Iron Hans (Children literature) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Iron Hans (Children literature) - Essay Example Due to the story’s narrative style and visual development, it is classified as a children’s story. The story reflects a clear pattern of attitude towards children during the time and the literary methods have been markedly shaped by the social and cultural trends of the time. Most of the tales by the Grimm brothers have been influenced by German folklores and have been creatively transformed into fairy tales. An analysis of the population studies in Germany during the 19th century shows a high infant mortality rate during the time (Gehrmann, 839). Today infant mortality rates are regarded as central indicators of the standards of living and the state of a particular society’s development. During late 19th century, high infant mortality rates in Germany started being acknowledged as a social issue and hence several studies were carried out in order to find the reasons for high mortality rates. Hygiene, food, female labor, living conditions and climatic conditions were identified as important factors affecting infant mortality rates (Gehrmann, 840). Female workload was also a critical factor in infant mortality and attitude towards children during the time. The family context has also been incorporated in order to assess the impact of family structures on attitude towards children. ... The collection spurred a completely novel notion of considering fairy tales as children’s literature. Belonging to the German Romantic Movement, the Grimm brothers pioneered in the creation of literary fairy tales. An exemplary attempt was made by the Grimm brothers so as to retain and preserve the original essence of German folk tales and by transforming them into creative fairy tales for children they were able to circumvent the loss of German folk lore literature. The fame of the Grimm’s fairy tales as children’s literature was supported by the 1679 publication of The Tales of Mother Goose by Charles Perrault (Susina, n.pag.). Perrault had successfully collected 80 fairy tales in his work with moralistic principles and ingenious story lines. This work started being recognized as children’s stories due to its graphic illustration of the title which characterized an old lady reading out stories to children (Susina, n.pag.). This introduced a concept of fa iry tales as children’s stories as narrated by older individuals. Subsequently the Grimm’s tales provided an adroit collection of stories that were suitable to be read by or out to children. Hence, the publication by Perrault supported the popularity of the Grimm’s fairy tales as children’s literature. Irons Hans, among the many fairy tales written the in the collection by Grimm brothers demonstrates a certain socio-cultural pattern towards children during the time. This story, along with other fairy tales in the collection, has had a thoughtful impact on children since the 19th century. However, writers today have been examining Grimm brothers’ writings and have concluded that these writings contain false apprehension and augment a