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Julia Cordero

Mr. Connelly

AS English 2, Period 5

March 23, 2015

Research Question: Do fairy tales influence child development? If so, how and what are

the impacts?

Don’t End Up a Damsel in Distress: An Argument for the Revival of Fairy Tales

For most of the Western culture, the phrase “fairy tale” brings to mind images of helpless

princesses and knights in shining armor. Parents and educators across American society protest

in favor of modern children’s literature, arguing that fairy tales can lock children into gender

roles, scare a child with stories of monsters, demons, and executions, or remove a child from

reality. But before the fairy tale genre was regarded as silly fantasy or dangerous to a child’s

development, it was used both to entertain families and enrich the listeners’ lives with fantasy.

After years of watered­down film versions of fairy tales, now is the time to revive this genre,

especially in the education of youth. Fairy tales can positively influence child development by

debunking gender stereotypes, helping to resolve their inner conflicts, and encouraging them to

connect with other people despite cultural barriers.

What we recognize as a fairy tale today dates back to the seventeenth century, when

figures such as the Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault, a French author, first began to record

and publish collections of the stories their culture enjoyed so much. They have endured for so

many years partly because, as the folklorist Alan Dundes wrote, “folklore means something ­­ to

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the tale teller, to the song singer, to the riddler, and to the audiences... Folktales... have passed

the test of time, and are transmitted again and again...Folktales must appeal to the psyches of

many, many individuals if they are to survive” (Dundes 2007). This genre still exists because it

has the ability to resonate with all members of its audience, from Germany to China to modern

American society. Research has been done particularly in the field of psychology. Carl Jung, a

Swiss psychiatrist, founded Jungian psychology: part of this branch analyzes fairy tales in order

to better understand the human psyche. In addition, the prominent child psychologist Bruno

Bettelheim has written extensively on the relationship between fairy tales and youth

development. Only recently has this art form been stripped of most of its benefits by today’s film

industry and termed “politically incorrect” by academics and skeptical parents. Fairy tales have

such a rich history in traditional folklore that to deny a child this storytelling experience seems a

wasted opportunity for both growth and enjoyment.

A fairy tale can benefit a child’s development by freeing them from belief in gender

roles. A common misconception is that fairy tales perpetuate rigid gender stereotypes through its

use of the “damsel in distress” and the man “sweeping a girl off her feet” motifs. But these

patterns are most harmfully emphasized in the modern Disney films; in the original tales told

centuries ago, these scenarios hold a deeper meaning that are not present in today’s retellings,

thus continuing the idea that fairy tales are damaging to the self­esteem of developing girls.

Bettelheim explains in his book The Uses of Enchantment that in reading the original fairy tale,

children do not discriminate between hero and heroine or whether they hold conventional gender

roles; instead, a developing child sees only the opposites of good and evil, and the moral actions

that they want to follow (vom Orde 2). In this way children do not follow the gender structure

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that today’s scholars focus so much on, but on the hero’s or heroine’s struggles and virtues.

Jungian psychology also supports this: it interprets fairy tales as representing the “anima” and

“animus”, or the feminine and masculine aspects of all personalities, not strictly male­ or

female­bodied people (von Franz 136­197). So rather than reinforcing stereotypes by

categorizing “masculine” and “feminine”, fairy tales actually deter them by encouraging

integration of both sets of qualities in order to achieve a more fulfilling life. According to both

branches of psychology, ignoring traditional stereotypes and instead balancing the male and the

female is the healthiest path for a person’s psyche. One example of this is the Grimm’s tale “The

Three Feathers”, in which the youngest son inherits the kingdom over his “clever” older brothers

with the help of a toad living underground. Both the toad and the act of traveling underground

are feminine symbols; the former represents fertility and purity, and the latter stands for

passivity, especially in the mind and spirit. All three qualities are traditionally feminine, and the

fact that only the brother who incorporates that femininity is able to prosper illustrates this

psychological idea. Additionally, the heroines of several of the fairy tales are portrayed as

active, challenging the idea that fairy tales only encourage female dependency. In “The Magic

Horse”, the heroine manages to escape from a wicked demon without any reliance on males, but

rather on her instincts and the objects in her surroundings. In the tale titled “Brother and Sister”,

it is the sister’s, not the brother’s, wisdom that saves the two protagonists from being turned into

wild animals. Schezernade, the main character of “A Thousand and One Arabian Nights”, saves

the lives of the king, the kingdom’s virgins’, and herself using her own wit and storytelling

genius. These examples prove that the original fairy tales do feature females who are more than

their princes, and refutes the argument that fairy tales teach girls that they can only hold a

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passive role. Also, the stories were originally told to illustrate the path to a more fulfilling and

ethical life and not to teach the cultural norms to people, which is the purpose of a fable

(Bettelheim 42­43). Because the tale is told to enrich our inner qualities, the physical beauty

remarked upon is meant to reinforce not a female’s appearance but her inner virtues, an idea

supported by the sociologist Judy Lubin, who writes in a storytelling interpretation of

“Cinderella”, “Her new dress is a reflection of this inner change, not the cause of her change.

When we change on the inside, it will show on the outside... The stepmother and stepsisters,

however, do not know how to change on the inside. They are beautiful on the outside, but empty

on the inside... they mistakenly attempt to change themselves so that they will look like her on

the outside ­ they deform their own feet to match Cinderella’s! But it does them no good,

because inner beauty is what counts in this story” (Lubin 1). Lubin’s argument is that in this

story and many others with an impossibly beautiful girl as the heroine, the real intent is to

convey that kindness and compassion translate to beauty, and not the other way around. Contrary

to popular belief, fairy tales do not promote gender stereotypes.

Being told a traditional fairy tale can help a child’s psychological development as well.

Firstly, it is necessary to explain how a fairy tale relates to psychology at all. One of the clearest

ways this can be seen is in the plots and characters of each story: often there is a journey

(physical or not) featuring one or two protagonists who must destroy a villain or find a way to

“live happily ever after” with their family or chosen spouse. Along the storyline are helpful

animals, friends, magic objects, or elemental powers; riddles or challenges; and a figure of

royalty. These patterns are what Carl Jung has termed “archetypes”. All of these archetypes can

be seen to symbolize journeys, transformations, challenges, and triumphs in our lives. But what

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is most important about this is that it can help a child solve their internal conflicts without feeling

overwhelmed. One such situation is found in the villain of the fairy tale, which can relieve a

child of anger towards his or her parents. An award­winning novelist and teacher for Princeton,

Sheila Kohler writes for Psychology Today, “Unable to express anger or hatred directly toward

those adults on whom the child depends, he/she can displace this natural aggression and give free

reign to it personified by the villain: the stepmother, the wicked wolf, or the witch” (Kohler 1).

As Kohler explains, a frustrated child can pretend the villain is the target parent and release their

emotions onto the evil figure; using this, children are able to maintain a healthy relationship with

their parents or guardians as they develop. Another example of a psychological problem that a

fairy tale can ease for a child is a feeling of being small or weak (Kohler 1). In many stories,

such as “The Three Feathers”, “The Water of Life”, or “Beauty and the Beast”, the youngest and

often scorned child is the victor both of the quest and over his or her siblings. When the child

listens to the tale, he or she identifies with the protagonist because the listener and the character

both experience feelings of powerlessness. After the hero or heroine succeeds in their journey, a

child feels more secure about his or her development because they can now see that in the future,

they can grow to become independent and happy. While some people argue that this is deluding

and will lead children to believe in perfect lives, it should be remembered that the hero does not

succeed until they have overcome extreme obstacles, indicating to the listener that they must be

prepared to work for their happiness. Another prevalent concern of parents and academics is that

a fairy tale will remove a child from reality, a fear supported by the prominent atheist and

evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, who has expressed the view before that fairy tales can

be harmful by instilling belief in the supernatural. However, Bettelheim observes that “happily

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ever after” does not cause a child to lose themselves to fantasy, but instead reassures an anxious

or hopeless child that life can bring safety and happiness (Bettelheim 35­41). With that feeling of

restored hope, psychological damage in times of fear is avoided. Rowan Williams, a theologian

and poet, writes in an article for New Statesman magazine, “Our environment, the fairy tale says,

is unpredictably hostile and destructive; it is also unpredictably full of resource. Family members

may turn out to be...treacherous, ordeals may face us in which our life is at stake...At the same

time, animals turn out to be saviours, winds and waves mobilise to rescue us...forgotten patrons

(“fairy godmothers”) turn up to support” (Williams 1). Here, Williams explains that a fairy tale

depicts life’s roller­coaster pattern: despite hard challenges, help can come from unexpected

sources to deliver us to “happily ever after”. That message from a story can fortify the despairing

mind of the child, helping their psyche to develop securely and without unresolved fear. Fairy

tales, far from agitating or damaging children, can resolve conflict and relax worries.

One of the best benefits of fairy tales is its ability to help a child develop socially. Fairy

tales, unlike the culturally­specific myth, depict the basic patterns of human life­ a protagonist’s

growth, journeys or quests toward a goal, and conflicts in relationships, among other motifs.

Meredith B. Mitchell, a Jungian analyst, writes that fairy tales “concern heroic struggles that...go

on within each of us...Stories frequently provide clues as to the basic struggles of human beings”

(Mitchell 1). According to Jung’s theories, all fairy tales are universal stories that are found in

the “collective unconscious” , or the area of the unconscious mind that all humans share. So

when a child is exposed to a traditional fairy tale, they identify with these narratives and come to

understand that these are the experiences, in some form or another, of all people. As the novelist

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Kate Forsyth phrases it, “Stories are the common ground that allow people to connect, despite all

our defences and all our differences” (Forsyth 1). She puts forward the idea that because

storytelling is an art form that all cultures share, it can be used to break down barriers and

understand others. Therefore, a developing child who has knowledge of fairy tales is better

equipped to try to connect and empathize with their peers. But because fairy tales also change in

details of names, dress, food, housing, or speech depending on the area of origin, reading tales

from a variety of cultures can educate children about people across the globe, or at least help

them to take an interest in the world outside themselves. For example, the story “The Three

Spinners”, which originated in Germany, contains the typical element of poverty and royalty,

with the main motif being the spinning of flax. In the Puerto Rican variant titled “The Souls in

Purgatory”, however, the heroine is rescued by her Catholic faith and must embroider traditional

garments instead of spin flax. One tale reflects the European society while the other has a Latin

influence. With this diversity a child can learn to accept and become interested in those and other

groups, and by extension will be accepting of its members. Annie Thomas, a student at the

University of Hawaii, writes,“World understanding is increased as children gain understanding

of early cultural traditions, learn about cultural diffusion as they read variants of tales, develop

appreciation of culture and art from different countries, and become familiarized with many

language and dialects of cultures around the world” (Thomas 1). As this student observes,

diversity of fairy tales encourage a child to branch out beyond his or her boundaries to become

familiar with other ethnic groups. These two effects­ empathizing with other humans while

appreciating the differences­ can help a child to be socially confident and literate but also to see,

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as the five hundred versions of “Cinderella” from across the globe demonstrates, that we humans

are not so different after all.

The fairy tale might not have been created specifically for children, but today it is more

important than ever that they are exposed to it. For a child to read or listen to original fairy tales,

whether it was told in Europe or West Africa, is to encourage their gender, psychological, and

social development. Scholars and caregivers that refuse to believe in the benefits of fairy tales

because they are too “dark” or “limiting” for a child’s mind miss the opportunity to enrich the

education of youth. As Albert Einstein once said, “If you want your children to be intelligent,

read them fairy tales. If you want them to be very intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”

Works Cited

Bettelheim, Bruno. The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. New York: Knopf, 1976. Print.

Dundes, Alan. Meaning of Folklore: The Analytical Essays of Alan Dundes. Ed. Simon J.

Brunner. Logan, Utah: Utah State UP, 2007. Web. Forsyth, Kate. "Why Are Fairy Tales Universally Appealing?" Huffington Post. The Huffington

Post, Inc., 15 Sept. 2014. Web. 21 Mar. 2015. Kohler, Sheila. "On the Importance of Fairy Tales." Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers, LLC,

6 June 2014. Web. 21 Mar. 2015. Lubin, Judy. "Storyteller Magic: Tales for the Journey." Storyteller Magic Productions. N.p., n.d.

Web. 3 Mar. 2015. Mitchell, Meredith B. "Learning About Ourselves Through Fairy Tales: Their Psychological

Value." Psychological Perspectives 53.3 (2010): n. pag. Web.

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Thomas, Annie. "In Defense of Fairy Tales." University of Hawaii, n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2015. Vom Orde, Heike. "Children Need Fairy Tales." Televizion (2013): 17­18. Web. 12 Mar. 2015. Von Franz, Marie­Louise. The Interpretation of Fairy Tales. Boston: Shambhala, 1996. Print. Williams, Rowan. "Why We Need Fairy Tales Now More Than Ever." New Statesman. New

Statesman, 22 Dec. 2014. Web.