Fairy Tales Bettelheim Summary

It is hard to understand a child. Adults cannot seem to comprehend a child’s world. The mental and emotional understanding of a grown person is so matured, that for them whatever a kid is doing is just child’s play. Well, it is a two-way street. Children cannot understand the grown up’s world either. The complexity and intricacy of the world is too much for children to take in, due to their under development. However, the human brain is a magnificent machine that it develops ways for a child to understand an undiscernible world. Fairy tales, often belief as just tools to make children sleep a night, has a more, meaningful and profound in a child’s life. Children connects the world around them to fairy tales. It aids them to better understand
“Many parents believe that only conscious reality or pleasant and wish-fulfilling images should be presented to a child- that he should only be exposed only to the sunny side of things. But such one-sided fare nourishes the mind only in a one-sided way, and real life is not all sunny” (Bettelheim 204). Bettelheim is urging that the children should be exposed to dark side of life. Many would argue that their young minds could not comprehend the true reality of the world. But Bettelheim is suggesting that it is alright, it is better to show them what true reality is. The more the situations are not explained to children, the more it will be buried deep within their subconscious, like a volcano being dormant for years, lying and waiting, until suddenly it will explode, causing catastrophic damages. Same is true with a child. Their subconscious will wait until it will release all of the hidden, anxieties, or chaotic behavior in the most unexpected time. In Pan’s Labyrinth, the polarization of good and evil is explored through, Mercedes, who right from the beginning has shown true compassion to Ophelia. Though Mercedes, has her own struggles, she has still cared for the well-being of Ophelia and her mother. The evil, come in the form of Captain Vidal, Ophelia’s step father, who shown no love or compassion right from the start. His selfishness is seen when,
“These tales tell him that by forming a true interpersonal relation, one escapes separation anxiety which haunts him…this ending is not made possible, as the child wishes and believes by holding on to his mother eternally” (Bettelheim 206). Bettelheim propose that these happily ever after does not suggests an eternal life. It advocates that the heroes have their happy ending due to the bonds they created with other, whether it’s a princess or a prince. The happy ending can only be accomplished by means of overcoming a child’s separation anxieties. The endings in these fairy tales also helps the children with the fear of death. Death is a very puzzling and troubling subjects for children. However, fairy tales alleviates this subject to children, by showing that the heroes in the stories, did not mind death, they will risk their lives for the sake of their love ones. In Pan’s Labyrinth, Ophelia has risk her life for the sake of her brother. The connection she formed with her brother is so strong, that it superseded the human instinct of the love for one’s life. As the faun says, “You would give up your sacred rights for a brat you barely know?” (Pan’s). This sums up the argument of Bettelheim, that the path to a happy ending is the bridges one has built with other people. Ophelia has overcome he ultimate existential predicament;