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.