Fairy tales reflect the dark, unspoken psychological realities of ordinary parental frustration.
Evidence
Normal parents cannot understand child-killers, but fairy tales hold up a distorting mirror that enhances our petty guilts. There can be few mothers who, trapped with a fractious, wailing, ungrateful baby, have not wished it momentarily removed, and then become afraid of the dark powers the wish might attract. — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 168
Categorization
- SEED: SEED for an essay on the dark psychological undercurrents of parenting.
- corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 168
- XREF: connects to: Abused children cling to their abusers just as fairy tale children do — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 168
Broader Connections
- Abused children cling to their abusers just as fairy tale children do
#exemplifies(0.75) — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 168