¶ … Tales
Forces Beyond Their Control -- What does not kill you, makes you stronger in the fairy tale as well as the real world
The idea that what does not kill or harm you makes you stronger is a popular cliche. However, in many fairy tales, this theme is underlined by the introduction of a protagonist whom is regarded as weak or strange by society, but whose personal gifts not only enable him to overcome this negative self and societal impression, but also ultimately help him or her to deploy what at first seemed to be a negative characteristic, in a positive fashion.
For instance, at the beginning of the first Harry Potter book, the young Harry Potter is a wizard whom is still unaware of his identity. In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter is forced to live amongst Muggles, of whom he is the disfavored son, as compared to his cousin, the oafishly conventional Dudley. However, Harry Potter's magical powers seep into the narrative framework early on over the course of the text, as Harry liberates an oppressed and confined snake from the zoo, without even intending to. This incident shows how compassion with the underdog is within Harry's heart from a young age. However, Harry must learn to control the difficulties he experiences as a wizard-in-training with practice as well as emotional intelligence, else he do harm as well as good to Muggles and other beasts. At the end of the tale, Harry has liberated his school temporarily and gained a secure place in the world as well as a more secure identity.
However, perhaps even cleverer than Harry is the young, Chinese-American protagonist...
This young woman, circa 1947 but much like the modern young wizard Harry Potter, finds herself in an alien culture, namely that of
San Francisco. Her adjustment from the China of her birth, as well as the Chinese background of her home life in her new
land, makes it difficult for her to feel secure in her
American identity. However, this sense of not having a place to call home and a lack of a secure
ethnic identity -- is she Chinese or American, as with Harry, becomes a source of strength. The young girl becomes passionate about
baseball, and thus gains a more certain sense of her identity. She identifies with the struggles of Jackie Robinson, an identification that is possible because she, like he, is of minority status, unlike most of her peers. And even beyond her
love of home and her love of her
family, the girl's loyalty and
devotion to the new world of America speaks well of her flexibility as a
character, her ability to forge a new identity without secure role models around her, an ability even the wizard Harry Potter lacks.
The ability to overcome forces within the self that are difficult to control becomes sharpened in an oppressive societal context, however. In the book of African-American folklore, the characters are continually oppressed by a larger, outer lying social structure that attempts to hem them…
