Literature is a powerful tool that has the ability to take readers to different worlds and different eras. Literature has a way to change readers’ perspectives and teach valuable lessons. From the beginning of time the world has known stories. As time passed stories developed into pieces of literature that have lived for thousands of years, and the most recognizable of that literature that has survived this long will continue to flourish readers’ imagination. Literature has the power to access one of the greatest forms of relaxation and stress relief; it has the power to help readers escape. Most children have known of classic short stories and fairy tales, which were written to convey a message and teach a lesson. However, in order to make the story interesting, authors would add magical elements and the setting would occur far-off, mystical lands. Two short stories that possess the power to help readers escape and imagine are, “Beauty and the Beast,” by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince Beaumont and “East of the Sun, West of the Moon,” a Norwegian tale by Peter Christen Asbjornsen and Jorgen Moe. These stories have themes that teach valuable lessons to children and adults.
Most people have heard of the classic tale of Beauty and the Beast, which has been told by many different writers. However, one of the original versions is said to be written by Jeanne-Marie LePrince de Beaumont. This classic short story includes magic, love, adventure, and it also teaches the valuable lesson that one should learn to love one for their soul not their outer appearance. In the story, Beauty falls in love with Beast, who has been cursed by a witch to appear as a beast forever. However, Beauty sees beyond his disfigurement. After Beauty finds Beast dying she told him she loved him, then “Beast was disappeared, and she saw at her feet, one of the loveliest princes that eye ever beheld” (par 29). Beauty’s love for Beast broke the spell and transformed him to his original person. This teaches children and adults that a person’s character is what should be loved, and as a result of Beauty’s love for Beast, the spell is broken.
The story de Beaumont constructed contained a vast amount of magical elements, which made the plot interesting. If magic was not an element in the story, then the plot would have to be organized and developed differently by de Beaumont. Magic does not exist; however, it is fun to read a piece of literature that allows one to escape to a different place where anything is possible.
In the Norwegian short story, “East of the Sun, West of the Moon,” there is also a great deal of magic. The story is filled with magical elements, such as a magical troll witch, which is the stepmother of the male protagonist. She is also the one who cast the spell on the prince, which was that he would be turned into a white bear during the day and transformed into a man at night. There were also four characters in the story, which were the four directions of the wind. Each direction of the wind acted as aid to the female protagonist in the story. The four directions of the wind acting as characters was a great way to add magic to the story, and this factor also combined something real with something magic. In the story, “She rode many weary days before reaching the east wind’s house, but at least she did reach it, and she asked the east wind if he could tell her the way to the prince who lived east of the sun and west of the moon” (par 60). The east wind does not have a personality as a human does, but the wind is a real element that is relatable to readers.
The Norwegian story also has a great deal of adventure. The female protagonist, who is not named, must encounter a journey to save the prince from his stepmother, the evil troll queen. A journey is an element that must be present in an epic tale, and the female protagonist experienced a magical journey, which was traveled partly by traveling on the back of the four directions of the wind. The female protagonist story must save her prince from the evil troll queen, who plans to marry him to her daughter the troll princess. The fact that the female protagonist encountered a physical journey to save her prince give strength to her character.
Fairy tales and short stories are only a few forms of literature that allow readers to escape. Some of the most well-known stories are literary pieces that were written long ago, but the beauty in the stories allowed them to be preserved for thousands of years. These stories have the ability to give readers hope, courage, and escape from everyday life. Reading a good piece of literature is like when Alice fell down the rabbit hole and ended up in Wonderland; a good piece of literature has the ability to take readers to places they have never imagined.
Works Cited
Asbjomsen, Christen, Peter. Moe, Englebresten, Jorgen, Nielsen, Kay. "East of the Sun, West
of the Moon." Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1977. Print.
LePrince De Beaumont, Jeanne-Marie. "Beauty and the Beast." N.p., n.d.
Web. 04 Dec. 2014.
"East of the Sun, West of the Moon." N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2014
