The Grimm Brothers Goldilocks and the Three Bears

I remember, from childhood, the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Looking more closely at this fable, certain things are clear. First, the three Bears take on anthropomorphic or human qualities within a nuclear family. This means that there’s a distortion of reality, and we are now talking about a fantasy world in which bears live in a house that has table, 3 kitchen chairs, 3 bowls and utensils in the kitchen. This house also had 3 other chairs in a different part of the house-the living room. There was also a second floor with a bedroom that has three beds, apparently in that single room. What a middle-class family with the basic amenities. Note, it’s not a cabin in the woods, but a house in the forest.

The only emotions or feelings exhibited by this bear family were anger and apparent fear and surprise. The father bear came across as expressing only anger. He growled, suggesting anger on three separate occasions. The first was when he noticed that someone took a bite out of his porridge. Was this father hungry, angry that someone dear took a bite out of his food or angry about the intrusion? How did he know that somebody sat in his chair and why would that elicit anger? Was that chair his narcissistic possession, and an expression of his authoritarian character?  He also growled when he noticed that somebody had been lying in his bed. Was the bedding messed up, and did this disturb this compulsive bear’s lack of order and control. In essence, the theme and characterization of the father bear was only that this bear was growing over minimal circumstances. Are fathers generally angry is the message.

The mother bear, on the other hand, exhibited no emotion. It didn’t matter whether someone ate her porridge, sat in her chair, or even slept in her separate bed. She was certainly a noncontroversial figure and somewhat inconsequential to the story. Perhaps she was the peacekeeper or the go-between. But based on the story, she just told the facts and expressed that clearly or robotic like.  Are mothers without emotion and follow their authoritarian and dominating husbands around without opinion? Or, does this traditional mother figure stuff and repress emotions and not very 21^st-century like?

Now for the baby bear. The baby bear consistently cried, perhaps from anxiety or fear or even hunger as in the case of not having any food. This baby bear also cried pointing out that its chair was broken. We don’t know the sex of that baby bear so whether or not crying was appropriate and/or the result of the controlling “parenting” of the father bear. Single children certainly do not like to share when they are the center of attention-was that crying just attention seeking? This baby bear exhibited immature crying behavior. However, the baby bear exclaimed-either surprise or anxiety when finding Goldilocks in its bed.

Goldilocks, on the other hand, exhibited intrusive and criminal like behavior by entering a house with apparently no one there. She just walked right in. She was also self-centered and narcissistic, and likely got her way because one porridge bowl was too hot while the second porridge ball was too cold. She didn’t cool off the first porridge bowl or heat the second porridge bowl. She devoured and ate up the third bowl exhibiting a feeling of being happy. It is apparent that her conscience had no limits. She was not thinking that she was doing anything incorrect. Hungry Goldilocks simply enjoyed eating someone else’s food. She was just meeting her own selfish, egocentric and hunger needs.

Being hungry, she went into the living room to sit down. This time she exhibited the emotion of “exclaimed”-maybe irritation or annoyance, along with whining about the second chair. She didn’t like the fit in the first two chairs and simply liked, with a sigh, the third chair. However, it didn’t bother her when she broke the chair. She made no effort to fix it or make amends. Once again responsible behavior was not exhibited while sitting in the chairs. While going upstairs to the bedroom and lying down in the three beds, she expressed no emotion whatsoever. Goldilocks just went to sleep. However, when she woke up, she was frightened by screaming help and was now the victim. She was a perpetrator in the story and now she becomes the victim. She ran out of the room, ran down the stairs and ran away into the forest. Appropriately, she never returned or broke into that home again.

Some of the messages and ideas that I learned at an early age from this fable were as follows: 1. Father types or authority figures are angry and displeased when things are not compulsively in order. It’s easy to angrily upset this cold human type. They don’t think, they just react angrily when things don’t go their way. They want to be in control at all times. They are scary figures.

 2. Mother types are subservient and passive in the household hierarchy. They are in second place and follow the father type. They also do not express emotion and simply repress their feelings. As a result, we don’t know what they’re thinking or feeling. We don’t have a clue with their robotic like responses. We don’t know what bothers them-could it be intrusion, eating one’s food, sitting in one’s chair, sleeping in one’s bed or even witnessing a baby’s chair broken?

 3. All babies do is cry. They cry about eaten food, having a broken chair-the baby is the victim in this story. Babies can be taken advantage of, because all they do is cry as opposed to saying what’s bothering them.

 4. A white human female disrespects someone below their station in life. They can take advantage and enter any house they want, eat someone’s food, sit in anyone’s chair-even break it and sleep in anyone’s bed. It doesn’t matter. This privileged white female has no obligation other than to dominate and take advantage of the situation. However, when confronted, she becomes the victim. In essence, the perpetrator takes advantage and then becomes victimized in the process. Poor me, help me forget that I am the perpetrator.

This in human fable fantasy or illusion taught me a lot and what I learned is not to repeat it to anyone other than to make a point of its unhealthiness.