Grimm's Tales Allow Children to Grapple with their Fears

The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales
by Bruno Bettleheim
A 1976 book by Austrian-born American psychologist Bruno Bettelheim in which he analyzes fairy tales in terms of Freudian psychoanalysis.

In the book, Bettelheim discusses the emotional and symbolic importance of fairy tales for children, including traditional tales at one time[clarification needed] considered too dark, such as those collected and published by the Brothers Grimm. Bettelheim suggested that traditional fairy tales, with the darkness of abandonment, death, witches, and injuries, allowed children to grapple with their fears in remote, symbolic terms. If they could read and interpret these fairy tales in their own way, he believed, they would get a greater sense of meaning and purpose. Bettelheim thought that by engaging with these socially evolved stories, children would go through emotional growth that would better prepare them for their own futures.