Bettelheim

I along with Holly would like to apologize for the extreme lateness of this particular post. I also had computer problems... I dropped my laptop yesterday evening (Tuesday) and when I tried to turn it on, it wouldn't. A predicament if ever there was one... but to cut a long story short I took it to my friend today and, after pulling it to pieces, he managed to fix it!! :D So I am now writing my post... at midnight on Wednesday rather than midnight on Tuesday. I hope I can still get some form of credit.
I was also much more interested in the Bettelheim article than the Darnton article. As a child psychologist, I believe that Bettelheim has a greater insight into the minds and lives of children than Darnton. Although Darnton is more of a fairy tale and folk literature scholar - it is Bettelheim that has a larger insight into the life of a child.
I found it really interesting how he discussed that meaning in the early life of a child can mean less psychological problems in later life. I had never really thought about how a fairy tale might be able to provide this meaning before.
For instance - I had never thought about the beginning and end sentences of a fairy tale. "Once upon a time" and "and they lived happily ever after." Although in the original German the literal translation of the end of the fairy tale is "And if they are not yet dead, they are still alive today." I had never really thought how discussing 'living' happily ever after would allow the child to believe that eternal life is not possible. When I was a child, this thought never occurred to me - in fact it didn't occur to me until I read this article - but I suppose it may have affected me through my subconscious. I am not sure about his point of view on this but it is certainly interesting to think about.
It is true however that the generalized nature of the characters in a fairy tale allow all children to relate to the characters and feel connected to the story. The simplistic and repetitive nature of the fairy tale - the repetition of the number 3 for instance - would also allow a child to make connections and begin to recognize elements occuring in each story. This perhaps would create a comfortable feeling in the child - fairy tales are all so similar that you can read new ones without feeling alienated.
However I do believe that fairy tales are meant to be read to children - not only do they provide moral truths for the child but the deeper and darker meanings behind the cutesy simplistic story make it an interesting read for the parent too.