by Bruno Bettleheim, a psychologist and proponent of Fairy Tales
Introduction: The Struggle for Meaning
'If we hope to live not just from moment to moment, but in true consciousness of our existence, then our greatest need and most difficult achievement is to find meaning in our lives. . .Today, as in times past the most important and also the most important and difficult task in raising a child is helping him to find meaning in life. Many growth experiences are needed to achieve this. The child, as he develops must learn step by step to understand himself better; with this he becomes more able to understand others, and eventually can relate to them in ways which are mutually satisfying and meaningful.
"To find deeper meaning, one must become able to transcend the narrow confines of a self-centered existence and believe that one will make a significant contribution to life--if not right now, then at some future time. This feeling is necessary if a person is to be satisfied with himself and with what he is doing. In order not to be at the mercy of the vagaries of life, one must develop one's inner resources, so that one's emotions, imagination, and intellect mutually support and enrich one another. Our positive feelings give us the strength to develop our rationality; only hope for the future can sustain us in the adversities we unavoidable encounter"(3).
Bettleheim works with severely disturbed children. The key to their recovery, he believes, is the restoration of meaning and hope for the future in these children's minds. In seeking to understand the best ways to do this, Bettleheim sought to understand the experiences of childhood that bring about meaning in life. He continues ". . .Regarding this task, nothing is more important that the impact of parents and others who take care of the child; second in importance is our cultural heritage, when transmitted to the child in a right manner. When children are young, it is literature that carries such information best"(4).
However, Bettleheim discovered a severe lack of quality in so called "children's literature". It "attempts to entertain or inform or both. But most of these books are so shallow in substance that little of significance can be gained from them. The acquisition of skills, including the ability to read, becomes devalued when what one has learned to read adds nothing of importance to one's life"(4).
This key issue with children's literature can actually retard the ability of the child to cope with experiences throughout the rest of his or her life. "The idea that learning to read may enable one later to enrich one's life is experienced as an empty promise when the stories that the child listens to, or is reading at that moment, are vacuous"(4). If meaning is the foundation of coping skills, and the ability to process experiences--and all that is being read by the child is empty, poorly written, unrealistic books, then that child will truly be disadvantaged as an adult. So what children read and what is written for children to read should be of the highest concern.
"The worst feature of these children's books is that they cheat the child of what he ought to gain from the experience of literature: access to deeper meaning, and that which is meaningful to him at his stage of development" (4). So then what should children read? Bettleheim explains:
For a story truly to hold the child's attention, it must entertain him and arouse his curiosity. But to enrich his life, it must stimulate his imagination; help him to develop his intellect and to clarify his emotions; be attuned to his anxieties and aspirations; give full recognition to his difficulties, while at the same time suggesting solutions to the problems which perturb him (4).
It is one thing to entertain someone. Any box full of flashing light, or any book full of over-inflated pathos and all the bells and whistles can entertain someone with no intellect at all. According to Bettleheim the best books, whatever the genre, should mirror the lives of the readers and provide situations for learning, understanding, and problem solving. However, such books should "relate to all aspects of [the child's] personality--and this without belittling but, on the contrary, giving full credence to the seriousness of the child's predicaments, while simultaneously promoting confidence in himself and in his future" (5).
So what does all this have to do with Fairy Tales? "Through the centuries (if not millennia) during which, in their retelling, fairy tales become ever more refined, they can to convey at the same time overt and covert meanings--came to speak simultaneously to all levels of the human personality, communicating in a manner which reaches the uneducated mind of the child as well as that of the sophisticated adult" (6).
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