Critical Analysis and Response Essay on 'The Anti-Grimm', retrieved from The Economist (Online)
"The Anti-Grimm" (April 4th, 2012) is an article written by A.C, an editor for The Economist blog. The author discusses about the differences between Schonwerth's tales collection and that of Grimm Brothers in their portrayal of genders. He further discusses about how Grimm tales portrayed gender stereotypes and the superiority of Schonwerth's tales collection as they were more authentic.
The author has used several supporting evidence to clearly illustrate the point about Schonwerth's tales being less sexist than Grimm's tales to be used for children's literature. Nonetheless, the author has made inaccurate assumptions and is not convincing enough to prove his point that Grimm's tales were not appropriate for children's literature, as he should also consider an alternative viewpoint of the relevance to society and allowing children to gain wider perspective of different societies.
The author argues that Grimms' tales were not appropriate to be used for children's literature as there were too many gender stereotypes through his evidences.
Title page of Peter and Wendy
English: The Children's Literature Barnstar
English: Logo of the Children's Literature Associa...He claims that "⦠they(Grimm Brothers) portray so unremittingly sexist that some leading folklorists ward against reading them to children at all."(para 2,line 4-5) Grimm's tales had gender stereotypes which discriminated against females thus inappropriate for children. The stereotypes affected the social norm and gave children the wrong and superficial idea about the society that they needed to have good looks to be accepted from Grimms' tales about "favouring stories about beautiful persecuted heroinesâ¦"(para 7,line 2). Hence, the author claims that Grimm's tales were more sexist and should not be included in children's literature.
However, the author has weak reasoning as he inaccurately assumes that tales with gender stereotypes are not educational and should be excluded in children's literature. From "the tales were very consciously edited...