Hansel and Gretel find their way into the 21st century. This is a look at the Grimm Brothers' beloved story from a postmodern perspective.

1. Gretel’s Story:
Finding the Way
Home
by Jean Reynolds,
Ph.D.

2. The story of
Hansel and
Gretel is very old.
It was probably
around for
hundreds of
years before the
Grimm Brothers
wrote it down.

3. Some parts of the story may have originated in the Great
Famine (1315 – 1321).

4. Historians say that desperate parents abandoned their
children in order to save themselves.

5. The story has lived on and taken many forms.

6. It remains popular with children…

7. …and with adults.

8. Folklorists have been
intrigued by Hansel and
Gretel…

9. …and so have psychologists.

10. The story is
rich
in themes.

11. Hansel and Gretel struggle with…
 good vs. evil
 a dysfunctional family
 abandonment
 betrayal
 emptiness
 hunger
 fear
 loyalty
 courage
 carbohydrates
 strength vs. weakness
 power

12. ―Hansel and Gretel‖ is the
only fairy tale whose central
character isn’t royal or
endowed with magical
powers…or male.
The heroine is a young girl.

13. Many elements in the
story seem to
foreshadow modern
life.
Poor Hansel, locked in
a cage to get fat while
Gretel waits on him, is
an early version of a
couch potato.

14. Today we’re going to talk some important ideas
embedded in the story of Hansel and Gretel.

15. First let’s think about what
an ―idea‖ is.
An ―idea‖ is a tool.
Some ideas are useful.
Some aren’t.

16. An idea that works in one situation might not be helpful in
another.

17. 1. Psychologists have two ways of defining what the
human organism is all about.

18. One group of psychologists
takes a common-sense
view. Human beings are
simple organisms: What you
see is what you get.

19. Other psychologists
believe that we
humans are complex
and mysterious.
Often we don’t know
who we are and what
we want.

20. Where would you be on this line?

21. 2. Most people have three approaches to solving difficult
problems.

22. Sometimes we go to a
doctor for a diagnosis and a
remedy.

23. …or a teacher to learn skills
and problem-solving
strategies…

24. …or a spiritual guide
or guru to lift us out of
the dark places within
us.

25. 3. We often overlook a
fourth resource: The
mysteries hidden within
ourselves.

26. Look What They Done to My Song
Look what they done to my song, ma!
Look what they done to my song, ma.
It was the only thing that I could do half right
And it's turning out all wrong, ma.
Look what they done to my song!

27. Let’s meet the witch and do something unusual with
her: We’re going to look for her resources.

28. She’s surrounded by delicious food.

29. She has immense wealth
inside her cottage.

30. She has a relationship with
a male who is caring,
industrious, and smart.

31. She has a human heart that
she can turn on when she
wants to.

32. Now let’s meet Hansel and Gretel’s stepmother and see
what her resources are.

33. She has a hard-working
husband with a loving
heart.

34. She has two healthy,
smart, and loving children.

35. She has a home in a beautiful forest.

36. But both the witch
and the stepmother
are lacking three
vital qualities:
•The courage to
change
•The ability to
muster their
resources
•The ability to love

37. At the end of the story, both women are dead.

38. But Hansel and Gretel
return home to begin
a new and better life.

39. They have the three vital
qualities needed to survive
and thrive:
•The courage to change
•The ability to muster their
resources
•The ability to love

40. Imagination is an
important resource that
many of us overlook. Let’s
apply it to three common
problems:
•anger
•depression
•impossible love

41. Anger
Whose voice are you
hearing? What is it saying?

42. Depression: Are you wet
with tears and drowning…

43. Or dry and stony?

44. Impossible love:
Who is the
mystery lover
inside you, and
what is that
person longing
for?

45. What secrets and
mysteries are hidden
inside you today—right
now?

46. Gretel’s Story:
Finding the Way
Home
by Jean Reynolds,
Ph.D.