"Put me in his ear," he says, and he guides the horse through the woods successfully. Because of this, evil men notice Tom and offer to buy him from the father. The father refuses, but Tom talks him into it, and tricks the men by escaping. In this scene we see Tom acting immorally, as he actively plans to cheat the men. Through this, Bettelheim would probably argue that the reader has the fact that children sometimes act badly validated, making the reader less of a monster: his parents may expect him to always act well, but he has an example to demonstrate that other children besides him sometimes make mistakes or even deliberately do something they shouldn't do, and remain loveable. The reader learns that a child does not have to be perfect to be loveable.
In another incident, Tom overhears thieves talking about how to rob a minister. Knowing this to be wrong, Tom offers to help them, and is then in a position both to thwart the robbers' plan and to get away safely himself. Thus the bad little boy has been redeemed, and has used his ability to plot and scheme to do the right thing as well as a wrong thing.
As Tom solves more and more threatening situations, one might also see some kind of resolution of an Oedipal conflict. Little boys are told that when they grow up they will marry, just like Mom and Dad will,...
As Tom proves his father wrong by first successfully driving the cart and then by cheating the men who bought him, he becomes a power to be reckoned with. He returns home much more a man in his parents eyes, and more an equal. He is an example, as Bettelheim says, of an ,," unnoticed little boy who goes out into the world and makes a great success of life." (p. 111)
At the end of the story, Tom Thumb has ended up in the stomach of a wolf, and his father has to deal with this threat carefully to avoid harming his child. So, by the end of the story, the family is back in balance again. The father has acted like a father, but the son has displayed courage and intelligence. He no longer has to fight for his position in the family; he has proven himself. Because the story is fanciful, children do not believe they can end up in the stomach of a wolf, but they see that they can play a role in their own development of self-actualization by demonstrating their abilities.
Bibliography
Bettelheim, Bruno. The Uses of Enchantment. New York: Alfred a Knopf, 1976.
The Brothers Grimm. "Tom Thumb." Translated by Edgar Taylor and Marian Edwardes. Accessed via the Internet 2/8/05. http://www.rickwalton.com/folktale/grimm24.htm
