What the
HELL is wrong with the giant's wife?
I'm a huge fan of fairy tales. When I was a kid, I used to scour the public libraries for books on fairy tales. I read all of the Grimm brothers' collections and every single fairy tale collection by Andrew Lang. I adored stories about magic and princes and princesses and good triumphing over evil. Maybe that's why I'm such a romantic at heart...
So of course, as a parent, I'm reading these fairy tales and children's stories to my kids.
The other day, I read "Jack and the Beanstalk" to my daughter... and as an adult I have a whole different perspective on that old fairy tale.
"Jack and the Beanstalk" is so
WRONG on so many different levels I don't even know where to begin!
Do you remember how it goes?
Poor Jack gets sent to the market to sell his cow, and instead trades the cow for magic beans. His mom gets so mad, she throws the beans out the window. In the morning, there's a giant beanstalk. So Jack climbs the beanstalk up into the clouds where he finds a giant's castle. The giant's wife lets him in. The giant comes home. Then the giant falls asleep while counting his money. Jack
steals the money. He and his mom spend all of the money until they're poor again. Whereupon he climbs the beanstalk again. The giant's wife lets him in
again. This time he
steals the hen that lays golden eggs. As if that's not enough, Jack gets greedy and makes another trip back to the giant's castle. The giant's wife let's him in
again. And Jack
steals the giant's magic harp. The giant wakes up in the middle of Jack's thievery and chases him. So Jack chops down the beanstalk,
killing the giant in the process. Then he and his mom live happily ever after in riches because they now have the hen that lays golden eggs and the magic harp.
What's wrong with this story?1. Jack the so-called "hero" of this story is a thief and a murderer.
2. Jack and his mom are poor and don't know how to manage their money. Now, I have nothing against being poor. But I do have something against mis-managing your money. After the first time Jack steals the giant's money, he and his mom live off the money until it runs out. Please note, that they just
spent it all. They didn't re-invest it or anything! They didn't send Jack to school to learn a trade. They didn't buy more cows to run their own dairy farm. They didn't save it to earn interest or anything. They just squandered it!
3. Then instead of going to
work to earn more money, Jack decides to go
steal from the giant again.
4. After stealing the hen that lays golden eggs, Jack is set for life. But oh no, that's not enough. Jack's a greedy SOB. Thus, he goes
back intending to steal from the giant a third time.
5. In trying to get away with his crime, Jack deliberately kills the giant. Now granted, the giant would have probably killed Jack, so one could argue that Jack killed in self-defense. But IMO, the giant was perfectly justified in going after Jack. After all, Jack's been stealing from him! Wouldn't
you go after a thief that's been stealing from you - not once, not twice, but
three times?
6. What kind of lesson does this teach kids? It teaches that it's okay to trespass. It's okay to steal. It's okay to have no work-ethic. It's okay to be stupid about your money and waste it all. And it's okay to murder... because "Hey! It's just an evil giant!" The giant is obviously not human, so it's okay to kill it.
I understand that most fairy tales are cautionary tales. I understand that most are really social commentary in disguise. The giant represents the rich guy in the castle in the sky - while Jack is a commoner and the underdog. So if you're rich you're automatically evil? And if you commit crimes against the evil rich man, that makes you a hero?
Pfft! That's the biggest load of crap I've ever heard in my entire life! And...
What the hell is wrong with the giant's wife? She lets Jack in three times! Why? I can understand the first time. She had no way of knowing he was going to steal from her husband. But the second and third times? The giant's wife is obviously not loyal to the giant. What does that say about the wife of a rich man? Is the wife of a rich man automatically immoral?
*sigh*
I'm still reading fairy tales to my kids... because to a kid, it's just a story. At this age, my kids are definitely
not reading between the lines. But I cringe every time I read "Jack and the Beanstalk." (I want to teach my kids to work hard and that it's
not okay to steal, no matter who it is. And this story directly contradicts all of that.)
Finally... *glares at Danh* I'm irked with my husband. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is hands down my absolute favorite fairy tale. When I complained about the wrongness of "Jack and the Beanstalk," he said:
"That's nothing! What about Prince Charming? He gets off kissing dead girls!"
Ew! I'll never be able to look at "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" in the same light again!
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
shawnyw ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small}
30_kisses !
