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    Fairy Freud, Greek Tragedies

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    Humani Literature PrepTest 27 (December 1998) co) (ao) (as) (20) 2s) G0) @5) (40) (45) (50) (ss) 30 Freud’s essay on the “Uncanny” can be said to have defined, for our century, what literary criticism. once called the Sublime. This apprehension of a beyond or of a daemonic—a sense of transcendence appears in literature or life, according to Freud, when ‘we feel that something uncanny is being represented, oF ‘conjured up, oF at least intimated. Freud locates the source of the uncanny in our tendency to believe in the “omnipotence of thought,” that is, in the power of our own or of others” minds over the natural world. The ‘uncanny is, thus, a return to animistic conceptions of the universe, and is produced by the psychic defense ‘mechanisms Freud called repression. It would have seemed likely for Freud to find his literary instances of the uncanny, of atleast some of them, in fairy tales, since as much as any other fietions they seem to be connected with repressed desires and archaie forms of thought. But Freud specifically ‘excluded fairy tales from the realm of the uncanny. “Who would be so bold,” Freud asks, “as to call it an ‘uncanny moment, for instance, when Snow White ‘opens her eyes once more?” Why not? Because, he ‘goes on to say, in those stories everything is possible, so nothing is incredible, and, therefore, no conflicts in the reader's judgment are provoked. Thus Freud, alas, found fairy tales to be unsuited to his own analysis However, the psychoanalyst Bruno Bettelheim, with a kind of wise innocence, has subjected fairy tales to very close, generally orthodox, and wholly reductive Freudian interpretations. Bettclheim’s book, although ‘written in apparent ignorance of the vast ertical traditions of interpreting literary romance, is nevertheless a splendid achievement, brimming with useful ideas and insights into how young children read and understand. Bruno Bettelheim’s major therapeutic concern has been with autistic children, so inevitably his interpretive activity is directed against a child’s tendency to withdraw defensively or abnormally. ‘According to Bettelheim, a child’s desperate isolation, loneliness, and inarticulate anxieties are addressed directly by fairy tales. By telling the child such stories themselves, parents strengthen the therapeutic effect of fairy tales, for in the telling, parents impart to the child their approval of the stories. But why should fairy tales, in themselves, be therapeutic? Bettelheim’s answer depends on the child’s being an interpreter: “The fairy tale is therapeutic because children find their own solutions, through contemplating what the story seems to imply ‘about their inner conflicts at this moment in their lives.” Bettelheim proceeds on the basis of two complementary assumptions: that children will interpret a story benignly, for their own good; and that Freudian interpretations will yield an accurate account of children’s interpretations. The child, questing for help, and the analyst, attempting to find helpful 2. 23, 24, 25; More GROUPED By PASSAGE TYPE pattems in the stories, thus read alike, though in different vocabularies, According to the author, Bettelheim believes that fairy tales help troubled children by (A) creating fantasy worlds into which they can escape (B) helping them find solutions to their own problems (C) providing @ means of communication with their parents (D) showing them other problems worse than their own, (B) solving their problems for them According to the passage, Bettelheim believes that parents’ telling fairy tales to troubled children strengthens the tales’ therapeutic effect because (A) most troubled children do not read independently (B) most children believe whatever their parents tell them (© the parents” telling the stories imparts to the children the parents’ sanction of the tales (D) the parents can help the children interpret the stories according to the parents’ belief (B) the parents can reassure the children that the tales are imaginary It can be inferred from the passage that Freud believed, that in fairy tales, “nothing is incredible” (line 24) because, in his view, (A) fairy tales can be read and understood even by young children (B) everything in fairy tales is purely imaginary (C) fairy tales are so fantastic that in them nothing seems ut of the ordinary (D) itis uncanny how the patterns of fairy tales fit our unconscious expectations and wishes (E) the reader represses those elements of fairy tales ‘which might conflict with his or her judgment “According to the passage, Bettelheim believes that when children interpret a story benignly, they (A) find in fairy tales answers to their own needs (B) do not associate fairy tales with the uncanny (© do not find underlying meanings in fairy tales (D) are aware that fairy tales are fictions (B) are reassured by parental approval traciela 26. Which one of the following best describes the author's attitude toward Bettelheim’s work? (A) approving of Bettelheim’s rejection of orthodox and reductive Freudian interpretations of fairy tales (B) appalled at Bettclheim’s ignorance of the critical traditions of interpreting literary romance (©) unimpressed with Bettelheim’s research methods (D) skeptical of Bettetheim’s claim that fairy tales are therapeutic (£3 appreciative of Bettetheim’s accomplishments and practical insights SECTION 31 Humanities: Literature PrepTest 30 (December 1999) ©) ao) as) 20) as) Go) 5) (40) (45) (50) (55) 32 Tragic dramas written in Greece during the fifth century B.C. engender considerable scholarly debate ‘over the relative influence of individual autonomy and the power of the gods on the dramas action. One early scholar, B. Snell, argues that Aeschylus, for example, develops in his tragedies a concept of the autonomy of the individual. In these dramas, the protagonists invariably confront a situation that paralyzes them, so that their prior notions about how to behave or think: are dissolved. Faced with a decision on which their fate ‘depends, they must reexamine their deepest motives, ‘nd then act with determination. They are given only two alternatives, each with grave consequences, and. they make their decision only after a tortured intemal debate. According to Snel, this decision is “free” and “personal” and such personal autonomy constitutes the central theme in Aeschylean drama, as ifthe plays ‘were devised to isolate an abstract model of human action. Drawing psychological conclusions from this interpretation, another scholar, Z. Barbu, suggests that [Aeschylean} drama is proof of the emergence within ancient Grock civilization of the individual as a free agent.” ‘To A. Rivier, Snell’s emphasis on the decision ‘made by the protagonist, with its implicit notions of autonomy and responsibility, misrepresents the role of the superhuman forces at work, forces that give the

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