Legacies Introduction:The Struggle For Meaning

After reading this essay by Bruno Bettelheim on childhood development I was intrigued at how he views fairy tales in such high esteem and influential on the mental growth of a child. I have always thought about how we as human beings grow and what affects us as we grow and develop mentally to adapt to our society. I have never thought so in depth though and I found myself reflecting many times during the reading on how we as humans ascertain the meaning of our existence through imagination and thought. I was amazed to see the connection between what we as children have read and learned and how we may perceive things when we get older. I had never thought though about how fairy tales have played a role in this and I was surprised to see such a evident connection.