The power of stories: the feminine journey towards the psychological growth in a popular Brazilian Folk Tale
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33448/rsd-v11i6.29329Keywords:
Psychoanalysis; Folk tale; Female.Abstract
The association between literature and psychology, specifically with psychoanalysis, is quite broad. Folktales, like fairy tales, present several themes that can be related to growth and psychological well-being. The aim of this article is to analyze, under the perspective of psychoanalysis, a Brazilian popular tale from European origin, collected by Silvio Romero and published in the volume called Contos Populares do Brasil (1954), which brings together Brazilian folk tales of European, Indian and African origin. The article focuses in a story collected in Rio de Janeiro, namely, A Mulher e a Filha bonita. In this sense, it was decided to use as theoretical framework the ideas proposed by Bettelheim (2003), Corso and Corso (2006) and Chevalier and Gueerbrant (2008), in order to perceive how images and concepts present in this popular tale reveal elements of the human psyche. The tale analyzed, namely, A Mulher e a Filha bonita, from the beginning present the maternal envy, and after that several themes from the female psyche are presented, among which the desire to become a wife and a mother are highlighted, desires that require maturation and important internal changes, which are visualized in the protagonist's struggles throughout the construction of the narrative. What is evident from the analysis developed is a transformation of the girl into a woman, because the protagonist faces challenges, dilemmas and crises that result in a lot of transformations and the maturation of her personality throughout her journey.
References
Assis, N. D. P. D., Visintin, C. D. N., Borges, A. D. A. B., & Aiello-Vaisberg, T. M. J. (2020). Mulher, mãe e filha cuidadora: imaginários coletivos sobre relações intergeracionais. Psicologia Clínica, 32(2), 213-230.
Barsotti, S. (2015). The fairy tale: recent interpretations, female characters and contemporary rewriting. Considerations about an “irresistible” genre. Ricerche Di Pedagogia E Didattica. Journal of Theories and Research in Education, 10(2), 69–80. https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1970-2221/5356
Bastos, G. M. (2015). A importância dos contos de fadas na infância. Trabalho de conclusão de curso. Programa da Faculdade de Educação da Universidade de Brasília, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília.
Bettelheim, B. (2003). A psicanálise dos contos de fada. Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra.
Borges, H. P., & Rodrigues, R. F. (2018). A tradição dos contos de fadas e a sobrevivência de matrizes culturais femininas nas narrativas cinematográficas infantis. R. Inter. Interdisc. INTERthesis, 15(2),109-127. 10.5007/1807-1384.2018v15n3p109
Carvalho, R. Z. (2009). Contos de Fadas: Um percurso histórico-Literário das imagens da mulher. Dissertação de mestrado – Faculdade de Letras, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo.
Ceccarelli, P. R. (2017). Psicanálise, sexo e gênero. Estudos de Psicanálise, (48), 135-145.
Chevalier, J., & Gheerbrant, A. (2006). Dicionário de Símbolos. José Olympio.
Corso, D. L., & Corso, M. (2006). Fadas no Divã: Psicanálise nas histórias infantis. Artmed.
Filha, C. (2011). Era uma vez uma princesa e um príncipe: representações de gênero nas narrativas de crianças. Estudos Feministas, 19(2), 591-603. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24327959
Girardot, N. J. (1977). Initiation and Meaning in the Tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The Journal of American Folklore, 90(357), 274-300.
Grafanaki, S., & McLeod, J. (1999). Narrative processes in the construction of helpful and hindering events in experimental psychotherapy. Psychotherapy Research, 9(3), 289-303.
Griessel, L., & Kotzé, M. (2022). The Psychological Pattern and Types of the Puella Aeterna in Post-modern Women. Psychological Studies, 1-10.
Gutfreind, C. (2003). O terapeuta e o lobo: a utilização do conto na psicoterapia da criança. São Paulo: Casa do Psicólogo.
Hogan, P. C. (2003). The mind and its stories: Narrative universals and human emotion. Cambridge University Press.
Holmes, J. (2000). Narrative in psychiatry and psychotherapy: the evidence? Journal of Medical Ethics, 26: 92-96.
Hohr, H. (2000). Dynamic aspects of fairy tales: Social and emotional competence through fairy tales. Scandinavian journal of educational research, 44(1), 89-103.
Koutsompou, V. E. (2016). The Child and the Fairy Tale: The Psychological Perspective of Children’s Literature. International Journal of Languages, Literature and Linguistics, 2(4), 213-218.
Kretchmar, M. D., & Jacobvitz, D. B. (2002). Observing mother-child relationships across generations: Boundary patterns, attachment, and the transmission of caregiving. Family Process, 41(3), 351-374.
Margison, F. (2020). Idiomatic Expressions and Somatic Experience in Psychoanalysis: Relational and inter-subjective perspectives: by Ravit Raufman, London, Routledge, 2018, 130 pp.
Mazurega, J. C. (2019). Um olhar psicanalítico sobre o padrão de beleza feminino na atualidade.25pp. Trabalho de Conclusão de Curso (Graduação). Atibaia. Centro Universitário UNIFAAT.
Mercer, R. T. (2004). Becoming a Mother Versus Maternal Role Attainment. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 36(3), 226-232.
Novaes, J. V., & de Vilhena, J. (2003). De cinderela a moura torta: sobre a relação mulher, beleza e feiura. Interações, 8(15), 9-36.
Pennebaker, J. W. (2000). Telling stories: the health benefits of narrative. Literature and Medicine, 19: 3-18.
Pinheiro, I. M. (2020). Sapatos e ritmos dos passos: notas sobre" Preciosidade", de Clarice Lispector. Revista da Anpoll, 51, 75-82.
Pulimeno, M., Piscitelli, P., & Colazzo, S. (2020). Children’s literature to promote students’ global development and wellbeing. Health Promotion Perspectives, 10(1), 13.
Radino, G. (2001). Oralidade, um estado de escritura. Psicologia em Estudo, 6(2), 73-79.
Romero, S. (1954). Contos Populares do Brasil. José Olympio.
Schanoes, V. L. (2016). Fairy tales, myth, and psychoanalytic theory: Feminism and retelling the tale. Routledge.
Silva, H. C. D., & Rey, S. (2011). A beleza e a feminilidade: um olhar psicanalítico. Psicologia: ciência e profissão, 31, 554-567.
Simões, D. S. C., & de Oliveira, L. R. (2021). A perspectiva psicanalítica do conto de fadas cinderela. RECIMA21-Revista Científica Multidisciplinar-ISSN 2675-6218, 2(10), e210733-e210733.
Tatar, M. (2004). Contos de Fadas: edição comentada e ilustrada. Jorge Zahar.
Violetta-Eirini, K. (2016). The child and the fairy tale: The psychological perspective of children’s literature. International Journal of Languages, Literature and Linguistics, 2(4), 213-218.
Wee, S. J., Kim, K. J., & Lee, Y. (2019). ‘Cinderella did not speak up’: critical literacy approach using folk/fairy tales and their parodies in an early childhood classroom. Early Child Development and Care, 189(11), 1874-1888.
Zehetner, A. (2013). Why fairy tales are still relevant to today`s children. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, 49(2), 161-162.
Zipes, J. (2013). Why fairy tales stick: The evolution and relevance of a genre. Routledge.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Sarah Aline Roza
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
1) Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
2) Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
3) Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
