Jack and the Beanstalk

It first appeared as "The Story of Jack Spriggins and the

Enchanted Bean" in 1734 and was followed by numerous
other versions. Joseph Jacobs rewrote it in English Fairy
Tales (1890). Joseph Jacobs' version is most commonly
reprinted today, and is believed to be closer to the oral
versions.

By: Aini, Pinky, Adila

  An author points out that story is told in English Fairy Tales
edited by Joseph Jacob in 1889. The story tells of a boy named
Jack who was sent to market one day by his mother to sell their
last possession, the cow. As Jack was on his way he met a
stranger who offered to trade five "magic" beans for the cow.
Jack accepted the trade and returned back home with the beans
in his pocket. Jack's mother was angered that he had not

Plot Summary obeyed her instructions to sell the cow and threw the beans out
of the window.

 As Jack slept, the beans germinated in the soil, and a gigantic

beanstalk grew in their place by morning. When Jack saw the
huge beanstalk, he immediately decided to climb it. He arrived
in a land high up in the clouds that happened to be the home of
a giant. When he broke into the giant's castle, the giant quickly
sensed a human was near:
 Fee-fi-fo-fum!

I smell a visitor, yum, yum, yum.

Fish or fowl, cold or hot

We’ll cook him up inside my pot

 However, Jack was saved by the giant's wife and as he escaped from the
palace, he took a goose which laid golden eggs. Jack desired to seek out
more treasures from the castle in the clouds and climbed once more up the
beanstalk. This time he stole a sack which makes gold coins when one said
“roll out, roll out, roll out.”
Plot Summary  Again he was saved from harm by the giant's wife. Jack disregarded being
nearly discovered by the giant twice and decided to go up the beanstalk a
third time. This time, he stole a magical harp that played by itself. The
instrument seemed like did not appreciate being stolen and called out to the
giant for help. The giant chased Jack down the beanstalk, but Jack managed
to get to the ground before the giant did. Jack, seeing an axe on the ground
beside him, immediately chopped the beanstalk down. Giant couldn’t make
his way to the ground, because he was scared of height. To this day, people
hear booming up in the clouds. They say it’s giant, still upset about all the
things Jack brought down the beanstalk and about the dry cracker that he’s
been eating ever since his wife left with Jack.
  One major theme in the story is the concept of good
versus evil.
 Jack is representative of the good and the giant is
representative of evil. When Jack chops down the
Reader’s beanstalk and kills the ogre, the good triumphs the

Response: Theme evil.

 But…………….
 Can a thief be a hero?
 This story tells the tale of an indolent boy who tries to escape his socioeconomic
circumstance by betraying his family and give lessons of anything could happen in this
world, growth and change of one boy and it's okay to steal from the powerful person.
 The real theme of this story is indolence, larceny and murder, and Jack is always "good
guy" whatever he does.
 First, he's a lazy boy. When his mother sent Jack with the family's last bit of sellable
property, the cow, our hero sells it to a man for beans! Mother is understandably angry
and throws the beans out. Indolent Jack doesn't even pick them up and suggest soup.
From that point Jack's career in crime tendency grows. Jack of course climbs, and the
first thing he does is break into someone's house and our hero proceeds to steal anything.
 The climax of it all is that when the homeowner, the giant, discovers Jack and goes after
him, Jack takes the axe to the magic beanstalk, and stops the furious homeowner. If the
gentleman hadn't been a giant, would Jack have taken the axe to him directly?
 Consistently climbing up and down the beanstalk is a

Reader’s major motif in Jack and the Beanstalk. Jack climbs up

the beanstalk to reach the gold which will ultimately
Response: result in a higher social status. Climbing up the

Motive beanstalk is representative of climbing up the social

ladder.
  The female ogre who is married to the child-eating ogre is
representative of the friendly beast archetype because she is a
non-human character who acts as a companion to Jack by
providing him with food and safety.
 Jack is representative of two archetypes in the fairy tail. Jack
can be seen as the hero because at the very end of the story

Reader’s when the giant ogre is chasing Jack down the beanstalk, he
chops down the beanstalk to save not only himself, but his
Response: mother who was worriedly waiting at the bottom of the

Archetypes beanstalk.
 Jack is also representative of the trickster archetype because
every time he enters the ogre’s house, he doesn’t leave without
stealing something whether its the bag of gold or a gold harp.
He tricks the welcoming wife ogre into thinking that he is only
coming in the house because he is hungry, but he is really
entering the house to steal something.
 (continue..)
 The giant male ogre is representative of the creature of
nightmare because he is known for capturing small
children and cooking them and eating them. The creature
of nightmare is said to be a monster that threatens the
Reader’s lives of the hero/heroine and this is true Jack and the

Response: Beanstalk. The husband ogre threatens the life of Jack

who is seen as the hero when he chases after him down
Archetypes the beanstalk.
 In the story, the beanstalk is representative of the magical
weapon archetype. The beanstalk allows Jack to travel to
the ogre’s house where he steals very expensive items
that help him and his mother become prosperous.
  The beanstalk is identical with the tree in the Garden of
Eden or in the Garden of Hesperides as both are solid
vertical plants that grow upward and produce a type of
seed or fruit.
Mythological  The beanstalk and tree should be considered a symbol
Criticism: of the human spine and nervous system. This tree
appears in the Garden of Eden with the serpent
Beanstalk encircling the trunk and offers Eve the apple. An apple
that bestows immortality and knowledge of good and
evil, just as the beanstalk is guarded by a monster Ogre
the tree is guarded by the serpent as the prize of
immortality must be won by great effort.
  The Goose that lays the golden egg is also a very
interesting symbol. It relates to the mundane egg, a well-
known motif in mythology found in creation myths.
“Typically, the world egg is a beginning of some sort, and
the universe or some primordial being comes into existence
by "hatching" from the egg, sometimes lain on the primordial
waters of the Earth.”(2)
Mythological
Criticism: Golden  It is interesting to note that: “Legend says that Brahma was
Egg born in water, or from a seed that later became the golden
egg. From this golden egg, Brahma, the creator was born,
as Hiranyagarbha. The remaining materials of this golden
egg expanded into the Bramanda or Universe. Being born in
water, Brahma is also called as Kanja (born in water).
Brahma is said also to be the son of the Supreme Being,
Brahman, and the female energy known as Prakŗti.”(3)
  A singing Golden Harp is the last object stolen by Jack. It
has been observed and written in much of yogic literature
about the internal sounds or music that is heard after a
spiritual awakening. The golden harp which produces
beautiful melodies is a symbol for the final stage of inner
transformation, in that Pranic energy becomes visible as a

Mythological: golden light and sound. Sometimes this sound is described

as a group of bees or an internal river.
Golden Harp  In the yogic tradition, the sound is called “nada” while the
Chinese mystics called it “Hu.“ This internal sound varies it
may deliver symphonic melodies completely finished when
the bodies Pranic system is pure, as in the case of Mozart
who stated he heard the specific melody of every symphony
internally
  The ogre acts as a personification of Jack's unrefined
desires, which is a fitting metaphor and explains why the
ugly giant is eliminated after obtaining the last piece of
golden treasure. Jacks’ lower desires and negativity are
Mythological: reduced to a minimum and purified which is symbolically

The Giant Ogre played out in the death of the ogre. In a number of fairy-
tales Giants or wicked stepmothers, are obstacles on the
path which the hero must pass through before achieving
happiness.
 (continue..)
 The common interpretation that this tale hides a moral
lesson concerning greed belies the fact of Jacks' total
lack of remorse and his Mother’s approval of murder
and theft. If this is a moral tale just trying to instil
honesty, Why are there no consequences for his

Mythological: greedy actions? A literalistic explanation ignores every

sense of morality contradicting all accepted standards.
The Giant Ogre Taken literally the fairy-tale becomes a dialogue that
preaches that the greed and murder can occur without
consequences, which surely could not be a morality
tale for children. He steals the ogres precious gold
three times without being caught and his mother
notices nothing wrong or immoral while Jack continued
greed eventually leads to murder.