Week 7 MAKE UP (April 2 & 4)

Fairytales are typically geared toward children as much more than a means of entertainment- they often are used to deliver life lessons to children but have also been utilized as a model for children to look up to. In two stores, Hansel & Gretel and Little Red Riding Hood.

In Hansel & Gretel, two children are abandoned in the woods by their step-mother and poor father and must find a way to navigate to safety on their own. The psychoanalytic perspective of this story is grounded in Freud's psychosexual stages. Within the story, it becomes clear that these children must have not completed the oral stage- the first of Freud's psychosexual stages. This was exemplified by their oral fixation throughout the story. Due to lack of consistent feeding, these children became stuck on this phase and then during their journey through the woods, they act on these strong impulses that are driven by this oral fixation, like their inability to control themselves from devouring the witch's house.

In Little Red Riding Hood, a young girl is sent on her way to deliver goods to her grandmother's house and is manipulated to by the neighborhood wolf. The psychoanalytic perspective of this story is grounded in Erikson's Stages of Development. Within the story it becomes clear that the young girl is within her industry v. inferiority stage- the fourth of eight stages. This is demonstrated by her adventure alone where she begins to show that she can function independently and away from her parents. 

Week 9 (April 8 - 12)

I read Rachel Reitz blog for this class and was truly impressed by her work. In her most recent post, regarding Freud's Concepts in Fairy Tales, Racheal discussed how the id, ego and superego were demonstrated within two fairy tales, Little Thumbling and Hansel and Gretel. I found this to be really interesting because this concept was particularly challenging for me to understand but the way Rachel broke it down in her blog, made it easier for me to find similar themes in other stories as well and allowed me to advance my understanding on the concept. In her second most recent post, I really enjoyed how she connected her favorite Kenyan tale of "The Monkey & The Shark" with the concepts that he taught to the class. This blog not only showed her understanding of the material, but allowed readers the opportunity to see who she is as a person. Speaking of, in one of her earlier blogs, she mentioned that she was really interested in The Little Mermaid, so I have attached a picture to go along with her openness of character. Lastly, her reflection on Cinderella & Pretty Woman are different from the perspective that I had on the connection between the two stories, however it was refreshing to hear such an optimistic viewpoint on the scenario. Throughout Rachel's blog, I admired her detail, her genuine emotional connections to the material and her imagery, all of which makes reading her blog very entertaining. I would highly recommend also checking out Rachel's blog, by following the link here.