literary critics have debated the question of whether and how fairy tales influence children's understanding of gender. I agree that children grow up to learn what it means to be a male or a female based on these stories. This starts at a young age when they read children books such as these fairy tales: “The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood,” “The Little Red Riding Hood,” “The Brave Little Tailor,” and “The History of Jack the Giant-Killer.” I agree with the statement that fairytales can be categorized as boy stories and girl stories. For instance, boys have to grow up to be masculine and strong whilst girls have to be dependent on a man and grow up to be beautiful in order to get married and turn out successful.
When I read the first three stories, I realized that women are assigned a gender role in society. For example, The Little Red Riding Hood made it seem as though women are easily tricked by men, women are gullible: “The poor child, who did not know that it was dangerous to say and hear a wolf talk…” We see here that she didn’t think about what could happen if she spoke to this stranger. She is sent off to bring her grandmother a custard but meets a wolf admist her adventure. “She met with Gaffer Wolf, who had a very great mind to eat her up.” Not only, did she just meet this “person” but she just told him where she was going and what she was doing: quickly misjudging the situation and trusting someone she just met. The wolf quickly tricks her, she thinks all is well when he tells her to go a separate path. He ends up manipulating the women in the story to get what he wants, and quickly wins, proving that women are belittled in society.
In the Sleeping Beauty, women are portrayed as dependent on men because the princess couldn’t wake up without her prince. “She shall only fall into a profound sleep, which shall last a hundred years, at the expiration of which a king’s son shall come and wake her.” If it weren’t for a man in her life, her life would be considered unsuccessful. Women are looked at to be powerless without a man. In order for her to wake up from her slumber, she must be awakened by her prince. Clearly, women can’t even survive without a man. “The princess shall indeed pierce her hand with a spindle; but, instead of dying, she shall only fall into a profound sleep, which shall last a hundred years, at the expiration of which a king’s son shall come and wake her.” Once the Prince finds her, she is able to move on with her life, clearly stating that if she didn’t have a Prince she would continue to sleep. Liberman even states that “Sleeping Beauty depends on a man to rescue her.” (394)
However, in the other two stories, the reader gets an idea of boy stories. They too, have a gender role in society. In “The Brave Little Tailor,” it is directed towards boys and how their masculinity and hard work in life will bring them the same success that beauty and marriage brings a girl. The tailor is told that “’before you obtain the hand of my daughter and half my kingdom,’ he said to him, ‘you must do another deed of valor.’” This clearly shows that his marriage is dependent on his deeds of bravery. Likewise in “The History of Jack the Giant-Killer,” we read things like “’Ladies,’ said Jack, ‘I have put an end to the monster and his wicked brother; and I give you this castle and all the riches it contains.” This, to me, shows a sense of heroism that is required for a man to have in order to get a girl.
When reading these stories, we see the difference in girl versus boy stories. Boys are required to show power, intelligence and independence. It is their heroism that brings them success. However, for women it is frowned upon to show bravery and independence. It is a social norm to be dependent on a man like most of the fairytales depict women to be. In The History of Jack the Giant-Killer, “Jack, perceiving in one corner of the room a strong cord, took courage,…” throughout the story we see strong characteristics of a man’s power and independence. In The Brave Little Tailor, when the tailor kills seven flies with a blow, it is heroic of him. ‘Seven at a blow,’ ‘What did I say, the town? No, the world shall hear of it.’” When a man does a good deed, the whole world must know. The difference between these two kinds of stories is mainly the audience. One attracts women through beauty and love while the other attracts men through bravery and valor.