Literary Analysis Essay on Hansel & Gretel: A Story of Hardship & Love

Introduction

A story that can kill you due to its exaggeration is that of two brothers, Hansel and Gretel, who lived in a small forest with their parents. Their father was a humble woodcutter who struggled, toiled, and worked hard enduring all sorts of suffering for the family. Despite the economic hardship that the family went through, the two children were blessed with different capabilities. Hansel was intelligent, gentle and loving, while Gretel had great artistic traits. She loved composing poems (Kemp, 2017). Nevertheless, she was cautious in her dealings. The children enjoyed spending most of their time skipping stones in the river some miles away from their homes.

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One time there came a severe famine that struck their home heavily. The famine brought about the massive division in the country. People started fighting for their survival. The societal bonds holding people together were broken. All that was left was hatred and a struggle for survival, angered family members turning against each other. The merchant survived by exercising their ultimate greatness in milking the poor. Therefore, those who were poor found it hard to survive as they drowned into abject poverty and starvation. Hansel's and Gretel's family was not an exception. The family struggled in an attempt to hold together as well as stay alive.

The recurrent sufferings and starvations slowly pushed the family into a state of selfishness. Hansel's mother, wondering how the heck they would survive, approached her husband with a proposal that was full of self-interest. The woman proposed that to survive the winter, they had to take drastic measures that involved abandoning their kids in the forest. Hell was breaking loose. The woman was angry wondering how on earth they could survive and to feed the kids. All they need was to reduce the number of mouths to feed, and the only way to do that was if the kids were gone. It was a damn apocalyptic moment where survival was all that mattered. It is strange how the hunger had struck humanity out of the woman to the point that she was ready to sacrifice her children to survive.

Hansel and Gretel, who were secretly listening to the conversation, were filled with immense sorrow and hatred towards their parents for planning to abandon them. Gretel wailed when she discovered that their mother did not need them anymore and that she had chosen her self-survival than her children. The next morning, Hansel rushed to the lake to collect the skipping stones as usual. However, he was well aware of the plans of their mother. When he came back, he found their mother preparing for a journey. The mother sadly told them how life was hard and how it was pushing them onto the walls. Her tone sounded more of a "goodbye" message to the children. They then embarked onto the journey deep into the thick, wooded forest, which was covered with a black sky and was as silent as a graveyard. As they progressed deeper and deeper into the woods, Hansel would drop the stones on their way to mark the routes that they had used.

When they reached the clear part of the forest, their mother ordered them to sit and excused herself that she was going to collect firewood, and would be back for them. The children were well aware of the nightmare that was to follow. The children waited and worried that wild animals would attack them if the worst were to come. Hansel and Gretel found their way back home after traveling the whole night. They were feeling exhausted and wasted. They were woken up by their parents' argument with their mother insisting that they had to go.

The mother takes the children, draws them into the forest once again, though in a different direction and dumps them there. The children having abandoned by their mother, feeling hungry and lonely, are lured into the trap of an old selfish and cold-blooded killer witch who feeds on young children. The old witch cages Hansel and uses Gretel to chop pieces of meat. However, the two siblings trick the old witch that there is a dragon that endangers her trickery. As a result, they manage to throw the witch into a pot full of hot boiling water. The witch dies and leaves all her fortune. Hansel and Gretel scramble for the gold and finds their way back home. On arriving home, they are struck by the news of their departed mother who mysteriously dies from food poisoning. Their father, feeling remorseful and full of regrets, apologizes for letting their mother abandon the kids in the forest. He eventually dies, leaving the children all alone. They use their newly-acquired wealth to survive as they enjoy their favorite stoning jumping and the bird's companionship in the river miles away.

References

Kemp, C. (2017). Hansel and Gretel: Four Beloved Tales (Multicultural Fairy Tales). The School Librarian, 65(1), 48.