Bettelheim

The Struggle for Meaning essay convinced me more that fairy tales do go beyond children's entertainment.  Particularly the point that fairy tales teach about the inner problems of human beings, and about solutions to predicaments in society.  In other words, fairy tales do more than provide a moral education: they give children a chance to "understand himself in the complex world with which he must learn to cope."  Fairy tales are clearly more than entertainment if they have the ability to carry messages to the unconscious, preconscious, and conscious minds simultaneously.  The fact that fairy tales can address all sorts of deep and complex problems, such as "narcicisstic disappointments," "oedipal conflicts," :sibling rivalries," and so on, speaks in and of itself.  By providing grounds for resolution, fairy tales enable children to acquire satisfaction with themselves, Bettelheim states.  With such statements, Bettelheim makes it clear that fairy tales are more than entertainment, because they do more than simply arouse curiosity, which entertainment does: they allow the child to find meaning in life, which Bettelheim says is the most important and difficult task to successfully accomplish in the period of childhood.