As I read the Hansel and Gretel variants I realized there is an overwhelming theme throughout them; although, they were written by different people. The theme is that the wives/mothers die, and it does not matter if they are nice or evil. My question is, why?
Another theme is those whom are nice or genuine will prosper and those whom are evil will die. This is evident when the children kill the witch, find the jewels, go home, the step mother has died, and they are reunited with their father and live happily ever after. This theme also shows through when the child is killed by the stepmother and the bird collects “gifts” by singing the story of the boy’s death. In the end the father and other child are rewarded, while the stepmother is smashed to death by a stone.
I also realized that there were two distinct versions of Hansel and Gretel. The first is the Grimms version, which is of a poor father and evil stepmother who is over powering and doesn’t like the father’s children. The children are smart and when they are thrust into a horrible situation their wits are what save them (ex. Marking the trail with white pebbles in order to find their way home, giving the witch the bone to feel instead of his finger and Gretel acting “dumb” and tricking the witch into the oven then baking her to death) The moral of the story is children should be able to think on their feet and fend for themselves. The second version involved a magical bush, the pure love of a mother, an evil stepmother who dislikes the child of the previous wife, a bird who represents the dead child, and in the end the two kind people are rewarded while the evil stepmother is smashed to death.
Each of the following quotes are from different authors and each supports Zipes’ opinion that children’s literature does not exist and that adults do not write for children but rather about themselves as children and how they see childhood. I’m glad to read these quotes, because now there is proof that Zipes is not the only author out there that believes what he writes about.
“I want to show just what Marchen meant to me as a child” p.86
“You do not chop off a section of your imaginative substance and make a book for children….you have, in fact, no idea where childhood ends and maturity begins.”p.86
“I write for the child I am myself. “, “Not tales for children but projections of her childhood.” P.86-87
On page 87 Zipes questions Gag’s life and why she wrote the way she did, in particularly how she had a theme of “overcoming of obstacles to become successful and the reward of the persistent and diligent heroes.” I don’t see this as true because this was also a theme in the Grimms brothers version of the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel. Maybe she was attracted to these tales because of that theme, and not because she created that theme herself. Does this make sense? Do you have a different take?
Over and over again Zipes explains how Gag was imagining herself in the story and was not writing a true translation of the Grimms brothers’ fairy tales. He says the same for Disney, that he was “projecting himself into the story and projected visions of childhood” (p.93). Zipes book really does seem to go in circles and I find it very difficult to pay close attention, because I get annoyed with the repetition and constant preoccupation with the same theme. I get it “children’s literature” is written for both the child and the adult. Both audiences are going to enjoy the same piece of work and that is okay by me. If anything, the creation of children’s literature is brilliant, in that it captives a wide audience, and is all the more successful and profitable. If Zipes knew I wrote that last sentence he would surly scorn me. THE END.
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That’s a good question, why do the mothers and wives die regardless if they are good or not? I tried thinking about this for a bit and it just got me more and more confused. I mean even if it’s a story, it really doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to kill off the mothers and the wives, I mean I want some sort of reason or purpose of these deaths. Maybe the reason that they killed of the mothers and wives were because they were female. Sure, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but just because they were female, I guess killing them had it alright. I didn’t like it, but that’s just how it was.
After reading the different versions of Hansel and Gretel, I have to say that I enjoyed the Grimms version a little better. As mentioned above, I liked the moral of this story of how children should be able to think and function for themselves. We have talked about how children have been viewed by society from one time period to the next, so I really liked seeing a moral where children are able to think and survive by themselves. But I must say, I really liked reading all of the different versions of Hansel and Gretel. When I was a child, my mother would tell this story to me and she would sugar coat it a little bit just so I wouldn’t get scared or whatever, but it was nice reading different versions of this story as I have grow up on it.
I’m going to have to agree with what is said above. I also think that Zipes goes in circles in his book and that just makes me want to put the book down and stop reading it. I have to say though, this last reading wasn’t as bad as the earlier readings, but still, I lost my thinking and just got bored with the book.
As for the quote “I write for the child I am myself. “, I don’t see anything wrong with that. I mean sure, children’s literature is read by adults, so what, what’s wrong with that? I mean it’s no secret that a mother and a father are adults, and when they read bed time stories to children, they also want to enjoy the story. I can see why when one writes a children’s literature, he or she may want it to be enjoyable for adults as well, because chances are adults will be reading the work to children.
Lastly, I agree with what was said that children’s literature is brilliant and it captivates a wide audience. I mean children’s literature is wonderful because it allows the child to use his/her imagination and just enjoy the literature. I don’t know, I’m just glad were done with Zipes for now, because I think he just made me question one to many things and he never really looked at the situation in a positive way. Anyway, good post.
When I was younger, Hansel and Gretel was one of my favorite fairytales. Now that I have reread the story, certain aspects of it surprised me. The burning of the witch and the fact that the mother was so selfish she wanted to leave her own children in the forest alone was not something that got to me as a child. It was interesting to read the different varients of the story and see what would happen to the mother figure. It did seem like something agaisnt the female firgure, because even if the mother was good, she still died.
I had a hard time taking sides in chapter five of Zipes. I would commend Gag's efforts on retelling the fairtytales. If she wanted to put her own spin on the fairytale, then so be it. Same goes for Disney. He wanted to make a movie that would appeal to the family, not just the child. However much he "Americanized" the story of Snow White was somehow ok with me. I think any story taken into the hands of someone from a different culture is allowed to make it his own. On the other hand, I can understand how it would seem disrespectful to the Grimm Brothers. Zipes says, "The features of Snow White and her Prince Charming represent the all -American 'healthy' ideals of befauty...and the language and jokes in the film are clearly tied to American idioms and customs" (p.84). After reading this I asked myself, so whats the big deal? If an American is retelling the story, it is going to have an American twist so it will appeal to our culture. I don't see it as the Grimm Brothers or Perrault being mocked.
I agree that Zipes seems to be going in circles and stating his over bearing opinion over and over again. The fact that people are able to write children's literature and have it appeal to a wide audience, I think, is pretty clever. So what if children's literature is read by more than just children?
I think Zipes was a little hard on Gag's rendition of the fairytales. He said, "That is, her interpretaions of the tales through her revisions are self-projections" (p.89). He also mocks her illustrations and renders them as boring and childlike. He states, "Most of the tales are reduced in length, and all the redundancies are eliminated. Motivation is explained, and lurid horror is avoided" (p.90). I think for American children this is a good thing. I think she put her own twist on the fairytales and people still enjoyed them, so what is the problem?
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