A paper I wrote on the Grimms!

Nikki Hansen
Ger 3610

The Brothers Grimm: Preservation Through the Compilation of Fairy Tales

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm wrote and collected their fairytales prior to the unification of Germany. Although they may not have anticipated this effect ahead of time, their folktales acted as a device that preserved the tradition of the German states in the early to mid 1800’s prior to Germany’s unification. They also preserved the innocence and the simplistic nature of the Romantic writers at that time. Within these simple folktales, the Grimm brothers also exposed a hope for their culture: “they were striving to make their own generation, and future generations conscious of the national soul that, so they believed, had lived on subconsciously in the traditional stories of the folk (David 181).” However, while these tales are widely accepted and of key importance to us today, they were not always seen as such, and were misread as children’s stories, when in fact the Grimm brother’s wanted a wide audience and stories with a childlike nature; not stories written primarily for children.
As was stated in Yale French Studies, by Roberts and Powell, the stories written by the Grimm brothers “preserved the tradition of the German states [prior to their unification].” Unbeknownst to many readers of the Grimm fairytales, the Grimm brothers did not actually fabricate all of these stories themselves. Instead, Jacob and Wilhelm invited storytellers into their home, many of whom were aristocrats or middle-class, who told the tales they had heard from their servants. Alongside fairy tales, the Grimm brothers also collected the legends that they heard. Eventually they arranged these in a book named Deutsche Sagen and arranged them chronologically in order of the historical events and how the stories were related to each other, either culturally or through similarity in plot. These tales and legends came from a variety of the different states of Germany, and by bringing them together, the Grimm brothers preserved this tradition of storytelling, and the culture of what would eventually become a unified Germany.
Along with preserving the actual myths, tradition, the brothers also preserved the innocent, simplistic nature of the Romantic writers from about 1818- 1854. Romantic writers circa 1900 were often focused on the past. They emphasized women and children, purity and child-likeness, and “supernatural” or magical happenings, all of which the Grimm fairytales encompassed. More specifically, the Grimm fairytales embodied the popular German Romantic techniques, which included stories involving travel, nature and myths. The works of these writers often associated innocence and simplicity with childhood and family hearth. There was a childlike air and moral straightforwardness, which the Grimm’s admired in fairytales, and attributed to the earlier Germanic literature. Also, these works collected and written by the Grimm brothers preserved the Romantic use of colorfulness and the admiration of unity, whether familial, cultural, or through friendships and being re-united.
Opposite to what the Grimm brothers had hope, the childlike air and moral straightforwardness possessed in these fairytales caused audiences to push these stories towards the nursery. Wilhelm Grimm wrote about how these stories were not just for children, saying, “These stories are pervaded by the same purity that makes children appear so marvelous and blessed to us” essentially meaning that these stories aren’t necessarily for children, so much as they are like children, have “lived” among children and have been adored and passed along by families for generations. However, as the stories continued to be pushed towards children, Jacob and Wilhelm worked towards more specifically suiting their fairytales for children and families, but continued to strive to share their stories and ideals with like-minded people as themselves.
In more modern times, many of these once adored fairytales have been shunned or forgotten or revised, due to their graphic nature. Stories such as the original “Cinderella” included descriptions of birds pecking out the eyes of the wicked step-mother, and women cutting off their toes in order to fit their foot into the glass slipper. While the moral message shouts “bad things happen to bad people,” modern audiences are less worried about the didactics of fairytales, and more concerned with the poor example a story such as “Cinderella” (as originally written) may set for their children.
On the other hand, these stories are still widely accepted and are of incredible importance to us today. While they may be edited for the modern media, the compilation of these stories are still exceptionally significant to us today because they not only preserved a piece of German culture, but they introduced new elements into literature. The Grimm tales introduced a greater standardization of language, the removal of sexuality, the addition of Christian fundamentals, a tendency to change mothers into stepmothers, and in some tales, extreme violence. Unlike many other fairytales, the Grimms tales feature peasant heroes or heroines, and often show royalty and upper classes as deceitful as opposed to the lower classes, making the Grimm brothers much more class-conscious than other fairytale writers. The Grimms' fairy tales also cover a wider spectrum than other authors, including trickster tales and folk tales that include no magic at all, and also holy legends.
Over all, the Grimm fairytales resulted in more than children’s entertainment. Through a simple act of compiling and writing stories, the Grimm brother’s preserved a German tradition, preserved Romantic writing styles used both nationally and internationally at the time, and provided linguistics with a new law which is now used to better understand past and present language changes.

I will never go to Africa.

I feel like I'm already there.
5 people from Minneapolis (originally Somali refugees) were recruited by Al Qaida (right here in the cities) and went to Somalia. 4 blew up in Somalia, 1 decided to blow himself up in Afghanistan.

Also, the guy who lives below me is African. He is loud. He always has his TV blaring loud, and his friends shout. Sometimes the noise doesn't stop until 5 or 6 in the morning.
As soon as I "wake up" around 8:30, I usually try to make as much noise as I humanly can to show him how sucky it is to be woken up when you're trying to sleep.

Sometimes I lay on the floor and shout as loud as I can through his ceiling. Immature? Maybe a little.

-----

Also, I've stopped arguing with idiots. If you want to talk politics with me - they better not be about Obama.

Where's Waldo.

He is a nice enough guy.
He just likes to yell and tell you how good you are at failing...
He likes to tell you all the reasons why you may never amount to anything, or why people may never love you.
He'll tell you who you should be like, and list the reasons they are so great and you are so not.
Then he likes to tell you how no one ever remembers the good/nice things he does, and that he is always the bad guy.
He'll remind you of how you're killing him and then asking for money without blinking twice (even though I know I'm terrified of taking any more than is necessary for survival).
He'll tell you how you act like an idiot, how you are selfish, and how you hate your mother.
Then when all is said and done, he'll hug you and tell you he loves you and expects that it will bandaid the emotional beating and the self esteem depleting.
Wrong answer.

I am a loser.

So here I am, sitting alone on a Friday night. I have yet to make any real type of friends since moving to this God forsaken place.
Ok. Well, Minneapolis isn't all that bad - but it's hard to make friends outside of US military institutions. I have a hard time relating to regular americans.

:/ i feel like a fool.

Shake Shake Shake it

So... My family (a lot of them) are doing a Hansen's Biggest Loser competition.
I have been swimming recently, and I didn't know it would hurt... haha.....either way, it's really cool to have your whole family as a support group when you need them.

The places we go.

Some people like to call me a racist.
Truth is, I'm not. I'm just incredibly critical (of everyone).
I am not against black people, or mexicans, asians, russians or whatever. I am, however, against people who can't give to others what is given to them.

Example:
Illegal immigrants. They work, tax free. They send the money back to Mexico, China, Vietnam - etc. Then, they are somehow magically granted free tuition for school and magical rights to vote. Hmm. Not even a citizen. Yes. They piss me off.

Example:
Refugees: I understand that we saved them... I am not for saving people. If the USA was in a huge crisis, I can guarantee that no one would step in and save us - and if they tried we would hate it.
Somehow, we continue to save the world. We grant our refugees 10,000 dollar housing allowances. They don't have to work for a period of time. They don't pay taxes for 7 years - but my taxes and yours buy their house, their food. Somehow they are granted magical voting rights and scholarships.
I don't like that.

If there is "racism" or "racial profiling" in this country, it's against white people. There is no white history month. There are no "just because you are white" scholarships. I can't get ANY aid because I'm white and because my dad makes over $70,000 a year. That's fair. Not. But I know, my taxes will pay for all the illegals, refugees, native americans (i am actually okay with that) and african-americans to go to school... for free. Oh, don't forget the athletes with 2.0 GPA's.
So I will work full time and keep my 3.5 so that you all can go to school for free. Oh, and when I need something - all those people certainly won't be there for me. Good thing I enjoy being "one for... one."

I am very much against socialism. Socialism is basically Communism's little sister. I don't want more taxes. I don't want to pay for your health care. I don't want to pay for bike paths, etc. America is on a slippery slope. It's corrupt.

I suggest following Glenn Beck or Sean Hannity.

-------------------
The Second Hand

A little red sprinter
Passing others quickly
Or, like a business man that’s trying to get to his meeting
On time.

This little red hand
The second hand
Measures every aspect of our lives
It touches everything.

It controls everything.

“When the red hand passes the 12, you’re late”
Who sat down,
Who created this little red life one day?
This eternal, little red life.

If I will it to stop
Or if I break it
Nothing will change.
There is no meaning in the red piece of plastic.

It’s what we can’t see.
That’s what we can’t control.

A horse with no name

Once upon a winter

A photograph sits dusty on the shelf
For now this photograph will have to do
The winter’s here and I sit by myself
I dwell alone, on frozen thoughts of you

Your friends will really be annoyed.

Ouch.
There I was, standing helplessly when all of a sudden, my finger was smashed in the closet.
I can't exactly explain how that happened, but... it did. Sad.
Now it's black, blue, purple and red - it looks like a zombie finger.
Gross.

It's definitely broken.

To make things better, the chaos literally scared the sh*t out of my cat. Fun!

----
I stopped and looked at where I stood,
no new direction left for me to take.
I would change it all, if only I could,
but that is why it is called my mistake.

Wrap your arms around me until your knuckles are burning white.

I think way too much.
I am tired of constantly reminding myself that the 'problems' don't lay with me.
It's my job to turn things around, to keep them positive.
It just gets so exhausting.

Growing up I was constantly in this dialogue with my father:
He would say: "Nikki, what is your job?"
My answer: "To keep [insert sibling name] happy."

This has worked against me in quite a few ways. I've come to learn that I come second to myself.
However, I've also convinced myself that [particularly in relationships] because my 'significant other' comes before me, that I am also #1 on his list.

On some level, I feel like it's absurd that I put others before me... and I find it even more absurd that I would put myself before another on their 'list'.... what a twisted web we've spun!

Pieces of me:

Sometimes I drive a little too fast
And don’t realize the time has passed
I turn the radio up way too loud

I’m trying to drive straight through my life
And drown out all I’ve left behind
But I don’t want to do that anymore

Write it on your heart.

trust (trst)
n.
1. Firm reliance on the integrity, ability, or character of a person or thing.
2. Custody; care.
3. Something committed into the care of another; charge.
4.
a. The condition and resulting obligation of having confidence placed in one: violated a public trust.
b. One in which confidence is placed.
5. Reliance on something in the future; hope.
6. Reliance on the intention and ability of a purchaser to pay in the future; credit.
7. Law
a. A legal title to property held by one party for the benefit of another.
b. The confidence reposed in a trustee when giving the trustee legal title to property to administer for another, together with the trustee's obligation regarding that property and the beneficiary.
c. The property so held.
8. A combination of firms or corporations for the purpose of reducing competition and controlling prices throughout a business or an industry.