ENG 2110 Study Guide - Sewing Needle
Document Summary
It is not primarily concerned with the activities of the characters involved. Heroes may be lazy, but events unfold in a way that the hero is rewarded. Displays a positive universe although negative things can and will happen but ultimately things will work out. Often have a comedic structure, they end happily. Can end in marriage which can symbolically suggest the rebirth of society. The structures are ancient and carry a number of elemental assumptions about society that are in some ways problematic to us heterosexual couples which produce children and the continuations of society itself. If order isn"t re-established at the end, the society ends. The original audience for these stories would have been adults and children whereas now it is mainly children; fairy tales determine the structure of children"s literature. They are sexist but this doesn"t mean they don"t have value; we just need to be critical of them.
