In her “An excursus
on significant meals”, an analysis on the meaning of food in children’s
books, Maria Nikolajeva takes eating as an initiation rite since it’s
closely connected to death and resurrection. Eating can be a part of a
rite of passage: death, as getting eaten by a monster (e.g. the whale
for Jonah or the wolf for the Little Red Riding Hood) or a transfer
between two worlds, as participating in a meal leading to the
Otherworld (e.g. under the spell of the White Witch by the enchanted
Turkish delight Edmund tastes in Narnia or to resurrection by the Holy
Communion). “Like all mythical elements in literature, rituals around
food have their origins in the most basic aspects of human behaviour,
connected with archaic beliefs of life, death and rebirth, and hence
also sexuality, fertility and procreation (Nikolajeva).” However, the
original motifs and meanings of symbols in folktales became more
obscure when they were rewritten to fairy tales with suit pedagogical
purposes.
In his anthropological study “The Raw and the
Cooked” Claude Lévi-Strauss’s claims that in archaic thought food was
devised in “own” and “alien”. The own food was seen as good, natural
and pure and the alien food as the opposite. Remnants of these notions
can be seen in some religions prohibitions against certain foods (e.g.
pork in Islam). This explains why strange food in fairy tales more
often depicts danger than safety.
“The prohibition of
cannibalism is one of the first steps of human civilization. The
meaning of cannibalism is that by eating up your enemy you inherit his
powers. There exists a habit of eating up the eldest man in the tribe
to inherit his wisdom. Later this changes into ritual meals. To eat a
symbolical figure signifies receiving magical power. To eat and be
eaten are two interchangeable notions, which is seen in the Christian
tradition's most important sacrament, the Holy Communion. Jesus
prescribed that His "body" be eaten, symbolizing a union of those who
eat and Him who is being eaten, which together signifies a victory over
death and a promise of resurrection. There is a very old archaic rite
at the source of this. Thus in archaic thought there is a direct
connection between food and sexuality, and between certain food
restrictions and certain marriage restrictions, such as incest. Incest
and cannibalism, two extreme forms of behaviour, are in some archaic
languages described by the same word (same).”
For me, at first
the allusion food-equals-sex seemed a bit too Freudian as the allusion
food-equals-security was easier to swallow. In Harry Potter books,
every time Harry is anxious, he is unable to eat anything – this even
becomes an irritating gesture as it’s repeated formulaic without
exceptions. In the Chronicles of Narnia, the lack of box lunches makes
the children notice the lack of their parents and other reliable adults
who would solve their problems for them: in Narnia, they’re on their
own. Happily they get friends and bond with them by eating together –
they’re not alone, after all. Still, they have to be independent from
their parents and grow up as the support from their equals cannot
replace the complete security of early childhood’s paradise.
What
comes to the apples Eve and Snow White bite, I had never realized the
connection between them so it was splendid when Nikolajeva came to
think of it. In the Bible, Eve is good and innocent until she tastes
the forbidden fruit, often depicted as an apple. As long as she obeys
her father the Almighty, she is only an innocent child, but by
rebelling against his orders she becomes independent. The end of
childhood also means the end of the carefree life she was able to lead
as a child. From the moment she enters the adult’s world by having sex
with Adam, she has to cope on her own. Even if she’s not completely
equal with him, their relationship is much more equal than the one
between a child and a parent. And, as she becomes a mother herself, she
becomes the one making up the rules and saying what’s allowed and
what’s not.
For children the superficial moral of the apple in
Snow White is to avoid the strangers who offer goodies. Strange people
can be dangerous and should not be trusted only because they seem nice
and promise to offer fruits or candy. On the deeper level her biting
the apple can be seen as a symbol of sex and rebellion against her
parents: she must have been told a million times not to take goodies
from strangers, so as she does it, she exposes herself to new and
stimulating experiences. Snow White is sick and tired of being told
what to do, the more because of the circumstances where her parents
have failed to keep her in a safe paradise. Now that she has had to
leave the secure home she might as well see what the world has to
offer.
But, as she is in no way prepared to her adventure, she
is unable to handle it and becomes paralyzed. The ugly old witch has
gone too far, she only wanted to taste the apple but was not ready to
eat it until the end. Happily her next lover is tenderer and is ready
to take it more slowly. The prince isn’t only after sex, but falls in
love with her and is willing to offer her the life she longs after.
sunnuntai, 18. maaliskuu 2007
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