Childhood Symphonies



Childhood Symphonies

Introduction

Yet some questions must be asked. Fairy tales have been an important part of cultures all over the world. They have been passed down through generations and read and reread to countless children. But do they really have any place as children's stories? This is one of the questions that have recently been pressed against them and one which is well worth asking. If children are to be presented with fairy tales, it is quite reasonable to question the effect of these stories on them. This is reasonable to ask, but the answer may not come as naturally. Children are people too. They and their reactions can be just as varied as their grown-up counterparts. So any generalization made concerning them can be nothing more than that, a generalization. But still through all these shades of doubt, a general statement can be made. Fairy tales can make good children stories. Fairy tales are magical. They may provide a window to another world, a chance to look beyond the mundane. They may provide a means of relief from some of this world's troubles simply in their otherworldliness. This otherworldliness is one of the many questioned virtues of fairy tales. Some people worry that fairy tales do not give a truthful rendition of life. They fear such stories are therefore unhealthy for children. In this paper we will analyze several fairy tales and their impacts on children.

Evaluation

Many of the same well-meaning people who distrust fairy tales because of violence or such are the same ones who suggest that simplified or edited versions of fairy tales be told to children. The stories may outwardly appear much the same as the original. They may remove or blunt the elements which adults may find improper for children. There may not seem to be much harm in this. After all, fairy tales have been handed down through generations and have no doubt been changed by some if not all of the retellings. So it may be hard to see what the harm if any there might be in changing them yet once again. Changing it once more could lose a lot. In simplifying or rewriting fairy tales, many important features of the tale may become lost. These features may seem insignificant, but they can be truly important. These are the eight childhood stories/fairy tales points that are to be discussed within the evaluation:

Little Red Riding Hood

Goldilocks & the Three Bears

The Emperor's New Clothes

Hansel and Gretel

Sleeping Beauty

Puss in Boots

Alice in Wonderland

The Snow Queen

Little Red Riding Hood

The psychologist Sigmund Freud created many theories on how people are and why they do the things they do. His psychoanalytic theories are used today to for a better understanding of and to analyze literature. Freud's three key zones of mental process are the id, the ego and the superego. The id is one of the most important of the three when talking about "Little Red Riding Hood" by Charles Perrault. The author tries to show that ...