Anjali Bali Bali 1
Professor Hoehne
FIQWS Composition
5 November 2018
The Prevalence of Child Neglect in Fairy Tales
Throughout centuries of telling and retelling renown fairy tales, there has been a common theme which is arguably present in a multitude of these stories. The theme, which is greatly incorporated in these tales, is the abandonment and neglection of children by their parents or a step-parent. This seemingly innocent and recurring trope can be found in children’s favorite classic fairy tales such as ‘Hansel and Gretel’, ‘Cinderella’, and ‘Wild Swans’. The prominence of this trope can beg questions pertaining to why a plethora of writers of the 17th and 18th centuries seemed to incorporate child neglect so frequently.
The topic of child neglect includes a wide variety of examples that present themselves in many fairy tales created centuries ago. The work of ‘Cinderella’ by Charles Perrault in 1697 introduce a common detail of a cruel step mother and a passive father (Kauffman). The protagonist, Cinderella, is subjected to harsh treatment of her step mother which becomes normalized in the household as her step sisters treat her poorly as well. They force her to handle manual labor and clean constantly, forbidding her to attend festive functions such as the royal ball (Perrault). This neglect is only encouraged because her biological father does nothing or is unable to aid his daughter in the many renditions of the ‘Cinderella’ story. The circumstances in which Cinderella lives cause the reader to feel pity for her character. The reason behind Cinderella’s step-mother’s hatred towards her is never explained or given context. In addition to this classic with an evil step-mother, there is the ‘Hansel and Gretel’ story which was published in 1812 by the Grimm brothers. This tale introduces siblings who are abandoned by their parents in the woods. Once again, the evil step-mother character is responsible for convincing her husband that it is justified to commit child neglect. In the story, the step-mother convinced the father that they are too poor to tend to the children and that abandoning them in the wood would be the best option (Grimm 1). As the story continues, not only are the children neglected by their parental figures, but also by a grandmother figure who ends up being a witch with sinister, cannibalistic intentions towards them. Whether the parental figures are displaying an unabashed dislike for their children or simply emotionally neglecting them, the themes of child neglect are apparent. Furthermore, Hans Christian Anderson’s ‘The Wild Swans’ perhaps has the most deliberate forms of child abuse and neglect than the stories previously mentioned. Similar to ‘Cinderella’ and ‘Hansel and Gretel’, the father of the protagonist marries an evil woman who goes to great lengths to convey her dislike for his children. In this case, Eliza’s step mother uses witchcraft to turn her brothers into swans in order to remove their presence from her life. Then, the step mother made Eliza unrecognizable using walnut stain so that her father would banish her from the kingdom (Anderson 1). Both instances significantly display child neglect because the children are very obviously unloved. Their own biological father allowed such horrid actions to take place and he then banished his daughter without a doubt because she looked different. The frequent child neglect trope in fairy tales elucidates the impression that there were certain standards or ideals regarding the family structure in the 17th and 18th centuries in Europe that could have contributed to this theme.
The concept of childhood being a phase preluding adulthood was only developed and normalized during the 19th century (Kroll, Bachrach, 1). Prior to this concept being accepted in society, primitive occurrences such as abandonment, abuse and infanticide were commonalities during that time. This harsh and anti-paternal nature of society could potentially have been
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inspired by Greek and Roman influences in their works which glorified infanticide, violence and sacrifice. Additionally, since these fairy tales were written prior to global enlightenment. This suggests that demographics like women, people with illness and children were considered to be weaker and thus, they were burdens (Kroll, Bachrach, 1). This led to an “unconscious hostility” and lack of sympathy towards the children which ultimately resulted in children being pushed into adulthood or hard labor faster than they would in today’s world. Additionally, adults felt it was necessary to expose children to the harshness of the world rather than shelter them. This is reflected on the Grimm brother’s motive to “de-emphasize sexuality and increase their violence, adapting the stories to their ideas of what was best suited to the education of children”. This violence consists of unhealthy emotional or physical abuse or neglect. The fairy tales mentioned represent an era in which child neglect was normalized and even glorified in order to convey the story’s moral to the audience. In ‘Hansel and Gretel’, the children’s parents neglected them through abandonment and lack of sympathy. There was then mention of cannibalism and infanticide in the story. In ‘Cinderella’, Cinderella was abused through forced labor by her family after the trauma of her mother’s death. Lastly, in ‘Wild Swans’, the children were all physically abused and transformed. Childhood during this time was deliberately ignored and seen as a burden which resulted in fairy tales reflecting the societal belief that children were undeserving of nurturing and care. These beliefs were extremely inhumane and resulted in the endangerment and harm of children in the fairy tales.
In conclusion, the prevalence of child abuse and neglect can be found in a plethora of stories. These stories were originally written in a period of time in Europe where children and the concept of childhood was perceived very differently than it is today. In society during the 17th and 18th century, exposure to cruelty or neglect was normalized for children and was believed to be for their betterment, or it was simply out of apathy for the child. Fairy tales with these themes probably appeal to parents and children now because the morals are conveyed through a scare tactic. However, the audience must know that at one point, this scare tactic was a reality for many children of that time.
Works Cited
“Cinderella;or,TheLittleGlassSlipper.”FirewalkingMythvsPhysics,www.pitt.edu/~dash/perrault06.html.
“Cinderella.” Ohio River – New World Encyclopedia, New World Encyclopedia, http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Cinderella.
“Hansel and Gretel.” Firewalking Myth vs Physics, www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm015.html.
Jerome Kroll, M.D., Bernard Bachrach, PH.D. “Child Care and Child Abuse in Early Medieval Europe”
“The Wild Swans.” Hans Christian Andersen: The Nightingale, hca.gilead.org.il/wild_swa.html.
Anjali Bali: Portfolio 