Fairy Tales

Fairy Tales

Matt Lee
English 4
Ms. Musgrove
Essay #2
Topic #1
At a young age, many children have fears that are unimaginable and indescribable to even speak of. However these children have discovered a way to conquer these fears and fairytales may be the method to help children face their fears. What exactly is a fairytale? According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, a fairytale is “a story (as for children) involving fantastic forces and beings (fairies, wizards, and goblins), which has improbable events that lead to happy endings”. Defending the argument that fairytales are beneficial, C.K. Chesterton’s “Fairy Tales are Good For Children” explains that fairy tales are a cure for children’s fear of reality. Instead of fearing, children can learn to face the fear by listening to fairy tales. Similarly, Bruno Bettelheim’s “The Uses of Enchantment” also claims fairytales are beneficial to the child and states the most critical point of his argument which is that fairytales enable the child to make a transition to the independent stage much faster.
“So where does a child’s fear come from?” G.K. Chesterton’s “Fairy Tales are Good for Children” explains that the fear within the child comes from the child’s soul and not from reading fairytales as some critics argue (187). He explains that “fairytales are the cure; they enable the child to understand fear more easily and prepare for the real world” (187). In explaining the child’s imaginations and fears he states, “One small child can imagine monsters too big and black to get into any picture, and give them names too unearthly and cacophonous to have occurred in the cries of any lunatic” (187). Therefore, Chesterton is saying that a child is more creative because of the age and imagination of the brain that the child has. This explains why a child cannot comprehend and control his or her fears. Remembering from my past experience as a little child, I used to pretend that there was a...