Bruno Bettelheim

Bruno Bettelheim, "Cinderella: A Story of Sibling Rivalry and Oedipal Conflicts"

Bruno Bettelheim (1903-1990) was born in Vienna, Austria and earned a Ph.D. in 1938, studying under Sigmund Freund at the University of Vienna. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1939 and became a citizen five years later. Bettelheim taught psychology and studied and treated autism at the University of Chicago for thirty years. Among his awards and honors are both a National Book Award and a National Book Critics Circle Award for his best-known work—The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales (1976). His other books include Love Is Not Enough: The Treatment of Emotionally Disturbed Children (1950), The Empty Fortress: Infantile Autism and the Birth of the Self (1967), and Freud's Vienna and Other Essays (1990). Bettelheim committed suicide in Silver Springs, Maryland after he suffered a severe stroke. "Cinderella: A Story of Sibling Rivalry and Oedipal Conflicts" is an excerpt from The Uses of Enchantment.

CONTENT

1. What does the name Cinderella mean?
2. About how old a story is "Cinderella"?
3. What, according to the author, is the real source of sibling rivalry?
4. According to Bettelheim, why do children respond differently to fairy tales than to realistic narratives?
5. Can an only child be subject to sibling rivalry?
6. Explain how the author compares and contrasts "Cinderella" and "Little Red Riding Hood."
7. Explain the reasons Bettelheim gives for the enduring popularity of "Cinderella."

STRATEGY AND STYLE

1. Discuss this piece as a comparison/contrast essay. Make clear what things are being compared and contrasted and how the author supports his main points.
2. In paragraphs sixteen, seventeen, and eighteen the author uses dialogue. What information does this dialogue convey? How else could he have presented this information? What would change about the essay if this information were presented in another way?
3. Compare the introduction and the conclusion. What work does each do? What main point does the author bring up in the conclusion that is not found in his introduction? What main point is mentioned in both places?
4. What can you say about the tone of the title of this piece? How can you contrast it to the tone of the titles of Langston Hughes's "Salvation" or Gloria Anzaldua's "How to Tame a Wild Tongue"?

1. Do you like fairy tales? How has your relationship with them changed over the years? When you read them to children, do you have a good time, or do you try to skip pages and see if they'll notice? How might these attitudes toward fairy tales have influenced your reaction to this piece?
2. Do you have any siblings? If you do, describe your relationship with them. If you don't, have you ever wanted any? What connection did your answers here have with your reading?

SUGGESTIONS FOR SUSTAINED WRITING

1. Is Bettelheim reading too much into a simple fairy tale? Form your answer into a thesis statement and write an essay supporting your position. Make specific references to your reading throughout.
2. What are some of the major differences between hearing and reading? About when did you learn to read a fairy tale on your own? Apply your answers to these questions: Since Bettelheim repeatedly remarks that his observations apply to fairy tales as heard, what changes about the tales when children read them themselves? What changes about the children?

FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

Do some research and familiarize yourself with one of the German "ash-boy" stories Bettelheim mentions in paragraph two. Compare and contrast the tale you research to the version of "Cinderella" that you know.

WEB CONNECTION

Read this review of two Bettelheim biographies that came out a few years ago. What did you learn about the books from the review itself? What would make consulting the books themselves necessary in order to find out? After reading the review, would you like to read further? Explain.

LINKS

Biographical

This entry about Bettelheim from Encyclopedia.com has a hyperlinked biography and a selection of related links. Would you rather use this information or that found in the link below in a paper about the author? Explain.

Take a look at this brief biography, which also has a photo of the author and some links. How trustworthy do you find the information here? How can you tell? What are some ways to check the reliability of information on the internet?

Bibliographical

Ready for some of Bettelheim's work in etext? Then take a visit to this page where you'll find some excerpts from The Uses of Enchantment.

Bibliographical

Ready for some of Bettelheim's work in etext? Then take a visit to this page where you'll find some excerpts from The Uses of Enchantment.

Here is a detailed critique of Bettelheim's foreword to a book called Auschwitz. Bettelheim's work is in italics. What do you make of the critique? Is the author of the review being fair? Where could you find out more about Bettelheim and the Holocaust?

Cultural

Take a look at these reviews of Bettelheim's book The Uses of Enchantment. Some of them are blurbs. What methods would you use to find the whole review in these cases? What information on this page would you feel comfortable about using for a paper about "Cinderella," and what information would you avoid using? Why? What's a major difference between the two types of reviews found here?

Would you like to do some research about this author's contributions to the field of autism research, but you're not sure where to start looking? Visit this directory on the subject from Google.com, and you'll find some good links to get you going.

Let's say you'd like to explore another direction: Fairy tales interest you, but you're not sure how to narrow the research topic. This directory about fairy tales will suggest many ways to zero in on a manageable thesis.