I struggled with "The Struggle for Meaning"

I like to think of myself as an optimistic realist. That is, I am aware and conscious of reality and I view it through a positive lens. I also consider myself honest, actually blunt at times. I don’t deceive or stray from the truth to emphasize a point; therefore, when someone writes, “It is well known how many have lost the will to live, and have stopped trying, because such meaning [meaning of life] has evaded them” (326) I become a bit irritated. First, I don’t think that desperation or depression are topics that are freely discussed pieces of common knowledge or “well known” in our society; therefore that part of the sentence I believe to be a fallacy. If they were topics that were “well known” there would not be such a stigma around psychotherapy, antidepressants or other psychotropic drugs. Secondly, I don’t believe that “many”, a nonspecific number that implies a majority or close to, is very representative of those who have “lost the will to live”. That part of the sentence would be a definite exaggeration. Finally, the reason someone looses a will to live, is not necessarily because he or she has lost the meaning of his or her life, there may be a chemical imbalance or another serious or medical underlying issue.

As I continued to read “The struggle for Meaning” by Bruno Bettleheim, I continued to disagree with a lot of his positions. Though, I do believe children’s literature plays a role in a child’s development, I do not feel that fairy tales send a positive or realistic message to children as Bettleheim insists.

There is nothing realistic about a stepmother that has magical powers as in “Snow White”. Nor is there anything realistic about a girl who is asleep for 100 years, who never ages, and isn’t hooked up to a feeding tube as in “Sleeping Beauty”.

I do not feel that fairytales helped me cope with life and I believe this is because they have not set up a positive model of life for a young female. As in “Snow White” with her 7 dwarfs, “Cinderella” with her handsome prince, “Sleeping Beauty” with her handsome prince and “Rapunzel” with her handsome prince: a woman is always in need and a man is always her savor. It did not surprise me that this issue was not confronted by the author, for he continually referred to the child reader with the male pronoun of “he”.

Additionally, all of the romantic encounters are strictly heterosexual. This may confuse a child who has 2 moms or 2 dads. Additionally, as the child hits puberty, begins to have sexual feeling and revisits the fairy tales he or she may become ashamed or confused of arousal from a homosexual experience because he or she has never been exposed to a queer representation of society through literature.

Fairytales do not reflect society or the issues kids face today. They (as far as the fairy tales I have read) do not address historical or present day social issues such as segregation, women’s suffrage, religious crusades or capitalism to name a few

Bettleheim made an erroneous statement, “Today children no longer grow up with the security of an extended family or of a well-integrated community” (335). I happen have friends who have children and they live with their parents and grandparents: “the security of an extended family”. Additionally, I have been exposed to many “well-integrated community[ies]”.

While I feel that fairy tales are entertaining I would not deem them as necessary for a child to find meaning in his or her life.


Bettelheim, Bruno. 1991. The struggle for meaning. In Folk and fairy tales, eds. Martin Hallet and Barbara Karas, 326-345. Peterborough: Broadview Press.