“Little snow white” by Bruno Bettelheim’s is a psychological interpretation of the fairy tale Snow White. In this interpretation Bruno argues and compares the fairy tale with the reality as well as how children can visualize the fairy tale. Bruno shows how the fairy tale relate to reality by mentioning words like maturity, narcissism, sexual etc, these words are not in the fairy itself but in the meaning of the story and what some characters means. In the kids situation, they will see Snow White as “happily ever” fairy tale, because their not mature enough to understand what’s the meaning behind the story. However the story gives a message that some kids can comprehend which is that we can make mistakes over and over again until we learn the lesson, for example when snow white is told to not open the door because the queen wanted to kill her, she opened the door three times, and each time she was about to die. “Snow White and the seven Dwarfs” is a poem by Anne Sexton that reviews the original tale by the brothers Grimm’s. Sexton in the poem refers to snow white as cultural expectations of female beauty and sexuality, she describe snow white as a beautiful but fragile figure, because of snow white’s innocence. The poem ends with a insinuation that mirrors will influence women. The difference between “Little Snow White” by Bruno Bettelheim’s and “Snow White and the seven Dwarfs” by Anne Sexton, is that Bruno uses more reality language in his interpretation, plus he tries to shows why some fairy tales might not be good to kids. And Sexton reviews how snow white is a symbol of beauty and female expectations.
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4 thoughts on “Idalmi Abreu discussion 11”
wow! I love your bright response that expands your thoughts and explanations on how Bruno and Anne Sexton both explain their point of view of Snow White, their descriptions say a lot about how kids can view this play positively or negatively. However, I agree that the story is giving a message of a life lesson to us or anybody reading it because when Snow reopened the door almost 3 times to the queen, it’s a sign that they shouldn’t trust blindly what strangers tell them.
I think this is good point about how Bettelheim uses more reality-based language in his analysis of Snow White compared to Sexton’s more symbolic approach. I think explaining specific words like “maturity” and “narcissism” that Bettelheim references is an insightful way to show his focus on psychological interpretations that might go over kids’ heads. For kids, Snow White is just a straightforward fairy tale like you said. I also liked your example of Snow White making the mistake of opening the door multiple times
Bruno and Anne Sexton’s explanations of Snow White’s perspective can impact children’s perceptions positively or negatively. The story serves as a life lesson, as Snow reopening the door to the queen three times demonstrates that trusting strangers blindly is not advisable. The story’s message is that children should not blindly trust strangers.
Idalmi, your comments are interesting. What fairy tales does Bettleheim say are not good for children?