English 2F - Children's Lit
Response 8 - Fairy Tale Analysis

Purpose: To analyze the elements of a fairy tale, to identify the cultural messages present in fairy tales, to explore the question of how and why children respond to fairy tales, to identify various transformations of fairy tales throughout time and culture.

Directions: 

Note: The responses are intended to be a way for you to explore ideas that you might later wish to refine in a paper or a discussion.  I will not censor these responses in any way, nor will I grade them on content or grammar (though, like the seminars, they must be coherent and display some measure of critical thinking about the question at hand). You do not have to answer all the questions, nor do you have to confine yourself to these questions.  You can write as much as you want, as long as you meet the minimum length requirements for the assignment

1. Choose and read a fairy tale from one of the following lists, or from another source (any written version of a traditional fairy tale will do).

2.  Review the material on fairy tales from Module 6.  

3. Choose one or more ideas from the book and/or one of the web resources to use in your response.

4. Write a page analyzing the fairy tale. Questions to consider: Why is this story considered a "fairy tale"? What elements does it present that allow us to categorize it as such?  What might children take away from this story - what morals or messages about life, human nature, or culture might the children be receiving? How might those messages change with different versions of the tale in different eras and different cultures? What are some of the univseral symbols in the story, and what do they represent? What "deeper meaning", in the words of Bruno Bettelheim, in his seminal work The Uses of Enchantment, does a child understand after reading or listening to this fairy tale?

5. Include at least two quotes from the book and/or web resource/s to back up your interpretation of the fairy tale.

6. Submit your response to the assignments chamber as an attachment.

7. Extra Credit Option: Post your response to the extra credit forums, "Response 8 - Fairy Tale Analysis".  You will receive extra credit if you post your response and/or respond to at least one other student's posting.