Jack and the Beanstalk

     Jack and the Beanstalk, an interesting fairytale concept which stimulates the imagination of children. To summarize the story briefly, it began when Jack, who was from a poor family went to the market to sell his family's cow to earn some money or food. However, he was offered five magical beans which eventually grew so high that it connects both the world of humans and a family of giants. With this, Jack discovered this family of giant and began to steal precious belonging from the giant and was chased after the third attempt. Finally the beanstalk was chopped and the giant along with it fell to the ground and the giant was killed. As any other fairytale, Jack and the mother lived happily ever after.

      The interesting aspect of this story was that it is logical in some way. At those times, the only thing which could possibly grew so high without much help would be plants. As it was magical beans, it was much believable that such incident could actually occur. If it had been a tower or some sort, then I guess even children would not believe such structure could have been build within a day or so. On the other hand, it allows the imagination of children to expand. For an example, we often do not see the other side of the cloud. So this fairytale portrays possibilities of a world that was hidden above the clouds, waiting to be discovered. Furthermore, it provides excitement and suspense as Jack were exposed to dangerous situations at times. With all this put into place, this fairytale definitely play its role as an adventure story.

      However, if this fairytale was chosen to teach children moral value, I would give a double thumbs down. Why? Simply because the character, Jack, went up to the giant's house three times to steal possession. Yeah, I know he is poor, but wasn't the first bag of gold good enough? To top it, he actually stole a hen which could lay golden egg continuously. Honestly, that was already good enough. But, Jack wasn't satisfy and went up to steal the golden harp. If the giant hadn't came chasing after him, I'm sure Jack would have continue stealing. I'm not sure about you, but it seems like there is an element of greed here. Well, I even pitied the giant, he was killed for trying to claim back his possession, sounds like a victim of snatch thief or robbery don't you think?

     To conclude, the story of Jack and the Beanstalk is a very interesting adventure story. But I personally believe it does not deliver good moral values as compared to stories such as Hansel and Gretel.