In the essay, “Fairy Tales and The Existential Predicament”, which was written by Bruno Bettelheim, the author presents up fairy tales and boldly claims the ways in how children act in response to the fairy tales, who attain existential dilemmas, such as anxiety and teach a child how to deal with such dilemmas, which brings up the question, “According to Bettelheim, why are fairy tales good for children?”, and my response to such a question is that Bruno Bettelheim believes that fairy tales teach what’s morally right and what’s morally wrong to children, and there are some textual evidences that support such a claim that will be presented. Starting off, the first textual evidence of mine that supports my claim is on page 13, lines 172 to 17178 in which Bruno Bettelheim wrote, “The more simple and straightforward good character, the easier it is for a child to identify with it and to reject the bad other. The identifies with the good hero not because of his goodness, but the hero;s condition makes a deep positive appeal to him” My second textual excerpt that strengthens my claim is on page 12, lines 136 to 142 where Bruno Bettelheim has written, “Because of this identification the child imagines that he suffers with the hero his trials and tribulations, and triumphs with him as virtue is victorious. The child makes such identifications all on his own, and the inner and outer struggles of the hero imprint morality on him.” The third presentable piece of textual evidence that assists in validating my claim is on page 2, lines 18 to 21 within which Bruno Bettelheim wrote, “Even more important, the form and structure of fairy tales suggest images to the child by which he can structure his daydreams and with them give better direction to his life.” Lastly, the fourth and final textual quote that attains significance of supporting my claim is on page 11, lines 119 to 125 in which Bruno Bettelheim printed down, “Evil is not without its attractions – symbolized by the mighty giant or dragon, the power of the witch, the cunning queen in ‘Snow White’ – and often it is temporarily in ascendancy. In many fairy tales a usurper suceeds for a time in seizing the place which rightfully belongs to the hero—as the wicked sisters do in ‘Cinderella.’” To explain the meaning of these quotes, the first textual excerpt indicates that simple and noncomplex characters (for complex personalities would only confuse a child who thinks one is either good or bad) that are morally good and easy to understand, which makes the child identify him/her/it more easily and not chose the morally bad character as a result, relates to the child by enduring struggles and conditions that a child might also experience and ultimately, the hero appeals to a child and that child wants to be like the hero: morally good. Moving on to explain my second quote, within its text it shows that due to how fairy tales’ heros ultimately succeed in the story after going through several struggles, which, to the child reader, takes as his own success and therefore imprinting morality on the child, due to the moral imprinting of the child by fairy tales’ heros, a child becomes learns that by acting as hero, whom acts in a morally good manner, they will benefit in the end while acting like a fairy tales’ villain will end one up in defeat. Onward to the third quote, it holds the message of that the structure of fairy tales that shape a child’s daydreams and gives a child direction in life as a result includes morally good heroes that, as mentioned in the first and second quote, the child wants to be like, and thus, the direction in life that fairy tales give out includes a morally-driven direction due to how the morally-good hero affects the child. Finally, regarding the fourth quote, it shows that evil may look good in a child’s eyes, and thus, due to the benefits of being like fairy tales’ villains, child may wanted to be like those villains and thus, be evil as to gain their benefits. Now, to relate these quotes back to my claim, my first quote, which indicates fairy tales’ heroes relate to a child’s struggles, and as a result, having to the hero appeal him/her, a child wants to be like such a hero, ultimately showing that fairy tales, with its heroes, teach children what is morally right by presenting a morally-good person (the hero) and their actions to a child, and thus, to the child, the villain, who is the opposite of a hero, must the be a morally-wrong person and that their actions must be wrong also, and that is fairy tales teaching children right from wrong. My second quote, which shows that when fairy tales heroes do’ morally-good actions, while undertaking hardships like a child does, the child, due to the relationship between the heroes and themselves, identifies the heroes’ victories as their own and has the heroes’ morality imprinted on them, relates to my claim by having the child, who has the heroes’ morality imprinted on them, think that the way heroes act is how they should act and that the way the fairy tales’ villains act, which is the opposite of how the heroes act, is bad, and thus, due to fairy tales, a child understands right from wrong. My third quote, which shows that fairy tales’ structure, which includes heroes and villains, give a child direction within life and due the heroes’ moral goodness within fairy tales, the child’s direction in life is driven by good-nature, which is teaches a child of what’s right by giving them such a direction in life and what’s wrong by having the child identify the fairy tales’ villains, who, according to the child’s good-willed direction in life, is morally wrong. Finally, the fourth quote, which shows that evil and villains within fairy tales, with their benefits of being so, can be attractive to a child and thus, might tempt a child to be like a villain, relates to my claim by having the first and second evidence presented, which basically has fairy tales relates a child to fairy tale heroes’ struggles and indicates to a child that heroes’ are morally-good, support this quote and thus, a child, being more related to the heroes and their struggles, is not tempted from wanting to be like a fairy tales’ villains, who do not relate to them. (but perhaps at the conclusion of fairy tales with their consequences and struggles of being evil; however, by then it is too late) Instead, a child wants to be like a fairy tales’ heroes who endure struggles at first but overcomes those hardships and emerges victorious at the end of fairy tales, and by identifying how the good heroes act as opposed to how the bad villains act, a child will thus be tempted to act in like a good hero due to that child’s strive to be similar to fairy tales’ heroes and know not to be like a bad villain, for, according the fairy tale, they are the opposite of the heroes. While there are many claims to answer the question that was asked before, my claim, which is that Bruno Bettelheim believes that fairy tales teach what’s morally right and what’s morally wrong to children, is my answer to the question, as it has a great deal of textual excerpts supporting it, many of which were not presented within this text, while some other claims, such as that fairy tales help children escape real life problems, may not have as many mediums of itself, and with that said, that was my response to the question, “Why does Bruno Bettelheim think fairy tales are good for children?”, regarding the essay, “Fairy Tales and the Existential Dilemma”.