Children’s Lit Essay- Critical Thinking

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Children Literature Essay – Critical Thinking
Snow White fairy tale by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm is an interesting read for children, who are the target audience but still appeals to adult readers. The plot of the story shows a high level of mastery and creativity of the authors. The tale is characterized by twists and turns that evoke different emotions as one reads through it. For instance, the various attempts on Snow Whites’ life make the reader overly emotional and sympathetic to the young girl. The authors of the story are consistent with a central theme all over the story. Kindness is one of the central themes in the book as the authors keep on showing it throughout the story. The repeated acts of kindness in the story create a valuable lesson to the readers.
Snow White revolves around kindness from various characters in the story and wickedness meted on the little girl by her stepmother. However, despite the wickedness that manifests itself throughout the story, consistent acts of kindness prevail. The different attempts on Snow White’s life emanate from her kindness and pure heart. Her step-mother manages to get through to her and attempt to kill her due to the kindness (Hallett & Karasek N.p). While the readers may attribute the kindness to Snow White’s naivety and take it as her weakness, the authors repeat the acts of kindness to show its importance. Since the story is a fairy tale for children, the author’s ensures that kindness prevails over wickedness so that the readers can learn the important virtue and apply it in their lives.

The first act of kindness is a counter to the queen’s wickedness. As soon as she learns that Snow White is more beautiful from her mirror, she starts to plot how she will kill her and eliminate the competition. She contracts the services of a huntsman directing him to kill Snow White in the bush and bring her the young girls liver and lungs. However, upon reaching the woods, Snow White begs for her life and the hunter pity’s her and lets her go. He kills a boar, removes its lungs and livers and takes them to the queen as a cover up (Hallett & Karasek N.p). The act of kindness is amplified by the seven dwarfs’ act of kindness towards the girl. When they find her in their house, they take her in, despite having eaten from their plates, drank from their cups, and slept on their beds. Through these acts of kindness, the authors convey a lesson to the readers that they should always strive to perform acts of kindness in all situation.
Additionally, the various attempts on Snow Whites life emanate from her acts of kindness. When the lady disguises herself to an elderly woman, the young girl opens the door for her without any suspicions. The woman eventually laces her too tightly and leaves her for dead. Later, she opens the door for her step-mother disguised as a woman selling combs even though the dwarfs have already warned her not to open for anyone (Hallett & Karasek N.p). She barely services the second incident but still, she does not waiver in her kindness. When she finally opens for the peasant woman who hawks apple, it costs her life. The dwarfs come home in the evening and find her lying dead. The series of kindness could point to Snow Whites stupidity. However, the authors have placed the acts strategically to show the readers that not all acts of kindness are repaid with good. In fact, most people do not appreciate kindness and others will hurt you even when you are kind to them. Nevertheless, one should always strive to show kindness to other people irrespective of their responses.
Even in her death, the dwarfs continue showing kindness to the beautiful young woman. They see her too as too beautiful to be buried in the ground. Her beauty remains even in death. They, therefore, decide to put her coffin in a glass compartment and put it in her mind. While they do not expect their actions to give them anything in return, it does. She is the source of happiness, and when they give her to the prince, they get the ultimate reward of her life back. They are also kind to the prince who is smitten by her beauty. While it is difficult to let her go, following their attachment to the young girl, the dwarfs pity the prince and let him have her corpse. Consequently, as the prince’s people carry the coffin towards the palace, one of them stumbles and the apple piece lodged in Snow Whites throat come out consequently bringing her back to life (Hallett & Karasek N.p). The acts of kindness in this context shows the readers that it dissolves selfishness, and attracts rewards in most cases.
Finally, the marriage of the prince and Snow White shows the ultimate reward of kindness. While all through the book, wickedness seems to be dominating kindness, this act shows how kindness eventually gets over all acts of wickedness. The marriage between the prince who now becomes King and Snow White, the queen, shows that kindness pays. When Snow White’s wicked step-mother comes attends the wedding she is made to dance in red-hot iron shoes until she drops down dead (Hallett & Karasek N.p). The demise of the wicked queen shows that wickedness will always have its punishment while kindness will have the rewards of prosperity and happiness. Through the various antagonism of wickedness and kindness, the authors express the dangers and fruits of wickedness. The evil queen does not prosper hence the message that the being wicked has no benefits. However, they emphasize that kindness should prevail in any situations as it is always a rewarding attribute as seen in Snow White’s life.
In conclusion, the theme of kindness is consistent in the story. The authors use their mastery of their creative skills to show extreme cases of wickedness and kindness as its counter. The queen metes numerous acts of the wickedness on Snow White who in turn remains relentless in her kindness. Finally, the kindness showed by the young girl and the other characters in the tale triumph over evil. The queen finally pays for what she has done to Snow White with her life. Therefore, the story contains an important lesson to the readers that they should always strive for kindness and desist from indulging in wicked ways. While kindness may be faced with rejection, negativity or plans in one’s life, it will always prevail over all wickedness. Therefore through the theme of kindness, the fairy tale captures an important lesson, which is a central purpose for writing children literature.
Works cited
Hallett, Martin and Karasek, Barbara. Folk & Fairy Tales, Concise Edition. Publisher: Broadview Press, 2011.