Below are the essay questions from the various study guides for midterm and final exams.  These questions may be used as study aids. .

Midterm 1

• Paul Vehvilainen’s simplification of Propp’s fairy tale functions says that all fairy tales will have the following five elements, always in the same order: a LACK (1) of something, which causes the hero(ine) to go on a QUEST (2), on which he (she) encounters a MAGIC HELPER (3) who helps him (her) to pass one or a series of TESTS (4), after which he (she) receives a REWARD (5).  Apply this scheme to one of the following tales: “The Wolf and the Three Girls,” “Katie Woodencloak,” or “Mollie Whuppie.” Then discuss: does this example confirm the Propp/Vehvilainen argument that all tales have the same structure?  If not, why not?  Explain any apparent departures from the scheme.

• Seemingly innocent fairy tales my contain residual (and sometimes symbolic) elements of intense sexuality, as we observed in “Little Red Riding Hood.”  Use the tale’s history to explain why such sexual elements may remain and discuss whether they are reason to keep children from such tales.

• Explain why the use of motifs and tale types can be useful in the study of the fairy tale, giving at least two reasons for such studies.  Use as a study example either the “Cinderella” or the “Red Riding Hood” story clusters.

• Here are five common fairy-tale motifs:
• a longed-for child with skin as white as snow and cheeks as red as blood
• a giant or an ogre with a taste for human flesh
• “meat like salt”
• a quest to obtain a magic object
• taboo violation: staying too long at the ball
Using these five motifs, create a brief, original fairy tale as an oral teller might have done.  You do not need to confine yourself to these elements, but each of the five listed above must be included in your tale.

• Identify and explain the four elements that J.R.R. Tolkien claims must be present in a true fairy tale, then discuss how these elements apply to two of the following tales: “Shemiaka the Judge,” “The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Talking Bird,” “Ashputtle,” or “Cap O’Rushes.”

• Many of the tales we have read have disturbing levels of violence or sexuality in comparison to the “safe” versions with which we are more familiar.  Identify the disturbing elements in three of the following tales, then explain why the sex and violence is there.  Finally, argue a position (for or against) on whether children should be kept from reading the more graphic versions of these tales.
• “The Juniper Tree”
• “Sole, Luna, e Talia” (“Sun, Moon, and Talia”)
• “Bluebeard”
• “Petrosinella”
• “Little Red Riding Hood” (Perrault version)

• We have read similar stories from the fairy-tale collections of Giambattista Basile, Charles Perrault, and Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm.  Explain the typical differences between these three collections, using as your study sample one of the following clusters of tales.  Include in your discussion how the audience (i.e., readership) of the collections and the time and place where they were written affect the telling?
• “Sole, Luna, e Talia,” “The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods,” “Brier Rose”
• “Petrosinella,” “Rapunzel,” “Cinderella”

• Almost from the beginning, adult observers have expressed concerns about the moral values taught by fairy tales; e.g., the English illustrator George Cruikshank condemned “Puss in Boots” for teaching that success may be achieved by deceit.  Consider the moral values expressed in three of the following stories.  What values are expressed?  In your opinion, should these moral issues affect whether children read the stories?  Why or why not?
• “The Brave Little Tailor”
• “Puss in Boots”
• “Rumplestiltskin”
• “The Frog King”
• “Sole, Luna, e Talia”

• Explain how sociocultural issues are expressed in three of the following stories.  What do the tales tell us about class conflict or gender roles in the society from which the stories come?  (I.e., how does that society treat its working poor or its women?)  On balance, do the stories support prevailing social values, call them into question, or remain neutral?
• “Beauty and the Beast”
• “The Brave Little Tailor”
• “Hansel and Gretel”
• “Brier Rose”
• “Rumplestiltskin”
• “Bluebeard”

• Psychoanalytic interpretations of fairy tales generally focus on the process of sexual maturation and separation from the parents.  Explain how a psychoanalytic student of fairy tales would interpret three of the following tales.
• “Petrosinella” (or “Rapunzel”)
• “Beauty and the Beast”
• “The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood” (or “Brier Rose”)
• “Hansel and Gretel”
• “The Frog King”
• “One-Eye, Two-Eyes, and Three-Eyes”

Final Exam
 
 
 

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