edu). As a result, Religion was viewed skeptically by many people, particularly educated ones at the time.
The youngest son is skeptical. He sees the problems of the society, but holds himself above them. His unwillingness to engage in life around him causes him to be easy prey for the evil one who does not even have to deceive him; he is fooled by the wind as he waits for it to change. He waits too long and is lost like his brothers.
Only the wise man's daughter is left with him and he has given up hope of understanding life after death. Now, he has only a blind daughter to comfort him. She is the embodiment of the traditional female as the reader sees her connected to a spinning wheel and described as clinging to her father and hoping for "his happiness and peace" (Andersen). She is the ultimate mother figure as she is prepared to sacrifice herself for her brother's return and her father's contentment. Her engagement into the "Cult of Domesticity" that was rising during the 19th century is obvious. The "Cult of Domesticity" saw women as primarily mother figures who were the "guardian(s) of the moral purity of all who lived" in the home (Hartman). Their function was to make the home "a haven of comfort and quiet" (Hartman). The daughter reflects exactly what a woman was supposed to be during Andersen's time. Yet, despite her feminine representation, she is not feeble and wishes to please her father and save her brothers by embarking on the quest as well.
Her ability to be effective should be compromised by her blindness. However, it is her blindness that makes her more successful than her brothers. Blindness of a character is a standard motif in many works of literature. The daughter possesses two of the standard motifs for blindness used in literature. First, she has the gift of "blindness as compensatory or miraculous power" (Jernigan). This is the idea that blindness gives the person special powers in other areas. In the tale, the daughter is said to possess "a gift which all the others lacked. This was a determination to throw herself entirely into whatever she undertook" (Andersen). Her brothers had all been led astray by something; she does not suffer this fate due to her gift.
Her determination and connection to domesticity lead her to plan a way home which her brothers deemed unnecessary. She pulls a very thin thread with her as she embarks into the wide world. She witnesses many of the same things as her brothers did in the outer world; she hears the voices of the good mingled with the voices of the evil. However, she possesses something that they do not. She has a permanent link to her home and the goodness that it represents which she physically carries with the thread and carries internally due to her virtue.
Virtue is another one of the key ways that blindness is used in literature (Jernigan).
Her determination is obviously strong for her to embark on the trip. However, it is her perfect virtue that prevents the evil one's attempt to copy her and confuse her. The evil one fails as she has "full faith." Typical of domestic women, she is supposed to be the balance in life and "steady the uncertainty" of 19th century life (Hartman). She has confidence and faith in the fact that her four leaves will reach her brothers and bring them home which...
Hans Christian Andersen How Andersen's Writings Mirrored his Life One of the most beloved writers of fairly-tales is Hans Christian Andersen. He was a Danish author who searched his past and that of his native Denmark for ideas that could become children's stories. The fact is though that Andersen was writing for a large audience. Though his stories may have been told in the fairy-tale genre, he was relating morals that applied
Legacy of Hans Christian Andersen If you want children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read more fairy tales. Albert Einstein Biographical Background- Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author who is best known for his children's stories, many of which have become archetypes of popular culture and, in the 20th century, made into iconoclastic films, musicals, and ballets. While he was concerned
Jack Zipes, Hans Christian Anderson's telling and retelling of folk tales reflects the author's views of what was 'proper' behavior for both children and adults. Anderson advances a specifically bourgeois notion of morality -- both the upper classes and the lower classes are chastised when they show self-centered or imprudent behavior. For example, in the famous story "The Emperor's New Clothes," a foolish emperor is taken advantage of because
Red Shoes The story begins innocently enough with a young girl in a Scandinavian town who is poor, but she is also "pretty and dainty" (Andersen, 1845). The young girl attracts the attention of the village cobbler's wife who realizes that the girl does not have any pretty shoes to wear. The wife makes the girl some red shoes which she wears for the first time at her mother's funeral. A
Tales Are Not Just Children's Play -- The Importance Of Folklore In College Education Although fairy tales are often considered to simply exist as palatable and easy to understand tales for children, this has more to do with the modern legacy of Disney cartoons than the actual genealogy of this literary tradition of oral narrative. In fact these stories did not originate as tales to ensure that young people behaved
Non-Pronominal Coding of Active Referents The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of English sentence structures with regard to non-pronominal coding of active referents. In order to do this, it is important to have a baseline definition of non-pronominal (NP) coding and active referents. We look to recent literature and case study of not only English but other languages examined to understand sentence structure. Upon reviewing the literature,
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now