cont. of Levi-Strauss

Personal illustration work to help aid understanding in Binary opposition

“Levi-Strauss’ anthropology leads us towards a philosophy of the priori. But this priori is not grounded in the genetic and biological constitution of the individual. It is imposed upon the individual by the society, so, although the individual interprets personal sensory experience through classifications, categories and concepts, these are not universally given and fixed from birth.” (Harland, 31)

Understanding Levi-Strauss’ structuralist concepts, it is understood that he believed in society to be the guiding force to the building of an individual. Levi-Strauss thus took myths (he writes, ‘folktales in one society are known to be myths in another, and vice versa. This is the first reason to beware of arbitrary classifications.”[176]), thus when the term mythology is applied here, he regards it as a form of folklore) into critical evaluation. He has been quoted to say,

“All myths have a similar socio-cultural function within society. That is, the purpose of myth is to make the world explicable, to magically resolve its problems and contradictions. As he contends, ‘mythical thought always progresses from the awareness of oppositions toward their resolution…the purpose of myth is to provide a logical capable of overcoming a contradiction’ (Storey, 61-62).

Levi-Strauss’ thought was that with using myths, or other folk stories, humans as a societal group banish contradictions in order to create a more understandable and habitable world. His furthering on this subject lead to his idea of binary oppositions, an important struggle between two polar forces, such as lightness and darkness, evil versus good, and so on. This methodology makes a much more visible divide in folktales, and an easier choice in following what’s right. In this method of understanding two opposites, we learn to understand the strength of one. In understanding ‘good’, for instance, we need to know and acknowledge the ‘bad’ to appreciate how defined and contrasted good is.

Introducing Claude Levi-Strauss

Another imminent quality that folktales possess is their ability to spread and grow outwards and upwards. This being that folktales have the ability to spread over to different expanses of the world, as well as into the modern era, and still preserve their value in promoting good human character. Claude Levi- Strauss, a twentieth-century anthropologist and structuralist became particularly interested in the subject of how society impacts a person. Levi-Strauss took a particular interest into the human’s mind and their understandings on value taught through the person’s given civilization, especially taking an interest in more ‘primitive’ societal workings and the idea of mythology in folklore (Sarup, 38). Levi-Strauss has been a theorist better noted for his sensitivity towards folklore and it’s extreme impacts on more isolated societies (such as the aborigines). His belief is that folktales and mythology stand as so much more in terms of raising society than most westerners take them to be. In many outer societies, folktales serve as a sermon, if you will, as it binds their society and enforces cultural beliefs. This idea of storytelling to bring society together is not too far from home, as religions, such as Christianity congregate every week to hear stories pertaining to their faith.

Folk Structure and Vladimir Propp

“Propp explains that the important thing is what characters do, not what they feel, think they are doing, intend to do, or say they will do. That is, a character’s function is crucial, the function being, as I pointed out earlier, the character’s actions relative to other main components of the story.” (Berger, 28)

Propp strains the ideas that actions are what fuels the story, using the example of Rapunzel, the main points in the story can be retraced through characters actions. I. Rapunzel’s Father steals rapunzel plant and is caught, II. Rapunzel raised by witch, locked in tower, III. Prince hears singing, investigates (uses trickery to meet Rapunzel), IV. Witch learns something from victim (in this case Rapunzel is victim, who reveals pregnancy), V. Witch punishes Rapunzel (casts into the forest after shearing her hair, and deceives Prince (who is dropped from the tower- is also ‘branded’ by becoming blind in accident), VI. After years of searching, Prince hears Rapunzel’s voice, VII. Rapunzel’s tears heal Prince (transfiguration), VIII. Prince is restored to the throne, with Rapunzel as his bride (wedding).
However basic this story structure may seem, it encloses many complex situations. The simplistic outline of this classic folktale gives room for the reader to interpret the text in any which way into a teaching. Children and adults alike can still gain knowledge from such a tale. Children can walk away with ideas as varying as, ‘love conquers all’, or ‘everything has a consequence’. Adults can take this folktale as a reminder that innocence outgrows, and that no parent can cling to their child forever. The beauty of folktales is that with each retelling new ideas and angles to the tale are perceived.

Understanding folk structure

Folklore has such a breadth and deep-rooted history that it has a theorist of it’s own. Russian scholar, Vladimir Propp studied one hundred Russian folktales and found a story system that is found in essentially all narratives.

“Propp asserts that there are only a limited number of functions (31), and that the sequence of functions found in folktales and fairy tales is always identical- all such stories have the same structure.” (Berger, 24)

Though Propp’s studies are only based on his localized Russian folktales, his studies helped formulate a story framework that covers not only folktales around the world, but also most narratives. Propp asserts that there are no more than these thirty-one given functions, that one function develops with reference to another function and lastly, that functions arrange themselves in pairs (or binary oppositions, such as villainy versus heroism). If we look at the classic German folktale, Rapunzel and use Vladimir Propp’s formula, we can find 15 functions used throughout this text. Some of these functions include interdiction, violation, complicity, villainy, branding, and transfiguration, and all details of the story are covered- from start to climax to finish, with the use of these functions. In Propp’s understanding of folktales, he also includes a list of do-ers, characters that enable functions within the story. The characters in Rapunzel, for example, include a villain (the enchantress that keeps Rapunzel locked away), the princess (in this case, the ‘virginal’ Rapunzel), and the hero (the prince who comes to free Rapunzel).

Looking into Folklore

In definition, folktales are distinguished as not only written legends, but have a more wide-spreading medium consisting of music, proverbs, and oral history. According to Madronna Holden,

“Folklore passes on the information and wisdom of human experience from generation to generation. In this sense folklore is the original and persistent technology that gave us human culture in the first place by allowing us to build on our experience over the generations.”

The lessons taught through folktales are thus incredibly valuable in the sense that it not only teaches children lessons for them to abide by, but to also learn creative processes and similar alternatives to deal with problems they face. However one of the most important factors of folklore and the teachings of folklore is not the story itself, but the social atmosphere it creates between elder and child. As earlier stated by Piaget, children begin their outermost learning through their surroundings and the people in their life. Teachings told through any member of their constructed social circle are very pivotal in a child’s development. The understanding and passing of folk tales is an important custom in both children and adults development. Regardless of how differing people and their cultures are around the world, folktales play an important role in raising morale, intelligence and creativity in humanity.

Introducing Piaget

To first understand how influencing stories and images are to children’s development, it is crucial to understand how a child’s mind works and takes in information. Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist best known for his extensive studies into children’s development shows valuable insight to the way children think socially. Piaget writes,

“The human being is immersed right from birth in a social environment which affects him just as much as his physical environment. Society, even more, in a sense, than the physical environment, changes the very structure of the individual, because it not only compels him to recognize facts, but also provides him with a ready-made system of signs, which modify his thought.” (Piaget, 171)

This idea is backed with three main steps of how a child learns and assimilates themselves in their society. These steps come when a child acquires a basic ability to comprehend language. The first step in a child’s understanding is the recognizing of collective signs. However, this understanding may not be complete, and the child must ‘play out’ and interpret ideas through gestures, or creative means- such as drawing and construction. The second step is a better understanding that,

“Language conveys to the individual an already prepared system of ideas, classifications, relations-in short, an inexhaustible stock of concepts which are reconstructed in each individual after the age old pattern which previously moulded earlier generations.” (Piaget, 175).

This step is particularly valid in understanding why folk tales are still retold and used in modern times after centuries of use. The socially benefitting ideas and morals told in folk tales are still rendered useful and true to what’s encouraged into today’s society. The third step in a child’s intellectual growth is his external learning, the relations held with fellow beings and the outside world. This step will thus be the main method of learning from then on, as the child will be able to then on have more intensive exchanges of values and forced to accept more obligatory truths. Because of this statement, it is also useful in this step to bring up the main ideas of folk tales to understand the connections they already make towards young children.

Introduction

Children, as well as adults are in states of constant absorption with not only the world around them but also with their understandings of what is right and wrong within society. Though humans are born with a subconscious awareness of what’s ethically just, folktales, fables and other morally awakening texts and images help aid growth in becoming a more righteous human being. These important influences from these written media sources help mold the minds of society to become heroic figures, to fight off undesirable qualities and the overall bad that appears in the world. With the influence of theorists, Jean Piaget, Vladimir Propp and Claude Levi-Strauss, we can grasp the importance of folktales and their still prevalent impact in modern day’s society.