Grimms Fairy Tales Day 1

2. I think that gender plays a big role in these stories, in how the men and women act. In Hansel and Gretel, the stepmother was the one who gave the children the bread. Usually the mothers are the one’s who cook, and feed their children. In the story, Hansel would drop stones on the path so they could find their way back easier. This shows how Hansel was stepping up to be a man, leader for his sister to bring them both back to the house safely. It also reminded me of Hansel being a Boy Scout, and leaving marks on the trails to find their way back. In Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs, Snow White was left motherless, so she had no choice but to become a mother. She was on her own, so she had to take care of herself. The dwarfs said she could stay if she could take care of the household, cook, make beds, wash clothes, sew, knit, and keep everything in order. These tie into the roles of woman in real life. They are usually the one to keep all these tasks in order. In Rolland, there was also an example of female’s taking care of the household. Rolland found all the work done, room swept, chairs and tables dusted, water fetched, and the table set. The Handmaid was the one who put this all in order.

3. I think there was a lot of violence in these stories for being targeted for children. I don’t’ ever remember reading any violence in stories, maybe the children don’t pay much attention to it. I think more people pay attention to the violence when they read the stories when they are older, and think “How can this book be targeted for children with all this violence?!” I think violence plays an important role because it grabs the children’s attention, they will enjoy the stories more. The children don’t realize the intensity in someone cutting up a girl and eating them, or chopping off a head with an ax of their own daughter. In “Little Red Riding Hood”, the wolf’s body was cut open with a pair of scissors to find Little Red Riding Hood. In the “Handless Maiden”, the daughter’s hand was cut off. Though it ties with the title being the “Handless Maiden”, so it would be assumed that the Maiden wouldn’t have a hand. In the “Robber Bridegroom” they cut up the girl, and ate her. So a lot of these stories included some kind of cutting up girls and eating them, or cutting open an animal. In “Rolland”, the witch chopped off the head of her own daughter with an ax. This reminds me of something that would be in a slasher film, with cutting off heads. Another scene of violence was in the “Juniper Tree”, where the sons head fell off because the lid slammed against him, and the lady tried putting his head back on the body, but it fell off again. There is too much violence in these stories, but the children don’t pay attention to it much. I think the Grimms Brothers put on a whole different meaning of these stories.