A Literature Study on the ‘Shoes’ in the Grimm’s Fairy Tales

• Main Authors: Miao-li Hsu, 許妙麗
• Other Authors: Ching-Rong Chang
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/57836320422059205292

碩士 === 國立臺南大學 === 國語文學系國語文教學碩士班 === 97 === The popular Grimm’s Fairy Tales is a field study of German folklore literature, and is also well known internationally. These classical tales accompanied children around the world for centuries, and brought affections, happiness and dreams upon their childhoods. In the world of fairy tales, desires and goals are often achieved through the accomplishment of certain challenges, making the story more complete and fulfilling. The elements and symbols in the stories are in fact subtle, with most implications imperceptible by children. These must be broken down into understandable and clear structures suitable to meet children’s mental development; allowing them to express their innate conflicts and gain satisfaction. What symbolic meanings do the element shoes possess? This study attempts to answer this research question by analyzing the shoes in the Grimm’s fairy tales through in-depth data collection, focusing on the investigation of these symbolic meanings. It intends to provide future readers and researchers with multiple points of views and the basis of which stories are chosen. This thesis is divided into 6 chapters. Chapter 1 provides an introduction, including a brief discussion on research motivation, research methods and processes, research scope and limitations. Chapter 2 provides a literature review; this will include a general discussion on fairy tales, a detailed discussion on the life of the Grimm brothers and the tales’ composition, followed by an examination of prior studies on the Grimm’s Fairy Tales conducted in Taiwan and internationally. Through the history, origination, hierarchical status of the shoes and its relation to the feet, chapter 3 examines its meanings and implications on literature, gender and social status. Chapter 4 categorizes the stories of the shoes and analyzes the role of the main characters and the structure of the plots. Chapter 5 investigates three symbolic meanings associated with the shoes. The final chapter concludes this paper and provides future research opportunities.