tories, fairytales and myths

Stories, fairytales and myths that were created thousand years ago are relevant today. These folklores have provided the basis for some cultures and in some cultures is a way of life. Stories and fairytales are relevant today, because they often have hidden meanings, which are often times used as examples in everyday life. Take for instance the story of the Tortoise and the Hare, this story shows that being big and strong does not help you to win, but using your wits and your brain is what helps you to overcome certain things. It also teaches us today, that slow and steady won the race and it never pays to be in a hurry and brag about how good you are.

The story of Cinderella is relevant to today’s society as, you still have a lot of Cinderalla’s around. Especially the part about the wicked stepmother and how her siblings treated her. This story of Cinderella is all too real within our present day society, and it is up to us to rescue the Cinderalla’s of our time. Greek mythologies are very important and relevant to today’s society. From the story of Pandora we have the concept of beautiful evil, which is still prevalent in our society. Pandora was the image of a perfect, beautiful woman, she was created to please the eye and deceive mankind.

This idea of a ‘beautiful evil’ is still present in today’s society. In the mass media viewers are constantly bombarded with images of beautiful women in sexual roles and evil roles. Women are often portrayed as gifts to men and then become detrimental to them. This ‘good girl gone bad’ image has its roots in Pandora’s myth. Pandora was a perfect, beautiful woman when Epimetheus took her as his wife. But Pandora was a little too curious. Her weakness and inferior mind led her to open the container and release all of the evils onto mankind.

Stories today form the basis of many cultures, as stories in some cultures are handed down from generation to generation, to teach life lessons and illustrate the folly of mankind. Often time’s stories are used as references and examples, when disciplining a troublesome child or are used as a way to inform a person of the consequences of their actions. An example of this is the story of the Boy Who Cried Wolf. This little boy cried wolf so many times that he was not believed when the wolf actually came and took the sheep.

This serves as a lesson to would be liars, children and even adults who like to play pranks. The moral of the story is that, sometimes when you lie or make things up a lot, it is very hard for anyone to believe you. In the end the young boy learned his lesson. Some people argue that stories, fairytales and myths are rubbish and have no relevance in today’s society, but in my opinion, they do give relevance to the meaning of life, and what it is to love and live. You can live and not be happy. Fairytales especially, the ones like Cinderella make you believe in happy endings. Happy endings still exist today, regardless of what people think.

The story of Hansel and Gretel has a moral to it, that appearances are deceiving. This is very true in today’s society. Appearances among people are very deceiving and often times, you get trapped by the very person that seems to want to help you, only to destroy or try to destroy you in the end. To me the fairytale of Hansel and Gretel speak of caution and cautions people to beware of who they are around. I also think that Hansel and Gretel is a great story for teaching children not to trust strangers and to be aware of the people they are around. In conclusion, stories, fairytales, and myths are just as relevant a today as they were thousands of years ago.

Works Cited

1. Tyree, R. (1998). Pandora. Retrieved April 15, 2008, from http://www.arthistory.sbc.edu/imageswomen/papers/tyreepandora/pandora.html