Lessons Of Life Essays - Grimms Fairy Tales, Brothers Grimm

Lessons of Life Steve sat at the dinner table eating breakfast with Steve's little sister, Jessy, sat across from him. "Steve", she said, "where's skipper?" "He's gone now" I said. "Is he up in heaven? I want him back." "Me too," Steve said. "I miss him a lot," she said. "I know," Steve said, "so do I." Death is a hard concept for a small child to grasp. Its difficult to explain how someone can be here one day and gone the next. Children sometimes do not fully understand it, but when a loved one such as a parent dies a child can be devastated. Loss is something that everyone has to deal with at some point in his or her life. Fairy tales help children deal with life's difficulties such as death and separation anxiety by exposing them to it at an early age. Separation from a loved one is a common problem in many fairy tales. Often the heroine is separated from her lover, her parents, or the world that she grew up in. This is the case in the fairy tale "Thumbelina". Thumbelina is taken away from her home and wanders the strange outside world for months. Eventually, she meets a mouse who has it arranged so that Thumbelina is to marry a mole and live underground for the rest of her life. Thumbelina is distressed because "she knew that after she married the mole, she would never again see the sun and the flowers or hear the birds sing" (Eisen, 301-302). In the Fairy tale "Rapunzel", Rapunzel experiences separation anxiety twice in her life. First she suffers separation anxiety from the rest of society and then from her lover. Rapunzel is locked up in a tower deep in the forest by a witch and isolated from all human contact. Rapunzel betrays the witch and lets a young prince in the tower. Her second episode of separation anxiety occurs when the witch takes her away form her lover. Upon discovering her secret the witch takes Rapunzel to "a bleak desert place where the poor girl was to live in great sorrow and misery" (Eisen, 98). In the fairy tale "Hansel and Gretel", the children suffer separation anxiety from the rest of society and their father. Hansel and Gretel are led into the woods and left for dead by their parents. The children get lost in the woods and wander around for days searching for a way home. "They walked all night and the next day from sunrise to sunset, but try as they might they still could not find a way out of the forest" (Eisen, 90). This fairy tale exposes children to the possibility of being separated from their parents as well as their peers. In the fairy tale Cinderella, Cinderella is forced to do slave work for her stepsisters and is forbidden from participating in certain community activities. She feels separated from the rest of the world. The anxiety is so great that she burst into tears. All of these fairy tales directly confront children with the possibility of being separated from loved ones or from society altogether. Many fairy tales also deal with the death of a parent or the threat of death on the heroine. In "Sleeping Beauty", the heroine is foretold that on her fifteenth birthday "she will prick her finger on a spindle and fall dead" (Eisen, 22-23). The princess and the entire kingdom fall into a deep sleep that lasts for a hundred years. Children are able to understand what death is like since it is compared to a long period of sleeping and being inactive. In "Hansel and Gretel", the hero and heroine are faced with the possibility of death. The old witch locks Hansel up in a cage. She feeds him good food and tells Gretel that "when he's nice and fat, I'm going to eat him up" (Eisen, 93). Eventually the witch decides to try to cook Gretel but she outsmarts the witch and shoves her into the oven. "The witch screamed horribly, but Gretel didn't open the door until the witch was dead" (Eisen, 93). Death is a huge part of "Hansel and Gretel", from starving to death, being eaten

Free Essays on Global Integration

America’s Political System The United States of America is considered to be a land where freedom reigns and all persons in this land are afforded equal opportunities in every facet of life. Such liberties exist because this country adheres to democratic ideals. America may not fit exactly into Aristotle’s definition of democracy, ‘the rule of the many’, but it is no less democratic in that the people are represented by authoritative figures whom they elected. The word democracy is used here as a theory characteristic of those nations who choose to follow its principles. Democracy is also one of the five elements of America’s political system, the other four being liberty, equality, civic duty, and individual responsibility. Each of these five components significantly shape the intricacies of how this country operates on a daily basis, and are integral to preserving the freedom provided by it. To single out any of these elements would throw off the balance created by the compos ition of them. Despite this, it is my opinion that liberty, equality, and democracy are imperative to American life and the individuals living in this great country. Liberty has many definitions, varying in regards to the manner in which the word is used. However, each definition is overshadowed by a pervasive theme of freedom of choice. In reference to America’s political system, liberty is critically fundamental. American people hold their liberties in high esteem, with the conviction that they should have the capacity to do as they please, on the sole condition that no one gets hurt. Liberty has always been one of the core building blocks upon which this country stands, and it remains so today. With liberty, each individual is responsible for the consequences of their actions. It is only logical to take the position that, knowledgeable of the cause and effect of one’s actions, that person will act in a manner conducive to the i... Free Essays on Global Integration Free Essays on Global Integration America’s Political System The United States of America is considered to be a land where freedom reigns and all persons in this land are afforded equal opportunities in every facet of life. Such liberties exist because this country adheres to democratic ideals. America may not fit exactly into Aristotle’s definition of democracy, ‘the rule of the many’, but it is no less democratic in that the people are represented by authoritative figures whom they elected. The word democracy is used here as a theory characteristic of those nations who choose to follow its principles. Democracy is also one of the five elements of America’s political system, the other four being liberty, equality, civic duty, and individual responsibility. Each of these five components significantly shape the intricacies of how this country operates on a daily basis, and are integral to preserving the freedom provided by it. To single out any of these elements would throw off the balance created by the compos ition of them. Despite this, it is my opinion that liberty, equality, and democracy are imperative to American life and the individuals living in this great country. Liberty has many definitions, varying in regards to the manner in which the word is used. However, each definition is overshadowed by a pervasive theme of freedom of choice. In reference to America’s political system, liberty is critically fundamental. American people hold their liberties in high esteem, with the conviction that they should have the capacity to do as they please, on the sole condition that no one gets hurt. Liberty has always been one of the core building blocks upon which this country stands, and it remains so today. With liberty, each individual is responsible for the consequences of their actions. It is only logical to take the position that, knowledgeable of the cause and effect of one’s actions, that person will act in a manner conducive to the i...