What specific observations in Bettleheim’s psychologically oriented reading of the story strike you as insightful and relevant to “Little Snow White,” “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, or the poem “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” by Anne Sexton?
One of the observations that Bettleheims have noted is that the mirror in “Little Snow White,” represents how the step mother is obsessed with her beauty and cannot tolerate anyone being more beautiful than her, and how the step mother asks the mirror every time who is more beautiful and upon receiving the response that “snow white is more beautiful” she ends up killing the snow white after multiple tries. Bettleheims also analyzes that the huntsman can be considered as a father figure because he ended up letting snow white run away into the woods and killed a young boy took out his liver and lungs to prove to the queen that he has killed snow white. Bettleheims also noted that little snow white is a story about a psychological development of a girl that is growing up, and even though the seven dwarfs tell her not to be aware of her step mother and not open the door for anyone, Snow white still opens the door every time once for eating the apple, the other time for buying the comb and laces, even though she knows that she was attacked on each and every time.
One thought on “Samra Tariq Discussion 15”
Samra, thanks for the good comments. Bettleheim does draw connections between the huntsman figure in fairytales and the universal figure of the father; however, in the case of “Little Snow White,” we see these male figures abdicating their role as protectors. It’s also interesting to note how Bettleheim equates Snow White’s three mistakes to the mistakes young children make, asserting that one of the roles of fairytales is to ensure children that, in fact, they can—and likely will—make mistakes more than once. Even when Snow White appears to be dead, she is really in a state of suspended reflection.