Gabriella of existing values and the conservation
Gabriella ReyesMs. ScottENC 1102December 10, 2017 Lifelessons in fairy tales.
Fairy tales have been avessel for life lessons since their inception in ancient times. Fairy tales were traditionary oral, and camelong before books or the written language. The fairy tales were reenacted dramatically or spoken by a storyteller,handing the fairy tale down from generation to generation. In old-fashioned fairy tales, morals characteristicallyfocus on the preservation of existing values and the conservation of social standards. Many of those values held families andcommunities together in an unsympathetic world, empowering them not only tosurvive but also sometimes to flourish and succeed. Fairy tales have also been abused and used asa tool for malevolent values and behavior. In every fairy tale there is a life lesson but not everyone will agreeon the lesson being taught. Many of ourwell-known fairy tales have been changed to fit the views of a child.
Do you agree with all the life lessons being taughtfrom fairy tales? First lets us define whata fairy tale is, according the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Fairy tales are “simplechildren’s stories about magical creatures.” Illuminating this explanation further, theyare commonly cautionary stories used to communicate to children about what is ethicaland unethical in world, allowing them to mature into a proper adult. The term fairy tale came to England fromFrance. Translations added the phrase fairy tales to their titles. For example, the Grimm brothers’ Kinder- undHausmdrchen (Children’s and Household Tales) similarly had their most famousfairy tale assortment become known as a book of fairy tales several decadeslater and only after the work was translated into English. Not all ancient philosophersand storytellers agreed on adults for telling fairy tales to children.
Plato and Socrates criticized and cautionedadults for telling fairy tales to children that would prove false when thechildren matured. A recently publishedstudy from the year 2008, may finally provide scientific support to Socratesand Plato’s concern. The studyinvestigated children’s ability to generate interpretations from stories containingof false material. The children wouldread a couple short passages, followed by sentences that they had to judge astrue or false. The passages and matchingsentences were either true in terms of real world knowledge, or were presentedas fairy tales.
When the passages werebased on a fairy tale, the children’s response was slower. The fact that these judgements are at a slowerrate in fairy stories than in real world stories may be a side effect of thesuspension of disbelief. This means thatthe child had rationalize and translate the story into the “real world” beforethey could fully digest the content of the story.
This study demonstrates that the use of fairytales as a moral may not be effective in young children. The moral may take longer for young childrento comprehend and learn because they have to associate the moral lesson to thereal world.Socrates and Plato’srejection of fantasy literature for children was not popular among folktaletranslators, who in the mid-17th century usually have utilized thestories to promote desirable behavior, both for children and adults. Charles Perrault is one of the most significantfairy tale writers in French storybook history.
The foundations for the literary genre of thefairy tale were laid by the French author, Charles Perrault. Charles Perrault’swork was derived from pre-existing fairy tales. All of Charles Perrault’s Fairy Tales aredidactic with the morals are especially easy to derive. Kind and selfless actsresult in happiness and prosperity. Whereasunkind behavior brings misery, even death. In addition to supernatural rewardsand punishments, Perrault’s tale illustrates another quality often found infairy tales: the symbolic use of precious stones or metals. Charles Perrault is best known of for hisinterpretations of “Le Petit Chaperon Rouge” (Little Red Riding Hood), “Cendrillon”(Cinderella), “Le Chat Botté” (Puss in Boots), “La Belle au bois Dormant” (TheSleeping Beauty), and “Barbe Bleue” (Bluebeard).
Some of Perrault’s interpretations of influencedthe German versions published by the Brothers Grimm in the 19thcentury.In 19th centuryGermany, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm conceived their Kinder- und Hausmdrchen(Children’s and Household Tales) as a tool of national pedagogy. The Grimm brothers viewed their collection offairy tales as part of a plan to reaffirm the cultural identity of the Germanfolk. The brothers described theircollection of fairy tales as an educational guide. Grimm brothers used the tales to convey usefulsocial, moral, and sometimes religious lessons for children. Grimm brothers used the tales also to educatethe German people about German character and culture. The Grimms’ tales became the basis forchildren’s books and were included in schools for reading.
After Germany had attained nationhood at theend of the 19th century, the Children’s and Household Tales becamepart of the Prussian school curriculum. Inthe 20th century, the Nazi propaganda took advantage of the Grimms’tales place in the German educational system. The Nazi propaganda machine also tookadvantage of the Grimms’ tales close association with the idea of Germannational character. Forced into theservice of Nazi propaganda, Grimms’ tales were utilized to teach NationalSocialist philosophy. This misuse offairy tales during the Third Reich ultimately led to the removal fairy talesfrom the school curriculum by occupation forces following the end of World WarII. This misuse also led to both Eastand West German educators and children’s supporters to deliberate about therole of fairy tales in children’s literature and education.
One side contended against their use and otherside wanted to reuse them to possibility literate the harm done. The reassessment of thefairy tale’s educational role and potential happened internationally in synchronizationwith the onset of the children’s rights movement in the 1960s. Educators and authors found innovative ways ofreusing fairy tales to challenge traditional philosophies and to inspirecritical thought amongst children. TheItalian educator Gianni Rodari wrote pioneering fairy tales and also establishedpractices and approaches that educators could use to renew the liberating possibilityof storytelling and fantasy. Rodari’s uniqueeducational ideas influenced many schools and the educators throughout the globe.One example of an innovative educational concept is the use of fairy tales toteach a foreign language.
Fairy talesare now commonly utilized by educators in foreign language instruction becauseof their simple language. Manyeducational articles have been written describing how educators use fairy talesto instruct precise skills and grammatical principles.As we begin the 21stcentury, renewed focus on character education is more obvious than before.
Tragic events inside and around the schooldistricts and a surge in the number of juvenile detentions remind us thatsomething in the core values of our children has gone askew. One hypothesis made by educators in general isthat many of these children are not receiving moral instruction at home. Modern adaptations of fairy tales takecreative liberty to an extreme with some of the violence removed. This understandable in today’s day and age,but the retellings do not seem to be about teaching children the life lessons asthey once did. This is not the casethese days. Modern retelling of fairytales appears to portray the basic morals of the story, but it’s tolddifferently and shown differently than back then.
The modern fairy tale “Wicked” shows how lifeis rarely black or white. The story portrays the wicked witch of the west sympatheticallyand demonstrated that humans are complex creatures who sometimes make ill-conceivedchoices. In the land of traditionalfairy tales, issues are never clouded. Good triumphs and evil is punished. One example is of the by Grimms’ stories it bringsthe reader to a real distinction between good and evil. The witch in “Hansel and Gretel” was so evil thatshe used bait to lure the children into her clutches with a house built of yummycookies. Good was triumphant over evil,as the children succeeded in out smarting the witch at her own game. Knowing and understanding fairy tales enhancesthe lives of children and grownups.
Today’s culture seems tobe progressively more violent, molding the character and moral values of today’syouth should be of the upmost importance for educators. For that reason, maybe we need to revitalizethe children’s fairy tales as a tool of national pedagogy. The Grimm brothers’ tales impart the readersvaluable life lessons, even if not all of the moral philosophies are straightforwardlyunderstood. Since the inception of the fairytale, they have strengthened the attitudes of readers toward life,relationships, and moral standards.
One example from Grimm’scollection first fairy tales is “The Frog Prince.” The message in this fairy tale is made clear. We have to agree to stay loyal to thecommitments that we make, regardless of the situations in which the commitmentswere made. When we stay loyal to ourcommitments and keep our promises, everything will turn out fine. Another message is thatmaking rash promises can have adverse consequences. There are more fairy tales from Grimm’scollection that deal with making rash promises in exchange for favors. In “Rumpelstiltskin,” the queen promised togive her first child to Rumpelstiltskin if he could change the queens’ strawinto gold.
In “Rapunzel,” in exchange forfood growing in the witch’s garden, the father promised his child. In the end, although the rash promises shouldnever have been made. Good prevailed,and the stories ended happily. In all of the of the Grimm brothers’ tales goodand evil are ever-present. In the fairy tale “Cinderella,” the wicked sisters winfor a short time in taking the place of what fairly belongs to the Cinderella. The moral of the fairy tale is not that evil charactersare being punished at the fairy tale’s conclusion.
Instead, fairy tales parallel real life, punishmentor fear of it is only a partial warning to wrongdoing. In fairy tales evil characters always loses becausethe principle that crime does not pay is a much more effective warning.There have been a lot offairy tales from the Grimm brothers that have demonstrated a range of characterqualities in storybook form. The fairytales are written to deliver a stimulating story that attracts the attention ofchildren and young adults. The fairytales deliver their story while suggesting the moral core virtues. These fantastic ancient stories are comprisedof some of the most genuine human emotions and attempted to satisfy the basichuman desire for beauty, honesty, accomplishment, and belonging.
Fairy tales work on our culture tocommunicate to children the right way to choose for themselves what is rightand what is wrong.Fairy tales have beenaround for centuries and we learn many lessons from them. It has been debated for many years if fairytales are instilling valuable morals in our children. We learned that good always triumphs evilfrom many fairy tales such as “Hansel and Gretel” and “Cinderella.” So, what do you believe about life lessonsbeing taught through fairy tales?
