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LEXINGTON, Va., July 24, 2019鈥擟lassic fairy tales such as 鈥淪now White and the Seven Dwarfs鈥� and 鈥淗ansel and Gretel鈥� have long been a childhood staple, even before entertainment behemoths such as Walt Disney turned them into ongoing sources of revenue through movies, toys, games, and more.

But are the stories just stories, or do they convey a deeper truth meant to help children deal with a sometimes overwhelming and scary world? That鈥檚 the question Maddy Moger 鈥�20 attempted to answer in her Summer Undergraduate Research Institute project, 鈥淭he Grimm Truth: What the Fairy Tale鈥檚 Wicked Stepmother Reveals about Childhood Psychology.鈥�

Moger, an English major who hopes to commission into the Coast Guard, found her topic while taking a class with Maj. Steven Knepper, assistant professor of English, rhetoric, and humanistic studies. In that class, she wrote an essay on 鈥淗ansel and Gretel,鈥� a Brothers Grimm fairy tale in which a witch living deep in the forest attempts to cook and eat the brother and sister pair of Hansel and Gretel鈥攂ut winds up roasting in her own oven due to the children鈥檚 cleverness. In the end, the children come home safely and the tale ends happily.

Moger wasn鈥檛 thinking about a summer research project as she began writing on the fairy tale, but the more she wrote, the more she realized she could write.

鈥淚t started out as a pretty simple essay, and I did some more research and got really excited about it,鈥� she stated. 鈥淚 could see a dream sequence within the narrative, and that got me thinking about psychology within fairy tales.鈥�

This summer, she focused on the archetype of the wicked stepmother, as that鈥檚 a common thread found in several oral legends written down in the early 19^th century by German brothers Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm. As she researched the history of these legends, Moger made a discovery that might be astonishing to many: all of the stepmother characters were originally biological mothers.

When the Grimms sent their volume to be printed, she explained, editors rebelled, saying that mothers were too culturally sacred to be portrayed in this way. The wicked stepmother was thus born to work around the editors鈥� objections.

鈥淭hat makes it interesting about the family dynamic,鈥� said Moger. 鈥淎ll of these abusive stepmothers鈥攖he Brothers Grimm originally wrote them down as biological mothers.鈥�

But why would mothers or stepmothers be portrayed in this way? To answer this question, Moger is delving the writings of psychoanalysts Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung.

鈥淢addy is looking at some of these classic psychoanalytic approaches to fairy tales, like Bruno Bettelheim [a disciple of Freud鈥檚] 鈥�. And she鈥檚 really interested in how the fairy tales themselves seem to invite some of this,鈥� said Knepper, who advised Moger on her summer work. 鈥淪he鈥檚 also recently moving into some of the recent psychological research on fairy tales and kids.鈥�

As of early July, Moger was hoping to sit down with a faculty member in the psychology department to learn more about child development. But she already had a theory as to why these tales have such continuous appeal to generation after generation of youngsters.

鈥淭hese fairy tales, their structure and the images in them, reflect the child鈥檚 unconscious mind,鈥� said Moger. 鈥淭he wicked stepmother can be seen as the splitting of a manifestation of a parent.鈥�

Moger is also well aware that some well-intentioned people say that fairy tales only serve to feed children鈥檚 fears.

鈥淪ome parents and some critics don鈥檛 like fairy tales because they can be really scary,鈥� Moger commented. 鈥淏ut a lot of the negative themes introduced in fairy tales, abandonment, fear of the dark鈥攃hildren already have these fears.鈥�

She continued, 鈥淕iving them these fairy tales 鈥� you鈥檙e not giving them the fear. You鈥檙e giving them the tool to combat the fear. It鈥檚 the sword to defeat the dragon kind of thing.鈥�

- Mary Price

-VMI-