Jack’s Transformation in Jack and the Beanstalk Essay -- Jack and the

asshole and the Beanstalk bastards Transformation jack up and the Beanstalk is an example of a Buildungsroman. As the tale progresses, Jack evolves from an immature person into a mature, self-assertive person. While minor differences exist in various versions of the tale, such as those between Joseph Jacobs and Horace Elisha Scudders versions, the tale can perpetually be read as Jacks quest for due date. Some critics, however, analyze the tale as one in which Jack remains spoiled and immature. While they absorb points which support their claims, careful analysis of the tale will reveal that Jacks struggle to grow up and to achieve maturity is representative of the difficult process of puerile (especially male) maturation and the process of adolescent socialization. Some critics, as previously stated, maintain that Jack does not mature or learn any lesson during the tale. For example, Nell B. Byers writes that Jack is a fellow who makes what would not be thought of as a prudent investment who is not above trickery in outwitting the giants wife who steals the giants treasures and who, having killed the giant, lives with his mother gayly ever afterward in affluence (26). Byers statement would lead one to believe that Jack does not change very much. Granted, a literal interpret of most versions of the tale supports Byers statements. Jack appears to be an immature, spoiled brat, or worse. Yet, a deeper reading is required to fully understand the tales meaning. Another critic, William Mayne, comments on Jacks lack of maturity and morality in Joseph Jacobs version of Jack and the Beanstalk. In this version, Mayne claims that Jack went up to another land where he had no right to be, and set o... ...Works Cited Bettelheim, Bruno. The expenditure of Enchantment The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. New York Alfred A. Knopf, 1977. Byers, Nell B. Porridge For Goldilocks. Education Digest March 1949 25-26. Jacobs, Joseph. English Fairy Tales. 3 rd ed. New York Schocken Books, 1967. Mayne, William ed. Book of Giants. New York E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1968. Scudder, Horace Elisha. Jack and the Beanstalk. The Childrens Hour Folk Stories and Fables. Ed. Eva March Tappen. New York Houghton Mifflin Co., 1907. 23-33. Utley, Francis Lee. Introduction. Once Upon a Time On the Nature of Fairy Tales. By Max Luthi. New York Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1970. 14-15. Wolfenstein, Martha. Jack and the Beanstalk An American Version. In Childhood in Contemporary Cultures. Chicago University of Chicago Press, 1955. 243-45.