Imagine you parents throwing you into the woods with nothing but a dainty piece of bread or imagine them taking off your head and cooking you for dinner. Parents in most stories are supposed to be there for protection and to provide for their family. But in Hansel and Gretel and The Juniper-Tree there is a theme of parental neglect. Parental neglect is shown in both stories by showing the hate from the step mother towards the children, the father’s inability to stand up for his child or children, and the way the child or children get back at their parents. In Hansel and Gretel the step mother is only concerned with herself and how the children are eating too much of her food. The wife tells her husband her idea to take them deep into the forest so that “they will not find the way home again, and we shall be rid of them” (Grimm). The step mother in The Juniper-Tree was jealous of the boy’s beauty and killed him by having him reach in a chest for an apple and “down went the lid, and off went the little boy's head” (Grimm). Both step mother’s in each story try and get rid of the the children because of jealousy and hatred. The both are extremely self-centered and don’t show any love toward the children they are supposed to take care of. Like in most fairy tales Father figures are completely controlled by the step mother. In Hansel and Gretel when the Step mother would try and convince him to send the children away the father would say “'No, wife,' said the man, 'I will not do that; how can I bear to leave my children alone in the forest?” (Grimm). Although he does end up listening to the wife and sends the children into the forest. In The Juniper-Tree when the father realizes he son isn’t at the house and asks the step mother says “'Oh,' answered the wife, 'he is gone into the country to his mother's great uncle; he is going to stay there some time” (Grimm). After he finds that out all he is concerned about it that he didn’t say by
Imagine you parents throwing you into the woods with nothing but a dainty piece of bread or imagine them taking off your head and cooking you for dinner. Parents in most stories are supposed to be there for protection and to provide for their family. But in Hansel and Gretel and The Juniper-Tree there is a theme of parental neglect. Parental neglect is shown in both stories by showing the hate from the step mother towards the children, the father’s inability to stand up for his child or children, and the way the child or children get back at their parents. In Hansel and Gretel the step mother is only concerned with herself and how the children are eating too much of her food. The wife tells her husband her idea to take them deep into the forest so that “they will not find the way home again, and we shall be rid of them” (Grimm). The step mother in The Juniper-Tree was jealous of the boy’s beauty and killed him by having him reach in a chest for an apple and “down went the lid, and off went the little boy's head” (Grimm). Both step mother’s in each story try and get rid of the the children because of jealousy and hatred. The both are extremely self-centered and don’t show any love toward the children they are supposed to take care of. Like in most fairy tales Father figures are completely controlled by the step mother. In Hansel and Gretel when the Step mother would try and convince him to send the children away the father would say “'No, wife,' said the man, 'I will not do that; how can I bear to leave my children alone in the forest?” (Grimm). Although he does end up listening to the wife and sends the children into the forest. In The Juniper-Tree when the father realizes he son isn’t at the house and asks the step mother says “'Oh,' answered the wife, 'he is gone into the country to his mother's great uncle; he is going to stay there some time” (Grimm). After he finds that out all he is concerned about it that he didn’t say by