Date of Award

2015

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Wallace, Miriam

Keywords

Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Feminism, Women, Gender, Adaptations

Area of Concentration

Literature

Abstract

This thesis examines contemporary adaptations of the Grimm Brothers’ Snow White and Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid. I argue that following Disney’s popular adaptations of these two tales, feminists responded with adaptations that reflected modern concerns. These adaptations also reflected the ways in which fairy tale heroines are often silenced and pushed into the margins by their authors. The adaptations that I examine include Gail Carson Levine’s Fairest, Barbara Walker’s “Snow Night,” Angela Carter’s “The Snow Child,” Carolyn Turgeon’s Mermaid, and Laura Antoniou’s “The Little Urban Maid.” This thesis is informed by Second- and Third-Wave feminism, and is particularly interested in the function of the reader’s response to fairy tales and why they are so flexible to adaptation.

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