Fairy Tales 2010

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Cinderella + Incest= Donkeyskin

I'm going to stray away from last week's argument and say that Cinderella stories could benefit from being taught alongside Donkeyskin tales because of Bettelheim's belief in the didacticism of fairytales. Granted, most literary Cinderellas contain some elements that could frighten children and off-put parents (e.g. the stepsisters cutting off parts of their feet or their eyes getting gouged out), Donkeyskin has a truer, more real application. Like it or not, incest does occur; it isn't just a problem that people many years ago had to face.
Both tales lift up the beautiful, virtuous girl, but both have very different circumstances. Both are without mothers. Both have fathers who don't necessarily fulfill their familial duties. Both would benefit from being taught together because they bring together different aspects of the young virgin's reasons for rising above their state and leaving their families, whether that is an abusive homelife with no reprieve or a father that loves her just a little too much. Each has its own place in today's fairytale canon. Sadly, there will always be children who aren't appreciate, just as there will always be occurrences of incestuous behavior. If told side by side, perhaps a child (or parent) would see the problems in each and try their best not to repeat these behaviors or not allow themselves to be victims of these behaviors.

4 comments:

  1. I agree with your idea that both stories are very similar and should be taught together. I don't know how well Donkeyskin stories would be accepted today as children's stories, but it would definitely be interesting to see what, at least adult audiences think about the comparison between the two...or even just Donkeyskin stories in general since most people are probably not familiar with them.

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  2. As far as what both types of tales teach children, I think there is a fundamental difference in the stories. In Donkeyskin stories, the princess generally helps herself by escaping and tricking the prince into marrying her by putting gold in his soup or some other method. In Cinderella stories, Cinderella doesn't actually DO anything that directly affects her life. Her dead mother, or fairy godmother, or some other supernatural force does everything to get her to the ball and the prince does the rest. Cinderella is a passive character whereas Donkeyskin is proactive. For children, even thought Donkeyskin contains more questionable content with the incest issue, it teaches a better lesson than the more tame Cinderella stories.

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  3. It doesn't seem to me that incest must necessarily occur in the Donkeyskin tales. Many are told in much more round- about manners. The story may be set up so that the young, beautiful daughter is running from her father in order to escape his attempt to marry her; however, the focus of the story then becomes her independent journey, and her encounter with another, be it a lover (such as Perrault's Donkeyskin encounters) or another maternal figure, almost a subsitute mother (as in Lin Lan).
    I agree that both types of stories "lift up" the girl, who prospers in the end. Still, in some tales the father also proves morally sound in the end, realizing that her daughter's love must belong to another (Perrault).

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  4. I just read a sweet book Princesses with my daughter last night. Virginie Hanna. My daughter is now 10 but we have had the book since she was 3 as it was given to her older sister. So we were reading a long and when we go to donkey skin she said...Oh this is my favorite. Remembering the story I was a little surprised because it always shocked me and I wondered that it was included but I opened my mind and thought well yes she always was daddy's girl and possibly loved the idea that he dad wanted to marry her, well when we finished it I could feel her thought staring at the page and she said, I forgot about that part I just loved how she wore the skin and was hidden. Yup she's my magician. So this AM I wanted to see if this story was changed because every story in the book was but this one evidently is true to form... I see this is from 10 years ago, but still I will comment. I liked this side by side thought. Yes the weaknesses are what I always focused on in fairy tales. I think they are the point the of the story. Thank you for sharing these thoughts. I 'got' Katie and Caroline's comments but I was disturbed by Alex's. There is nothing roundabout about your daddy lusting for your beauty. Daddy is made to protect that beauty, yes even to a seemingly jealous fault but never to let his princess feel he wants that intimacy with her, and it is clear that marriage is that intimacy. I think I might have heard the story as a child and replacing the wife wasn't a part of it but only a selfish desire to not let any other man have her, if that is what you mean by roundabout, but you go on to say, that may have been the beginning of the story but it becomes irrelevant. I cannot understand that at all. I am happy to hear that in some tales the father 'comes around' but it is precisely the threat of incest, a betrayal so deep, that set her to become independent. Personally my beliefs are always measured to a Utopian universe. No one should ever feel the need to become so fiercely independent. Admirable when it was necessitated and wisdom usually ensues, but we are made to connect and be connected. We are all the same flesh cut from different cloth perhaps so incest does happen and so I didn't mind it being included in the book after all. Very smart, because those intimate times when we are reading to our children are when the secrets surface and if ever there were inappropriate affections brewing this would be the times to notice them.

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