FF Thursday September 8

Today, September 8th 2011, we discussed the two stories "Hansel and Gretel" and "The Juniper Tree". We split into groups of four and discussed multiple topics, comparing and contrasting the two stories. Group one focused on maternal figures in the stories "Hansel and Gretel" and "The Juniper Tree". They compared that each story had a "good mother" and a "bad mother". In "Hansel and Gretel" the "good mother" is represented by the witches house made out of sweets and bread, which provided nourishment for the lost children. The "good mother" in "The Juniper Tree" was represented by the Juniper Tree itself, which provided comfort for the children's deceased first mother, when she wanted to get pregnant and as well as the children themselves. The "bad mother" in each story were the stepmothers who abandoned and neglected the children that did not belong to them. Group two compared and contrasted father figures. The fathers from each of the stories were passive characters, however, they each cared for their children. In "Hansel and Gretel" the father did not want to take them to the woods although they were out of food and could not provide for them any longer. When the children returned, he was overjoyed and welcomed them with open arms. In "The Juniper Tree" the father was a passive character, but he showed concern when his son was not at the house when he came home and was upset he "left" without saying goodbye. Lastly, group four discussed whether the heroes and heroins in the story were passive or active characters. Since the children were abandoned and neglected, in both stories the heroes and heroines were active; this played a significant part in the developmental theme which was discussed in the article by Bruno Bettelheim. Also, in todays course, we discussed the criticism by Bettelheim which expanded on themes such as regression and development and we each wrote a short paragraph on our own describing what these meant. Lastly, we gathered in groups once more and came up with a thesis to our assigned themes. My group, group five, analyzed how the Brothers Grim censored sexuality, but left material in their stories concerning neglect and abuse towards children by their parents. The next assignment is to read Jeanne"Marie Leprince de Beaumont, "Beauty and the Beast," Straparola, "The Pig King," and Angela Carter, "The Tiger's Bride".