midterm reflection 1500 words due in 12 hrs
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Hsiang Ning (Victoria) Lin
CR Exercise 1: Message and Purpose
Professor Stefan Karlsson
4 Oct, 2018
CR Exercise 1: Message and Purpose
Part I
1. Introducing the concepts of guiding a child to find the meaning of life and learning to
understand others are the most important task as he develops.
2. On the way of persuing a deeper meaning, one should learn to surpass the narrow
limitation of a self-centered idea and hold the positivity of making a great contribution to
one’s life.
3. Transitioning to a new concept that the literature as an information carrier is able to
restore meaning to children’s lives, deliver the right concept to their parents, and promote
the importance of our cultural heritage.
4. Making a comparison that the literature fails to simulate the information that a child
needs when difficult inner problems strike on him.
5. Explaining the worst feature of the children’s books is that they set false definition of
deeper meaning to the child.
6. The children literature should relate to the child personality in a profound manner in
order to help the child to provoke his interest, stimulate his imagination, and clarify his
emotion.
7. Stating that although the folk fairy tales teach little about the real life situation, they pass
down the wisdom of the proper solutions for tackling one’s predicaments.
8. Further stating that the child needs a moral education to understand himself in this
complex modern society.
9. Citing the German poet Schiller’s words to strengthen his statement of the child is able to
learn the life meaning through fairy tales.
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10. Fairy tales carry treasure lessons not only on the navie child, but also on the sophisticated
adult.
11. Folk fairy tales are the most satisfying reading to the children with all levels of
intelligence.
12. Applying an evidence that the child resonances emotionally and psychologically while
reading the fairy tales.
13. Another evidence shows the fantasies in fairy tales open up the child’s imagination which
guide him to discover the better direction of his life.
14. Transitioning to a new idea that unconscious is powerful to cause harm, yet, it provides a
broader scope to the child.
15. The refusal to inform children with the negative source makes them view themselves as
monsters since they know that they are not acting proper all the time.
16. Citing Freud’s psychological study that struggles creates opportunities to be success.
17. Merging the concepts that fairy tales teach the child that the inevitable failures and
unexpected difficulties brings fruitful victory to those who overcome.
18. Concluding that fairy tales unlike modern stories, which avoid the potential life problems,
present the basic human predicaments to the child.
Part II
The author creates a very interesting yet convincing case. He believes that literature depicts
underline meaning to ways in which a child can find meaning in life. Bettelheim shows through
different perspectives how fairy tales offer new dimensions to the child’s imagination which he
believes would be almost impossible for children to discover on their own. Through comparison
of traditional and modern stories, Bruno makes a very convincing incitement that children need
to be given suggestions in a symbolic form about how to deal with the problem. Bruno’s
comprehensive understanding of the subject makes the case convincing and almost impossible to
question his argument.
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Part III
As Bruno Bettelheim points it is the most challenging task in raising children and equally
important helping them find meaning in life. In respect to ‘The Struggle for Meaning,’ the author
argues that the fairy-tales are relevant in children’s life because they provide them with
information about real life situations such as poverty. These fairy-tales reveal information that
the typical safe story would not be able to accomplish because of their nature. Additionally, these
stories enables the child to maintain a good balance of morals and values that help them think
critically and solve problems in life. However, Bruno makes an unexplainable assumption about
the psyche of a child. In other words, he compares children’s mind to that of the adults who are
able to differentiate and withstand challenges.
Bruno makes his argument from the perspective that children do not have much comprehensible
knowledge of most things in life. According to him in order for an individual to comprehend life,
it is necessary for them view the world from a broader perspectives. He believes fairy-tales can
enable children to perceive the world differently and relates in life. He believes that in order to
gain a child attention a story must hold certain features. A story must be entertaining and
intriguing. Most importantly a story must stimulate a child imagination to help him develop
intellect and clarify his emotions. Simply the author argument is centered on how to help a child
find meaning in life through fairy-tales.