Grace

'Peace be with you,'
We said.
And the rain poured;
Nature can harm.
I look down
And see the umbrella,
Just there on the pew.

'Be safe,'
Father said.

There and Back Again: A New Look at Fairy Tales

Literature teaches a person to look at things from different perspectives. Through literature, one realizes that his personal point of view is not alone in the world. Rather, there are many schools of thought out there, which consist of different concepts ands standards. Also, there are billions of people who live, and along with them their unique ways of interpretation.

In fact, there are multiple perspectives within just a single person. An individual looks at things differently at each stage of his life. What may be simple to him as a child may be complicated when he is a teenager, and again easy in adulthood. Such is the case for me and fairy tales. I am no forty-year-old yet, but I have realized that my views of those stories have changed. The way I looked at them back then is not the way I look at them now.

When I was young, what stood out in “Little Red Riding Hood” was its villain—the ‘bad’ wolf. It blazed a trail of bad deeds, and was thankfully stopped by the woodcutter, the story’s hero. “Jack and the Beanstalk” was ‘cool’ for me, because it featured a daring boy who defies a giant and makes himself rich. And I found “The Three Little Pigs” funny; not only did it have fat, squealing characters, but it also had humorous lines and a witty ending.

But now, my reading has progressed.

“Little Red Riding Hood”? It’s sexual now. To me, it can already be the tale of an up-and-coming woman. It’s not about the wolf anymore; it is the girl that becomes the focus of the story. With help from other people and a ‘politically correct’ version, I have come to see a story of transition: a girl enters mature age, and ventures into the world. Her entry into the forest symbolizes this passage, whereas the wolf represents an issue she has to face—males that try to exploit her. Her reaction—generally, one that makes her vulnerable—shows weakness in young ladies that perhaps cannot be avoided, or blamed. I don’t think much about the woodcutter now; I put him, the male hero, aside and regard “Little Red Riding Hood” as a tale that suggests strength and smartness to budding women.

“Jack and the Beanstalk”? It lost some of its coolness. Jack and his mother may have been poor, but I don’t approve now of Jack’s theft of money. It doesn’t look right. It seems that there is no other excuse for him other than retaliation; the giant had wanted to eat him, and so Jack took some wealth to get back at the giant. Still, his theft is not justified, because all he did was, pay back a wrong with another wrong. I admired Jack’s audacity when I was young, but now, I subject his actions to ethical evaluation.

“The Three Little Pigs”? It has developed spirituality. I have associated Catholic teachings to the materials that the pigs use to defend against the wolf. The first two pigs used weak materials (straw and wood) to build their houses, and the wolf blew their protection away. The third pig used more sturdy matter (brick), and the wolf could not bring his house down. The pigs’ materials remind me of a discussion by Jesus regarding salvation. In Matthew 7:24-27, Jesus warns that those who do not put his words into practice will perish, like a house built on sand that is rampaged by a storm. He also proclaims that those who are Christians in deed will endure, like a house ‘built on the rock’ that survives disastrous weather. I remember these words of the Lord when I go back to that ‘funny tale’; so “The Three Little Pigs” has now transcended childish humor and taken on spiritual matters in my mind.

A funny thought: the current me going back in time and talking to a five-year-old me, telling that young fellow about budding sexuality, moral evaluation, and rock-solid salvation. My young self would succumb to too much information at that instant. And there would be no surprises there, for the interpretation of a five-year-old is nothing more than a five-year-old’s, whereas my interpretation now is that of a mature teenager. That is the way literature works: a person enriches his perspective as he grows. As a youngster, his point of view is narrow, but as he rolls along, he acquires concepts and values from other people, expanding his viewing glass. All of us—children, teenagers, and adults—must continue the progress of our perspective, so that our supply of meaning in life is sustained. Therefore, there is nothing wrong with learning anew from that dusty, crumbling book of fairy tales.