Because the ending is so problematic, I find it very difficult to internalize the "lesson” of Hansel and Gretel. Is it simply telling us that we should not trust anyone, not even those we are told by society we should trust the most? Is there a lesson about gluttony? About the power of ingenuity over natural instinct? Something perhaps about the malevolence of birds?
In his book, The Uses of Enchantment, Bruno Bettlheim argues that this is a story about the dangers of our primitive oral cravingsand destructive desires. He argues that it is about maturation and regression (the gingerbread house being a return to what is known and comfortable – the witch, a personification of the destructive aspects of orality – the burning of the witch an act of personal initiative, of 'ego' over 'id').
But I find Bettlheim's argument flawed. It is far too reliant on the imagery and plot points associated with the Grimm's version of the story and doesn't take into account the seemingly arbitrary changes they made to it throughout the editing process, nor does it take into account the historical context which created the much older oral versions upon which the Grimms based their story. Bettlheim puts the onus on the children. All the innate bad in them forced the parents to abandon them in the woods. This allows the children to undergo a necessary psychological transformation.
But Bettleheim, for all of his analysis, seems to brush over some very real world facts: parents, suffering from starvation choose to solve their problem by abandoning, and in effect, murdering their children. When this story was originally being passed around, starvation and child abandonment were very real, every day occurrences (as were witches in the minds of the tellers).
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, there are nearly 3 million cases of child abuse or neglect reported every year in the United States alone. In countries such as Mali, Guatemala and Angola, over one in three people suffers from malnutrition according to the World Health Organization. In other words, these are still very real, every day occurrences. And instead of flattening out fairy tales like Hansel and Gretel until they reflect psychological truisms, we should be heeding the allegory of a dark and scary world in which social circumstances create the possibility for such atrocities.
The image at the top of the post can be found here: http://www.siliconera.com/2013/09/26/soul-sacrifice-delta-turns-three-little-pigs-hansel-gretel-monsters/
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