Racial Purity
Background Information: Many fairytales by the Grimm brothers include German society’s view on
maintaining racial. There are also theories that Grimm’s Fairy Tales influenced
the Nazi army under Hitler to persecute the Jewish people in Germany because
they “dirty” the pure German bloodline.
Examples:
Examples:
- "The Wolf and the Seven Sheep" and "Little Red Riding Hood": In the story, the wolf “[comes] and [swallows] all the other” (Grimm 28) sheep by disguising itself as a sheep and approaching them. The characters in the story are very symbolic in portraying society’s dislike for outsiders. The wolf is associated with cunning and devious animals that often kill innocent animals as food. That image is then reflected upon how foreigners are described. The sheep symbolize purity, which in this case, are citizens of Germany. The wolf’s attempts at disguising itself are parallel to foreigners integrating themselves into society so they can destroy it with little suspicion. This triggers a sense of danger in the natives of the country, and their response to possible foreign invasion is at times violent and cruel. Referring back to the example with the Nazi’s actions towards Jewish people, the contempt towards the Jewish people manifests itself through massive genocide. In comparison to the Grimm Brothers’ story, the Jewish people are the “wolves” that are attempting to integrate into and destroy the racial purity of German society, and the natives of the country have to combine forces to drive out unwanted invaders. A similar scenario is seen in “Little Red Riding Hood”, where the wolf “[looks] wickedly out of his great eyes” (Grimm 104), and plots to eat both Red Riding Hood and her grandmother. The wolf in this story is once again the invader of a country surrounded by peaceful citizens such as Red Riding Hood and her grandmother.
- Analysis: The ending of the wolf is similar
to the one in “The Wolf and the Seven Sheep”, where the wolf dies and everyone
else lives happily as a result. These stories contain traces of hate towards
alien citizens and how people should react to them. By having racist contents
in those stories, children who are growing up are exposed to understanding that
such hate is acceptable and encouraged. Growing up in an environment like that,
it is no surprise that racism is still a lingering issue in progressive
countries such as Germany.
Little Red Riding Hood
