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Author
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Comment
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jess
Unregistered User
(11/2/03 2:41 pm)
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Single parent families
When we were discussing fairy tale parents earlier, it struck me that single parent households are generally treated favorably in fairy tales, especially when compared with second marriage situations, take, for example, "Snow White and Rose Red". This is an interesting socialogical phenomenon and I was wondering if anyone has looked at this specific issue. Also, it seems that a collection of such tales might be useful for single parents to read to their children. Does anyone know of any such collections?
Jess
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Rosemary
Lake
Registered User
(11/2/03 10:41 pm)
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Re: Single parent families
Hm, the happy ending in Hansel and Gretal is that the stepmother dies and the father becomes single parent. There's a Russian story that I think ends that way too. Certianly it has a stepmother who gets her comeuppance and I think she dies. It's about a girl who goes to live in a hut in the woods and plays blindfold buff with a bear. It's title "Daughter and Stepdaughter" in the Pantheon Afanasev collection. I wish I had a copy in Russian!!!
There's a single parent family in Calvino's ITALIAN FOLKTALES: widow and several daughters. I think the title is "The Chicory Gatherers". They're happy, the daughter is brave and rescues a lot of captives.
I've used a lot of single mother tales, and a few other non-couple constellations, in my stories.
R.L.
www.rosemarylake.com
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Helen
Registered User
(11/3/03 11:26 am)
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Offer ...
"Snow White and Rose Red" is certainly an interesting case - it's one of the relatively few tales that I can think of where the immediate family is a source of support, and nothing *but* support. Interestingly enough, the Grimms based it on an original fairy tale by Caroline Stahl, titled "The Ungrateful Dwarf," in which version the sisters were two of many children belonging to a very poor couple. In _The Great Fairy Tale Tradition_, Jack Zipes notes that they "made many changes by creating more of a harmonious home life for Snow White and Rose Red ... [in] ... a good example of how ... [they] ... sought to 'domesticate' and adapt the fairy tale for children." (772) I find it fascinating that a household devoid of males fits into the Grimms generally conservative view of what makes for a happy home, though considering the majority of their tales, it makes senses that a household without sexuality would make for a safe(r) environment: no chance of more siblings within the bounds of wedlock to threaten the existing sisters situation, no sexual tension resulting from a single male (as in several versions of "The Maiden with No Hands") and no sexual rivalry stemming from a step-parent of either gender. I would love to know how conscious of a decision this was ... anyone know of a compendium of their letters or notes to one another?
P.S. - On a side note, Rosemary, I have the Afanasyev in Russian, and I'd be happy to scan or photocopy the story for you.
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Niniane
Sunyata
Registered User
(11/4/03 3:05 pm)
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Re: Single parent families
Hey, I never thought about that, but yes, a whole lot of single parents out there. Beauty's Dad. Gepetto! And a whole lot more. If there isn't a collection, there *should* be one.
*Hint, Hint* to any eds out there.
Anita Harris.
Terra Mythogene
www.mythopoetica.com
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Rosemary
Lake
Registered User
(11/4/03 10:18 pm)
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Beauty and the Beast?
Helen, thank you so much for the offer to copy the Afanasev! I've emailed you my snail mail address.
Back to single parents ... wasn't the doting father in "Beauty and the Beast" a widower? I think maybe the indulgent father in at least one Calvino Cinderella variant was too ("Grattula Bedatulla"?). And in the Italian Red Riding Hood where the girl tricks the monster and escapes, wasn't her mother a widow?
Rosemary
r@rosemarylake.com
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Jess
Unregistered User
(11/5/03 12:03 am)
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I think there were quite a few
Thanks all. Yes, I think there are more than one devoted single parent stories out there. I do find Helen's note on SW and RR interesting, especially in light of stories, like Donkeyskin and the Handless Maiden, where there IS sexual tension between or within generations. I wonder if there is more on the Grimms' decision to change SW and RR. I might have to do a little digging there. And interestingly, the only strong male figure is in animal form.
I know there are lots of not so favorable single parent stories, but I really want to focus on those that shed a favorable light to this type of family. Jack in the Beanstalk is a mix - the mother thinks of Jack as a good for nothing, but trusts him to make a good bargain - or at least in the version I have. There must be more male protaganist stories with strong father-son, mother-son relationships. Somehow I am drawing a blank though.
Any more?
Jess
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Carrie
Unregistered User
(11/5/03 9:04 am)
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Angela Carter
Hi Jess. One of my favorite stories features a single mother as the heroine -- Angela Carter's "The Bloody Chamber". I always wondered how such a timid daughter could have been born to such a strong mother figure, but I absolutely loved the last few pages, when the mother pushed her horse to beat the ocean -- breaking down the doors and taking that single shot.
Carrie
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