The Child as a Hero

Children are almost always overlooked and looked down upon in almost every day life- not just in fairy tales, but in television shows and movies as well. That is so often why children are portrayed as underdogs in these stories. Nobody expects Hansel and Gretel, of the tale of the same name by Brothers Grimm, to be able to outwit the witch and rescue themselves. They are much more intelligent than they are ever given credit for, and as such they are underdogs. 

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Now, when it comes to Jack, from Jack and the Beanstalk by Joseph Jacobs, our young hero is given a trait that most would find undesirable in an adult, much less a child- greed. Jack shows his greed and hunger for wealth by going back up the beanstalk again and again, grabbing items repeatedly that will help Jack’s wealth grow- the bag of gold, the egg, the hen, and finally the harp. Each item is bigger than the last. 

Bettelheim reflects on some of the motifs we read through this past week (such as having bad parents, encountering an evil witch or ogre, etc.) and what that means for many of the children.

For Hansel and Gretel, as per Bettelheim, the children are still extremely attached to their parents, despite their inability to care for the children- they suffer from starvation anxiety (both food and attention starvation), and the kids must venture out to find food (oral greed) as their only solution. And what do they find? An entire house made out of sweets, with a witch inside (which could be interpreted as how the children see their evil mother that forced them out of the house).