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I have never before read such an in depth article devoted to the analysis of fairytales. A particular passage that struck me most was the part in which Bettelheim brings up the subject of the Id, Superego, and Ego. He remarks that all human have choatic minds, and that we need to create symbols in order to make sense of the chaos. Naturally, if adults need to do this, children need to their own symbols as well; fairytales. it is extremely interesting to look into fairytales from an almost psychological perspective.

However, I was a great lover of fairytales when I was a child, and still am. It is slightly disheartening to see such an in depth analysis picking apart some of my favorite stories. In some ways, I prefer that fairytales hold specific meaning for a specific person, rather than trying to prove one way or another that fairytales hold some intrinsic moral value/psychological value or that they are just pieces of silly fiction.