The world I imagine that created the story of “Hansel and Gretel” is one of extreme poverty. It would most likely take place in a rural setting including a forest and farmlands. The characters poverty would be most likely caused by the unhealthy state of the farm such as a drought or infertile soil and consequently the family would be in the middle of famine. I imagine the main characters to be two children, a brother and a sister, similar to Hansel and Gretel, who are around the age of seven or eight. There would then be a mother and father who fear that their family is on the verge of starvation.
The mother, suffering from depression due to her family’s condition, is cold towards her children and wants them to be sent away. The father, realizing that his children will need food and proper care, decides to send them away to his aunt who works as an innkeeper several villages over. The children, however, do not want to leave their parents but are forced to go and stay with their aunt.
Once staying with their aunt, the children realize how much happier they are with fullers stomachs. But they also discover that their aunt is also not the most kindhearted guardian and makes them work very long hours with no play. The aunt then decides that she only wants Hansel around and decides to ship Gretel off as a servant to another family. Somehow the children escape and return back to their family and the farm where the famine has lifted.
In this version of the story, starvation ultimately fuels the parents wanting to be rid of their children and the mother’s state of mind helps to push this. The children must learn to live on their own and problem solve with their aunt rather than the witch in the forest.
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Is the farm part of a community (like a little village) or is it isolated? Along the same lines, is the famine localized or much more widespread, and do these facts make a difference?
ReplyDeleteOne other major thing I wonder is if Hansel is creative? He comes across as an intelligent problem solver in the fairy tale by getting them home with pebbles and trying with breadcrumbs. Or, is he so stupid that he has to drop pebbles everywhere he goes or else he gets lost? Depending on how you take it, Hansel can come across as the idealized intelligent child role model for future generations or reveal that the pebble-dropping is more an embarrassing part of Hansel's life that got morphed into something better in the story.
I really like the way that the children encounter their problems in your version of the story. By sending them away to their aunt, you give them a chance to develop independently but also are not as harsh on the parents - instead of purposefully losing the children in the woods - they are sent to a family member. It is therefore not the parents' fault that they are somewhat abused whilst away from home.
ReplyDeleteBy giving the mother depression, you add another layer to a character, that in the original fairytale was just evil. I feel this is similar to how Keene changed the story of "The Juniper Tree."
If Gretel is a servant and is sent off to another family, how to her and Hansel escape together from the aunt? Is there a long passage of time between these two events?
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