I have the distinct memory of my mother reading the Grimm’s fairy tales to me as a child. I loved those stories; I couldn’t get enough of them. I don’t remember much specifically about the stories themselves, but I do have a vivid recollection of a strange sickening feeling after hearing some of the particularly grotesque stories. I don’t know how old I was at the time, probably about six, but these stories really do have some heavy shit for children’s ears… and there was definitely no censorship on my mother’s part.

In Tatar’s introduction, she cites some examples of how fairly tales serve to address common fears and insecurities that children have: In her words, “each text becomes an enabling device, allowing readers to work through their fears and purge themselves of hostile feelings and damaging desires…a safe place where fears can be confronted, mastered and banished.” Instead of taking the standard approach to children by telling them that everything will be okay, these stories immerse the children into an animation of gruesome events and allows them to work through fears and anxieties in a real way.

I have heard the same explanation given for childhood nightmares. Children’s fears (which are absolutely valid) about the world into which they were thrown are brought from the subconscious to the conscious in a seemingly real way, in order to deal with and conquer those fears.