Peer review assignment

Write your essay on H. C. Andersens topicality and cross

cultural relevance
Choose one or more fairy tales that we have explored during this course. Write an
account of their topicality and cross cultural relevance.

H. C. Andersens fairy tales and stories are known and read all around the world. This fact in
itself indicates that they appear to contain universal elements. I.e. something that people
around the world can recognise and relate to. When the author, for instance, tells about the
soldier finding the tinderbox, this soldier belongs to no time and place in particular. Nor does
his quest for the princess.

Yet, there are layers of Hans Christian Andersens fairy tales and stories which are culturally
specific in a broad sense. For example he uses motifs and refers to ways of thinking and
perceiving which are rooted in a Christian culture.

In Week 1 professor Johannes Nrregaard Frandsen pointed out in his video that Hans
Christian Andersen with both delight and fear discovers a Europe that is getting ready to
become modern. In Week 1 professor Jacob Bggild explained in his video that this
modernity implies that traditional ways of life have to make way for new ways of perceiving
the world and acting in society. Social mobility becomes a possibility in an unprecedented
way. In his fairy tales and stories, Hans Christian Andersen reflects on the human condition in
this new kind of world and society.

In Week 2, Jacob explains in his video that Hans Christian Andersens fairy tales explore the
folk tale genre, with its typical, structural features for that purpose. The folk tale follows a
typical sequence of actions in which the protagonist goes into a quest for an object. In his
quest, he has to overcome various obstacles and he will have to face and conquer an
antagonist and will receive assistance from a helper as a part of this process. Hans Christian
Andersen often manipulates this well-defined structure in his fairy tales.

During the quests in the tales, the protagonists often confronts ethical questions and dilemmas
to which they cannot find clear and unambiguous answers and solutions. It is not always
possible to separate antagonistic and assisting characters (helpers). The endings of the tales
are often very open and do not imply any kind of moral like the one you can find in a fable.

Andersen thus confronts the traditional folk tale structure and features with modern questions
and conflicts that surpass traditional answers and solutions. We often need to interpret them.

From Weeks 2 to 6, we have been studying six fairy tales where it is evident that Andersen is
reflecting upon the human condition in the modern world. We have shared some reflections
with you about what constitutes the apparent universality of these fairy tales and about what
might challenge it.
Hans Christian Andersens fairy tales contain both universal and modern elements and layers.
Perhaps that is the reason why they are still topical today and are read, understood and
cherished by people across culture.

You are invited to give your personal view on the topic. We would like you to discuss H. C.
Andersens topicality (i.e. the relevance of his fairy tales today) and how he is perceived in
your culture/country taking your starting point from the fairy tales you have read and
discussed during this course. You are welcome to draw upon your own cultural background
when discussing this and also to reflect on whether participating in the course has changed
your idea or opinion about Andersen.

Suggested word count is 500 words. If time allows you are welcome to write 1500 2000
words.

Make sure you:

Use evidence to support your analysis.

Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of Hans Christian Andersens fairy tales

and the cultural and historical context they are written in as explored on the course.

Express your arguments clearly and coherently.

Please note:

The word count is only provided as a suggested guideline, rather than a rule that you
must adhere to. However, bear in mind that another learner will be required to look
through your work: please be considerate and do not include too much material.

You are allowed to use external resources (such as books or websites) as well as the
information provided within the course while working on this essay. Providing full
references for the resources you have used is not compulsory, but the essay must be
your own work. You are not allowed to copy directly from external sources without
acknowledgement as this will be seen as plagiarism.

This essay is optional and will not count towards your overall course result. There
will be no mark provided for the assignment, only feedback.

How to approach the essay

Introduce the fairy tale or the fairy tales you have chosen to write about, with any
details you think are relevant.

Choose one or two key points to structure your answer around which demonstrate
how the chosen fairy tale or fairy tales are topical today and carry cross cultural
relevance in your opinion.
 Provide evidence for these points with examples from the texts and videos used in this
course and any relevant external resources. Include quotations or brief descriptions to
make your example clear to the reviewer.

Explain how the examples you have chosen prove the key points you are making.
Remember that the reviewer may not be familiar with your cultural background if you
choose to draw upon this in your discussion.

You may wish to include a brief introduction and conclusion to make your answer
easier to read and to make it clear to the reviewer what your approach to the essay has
been.

Assignment Guidelines

The reviewers will be asked to give you feedback on the following aspects of your
assignment, so you should consider these when writing:

To what extent has the author demonstrated knowledge and understanding of Hans
Christian Andersen and his fairy tales and offered new insight into the topicality and
cross cultural relevance of these?

To what extent are the authors reflections clear and coherent

To what extent has the author provided evidence to support his/her analysis?

Your assignment
Hans Christian Andersens fairy tales contain a variety of topics and ideas which can be
considered to have topicality and cross-cultural relevance even today. I would like to focus
especially on the fairy tales The Story of a Mother and The Snow Queen in this respect.

The Snow Queen is a really unique story which consists of seven parts, each of them
constructed almost like a separate story. Each of these stories contains references to other
cultures or the real world. And, the Story of a Mother is a truly universal story which can
happen at any period of time, in any culture, in any part of the world.

First of all, you can see the universality of The Story of a Mother from the title itself. It is
not the story of THE mother; it is the story of A mother. So that means that this can be the
story of any mother, not just the one in the fairy tale. All mothers in all times find it very hard
to lose their children, and this story is the embodiment of that. The tale also gives the lesson
that sometimes in real life you have to give in to destiny, sometimes there is a reason which
we dont know. The Good Lord in the story seems to refer to the Christian God, but the same
kind of ideas about Death as a collector of souls and Heaven as an unknown place, are
present in other cultures as well. For example, in Hindu mythology, we have a tale which is
similar to this one. It is about Savitri who follows Yama (Indian God of Death) and begs him
to return her husband Satyavan. However in her case, she passes all the tests and instead of
Death tricking her, she tricks him and manages to return with her husband. (You can find out
more about this story by searching Savitri and Satyavan- its a very popular story in Hindu
culture.)

Looking at the other fairy tale, The Snow Queen, I think that it was a wonderful idea to
construct the story in seven parts (seven being the magical number in many cultures). It
seems that this refers to the fact that real lives seldom are just one story; they are a collection
of various stories which only come together at some points or towards the end. This makes
this tale extremely modern. Also, the quest structure makes a person connect to the tale even
better, even though it is set in a fictional world. I guess that this is because everyone has some
kind of quest or goal to fulfil in life. In addition to that, you can see a lot of cultural
references in the third story (The flower-garden of the woman who knew the art of sorcery).
The flowers tell Gerda different stories. For example, the orange lily tells the story of Sati (an
old Indian tradition where a wife burns herself along with her dead husband).

There are many other references in these stories as well as other stories written by Hans
Christian Andersen. Some examples of these are the way he introduces his stories- real life
doesnt usually start with once upon a time..., and the kind of language he uses-
straightforward, which is the way we normally communicate in reality.

I really enjoyed participating in this course, as I got to learn a lot about Hans Christian
Andersen and his fairy tales through it. Previously, I used to think that his stories are just like
ordinary fairy tales (I had read a few of his stories when I was quite young), but now I am
able to understand that Hans Christian Andersen had his own truly unique style. Nowadays,
even in my country India, people read fewer books. In spite of that, many tales of his tales
such as The Emperors New Clothes, The Little Mermaid, The Tin Soldier, and The
Princess and the Pea have managed to find their way into households usually in the form of
bedtime stories. And, personally, I believe that due to their universality and the way they
seem to fit in all times, these fairy tales will continue to be popular.
Give feedback to another learner
Just like yourself your peers have written an essay on Hans Christian Andersens topicality
and cross cultural relevance. Now its your turn to read another learners assignment and give
feedback.

You must first submit an assignment in the previous step before you can review other
learners assignments.

Enter your feedback in the box provided.

Further guidelines for reviewers

Take a critical look at the review guidelines and write a short constructive comment for each
of the four guidelines. We want you to help each other become better. So make sure that your
feedback includes suggestions for improvements.

Reviewers should:

Include at least one positive comment in the feedback.

Include at least one piece of constructive criticism in your feedback.

Use positive language when providing feedback. Instead of focusing on weaknesses

or errors within the assignment, try to suggest improvements for points which could
be developed further.

Provide explanations for comments or suggestions in the feedback.

Remember that there are many ways to analyse and interpret Hans Christian
Andersens fairy tales and the cultural and historical context they are written in. If the
assignment includes opinions which differ from your own, please be respectful and
focus on the strength of the arguments based on the above criteria.
Please also note

You are only expected to review the assignment giving feedback: you do not need to
provide a final mark.

You can come back to this step and review more than one assignment if you wish.

The authors reflections on Hans Christian Andersens topicality and cross cultural
relevance might be referring to a specific cultural background that is different from
yours. Follow the above criteria for reviewing purposes, however familiar or
unfamiliar the authors approach to Hans Christian Andersen is to you.

Be mindful of the varying range of experience and knowledge among the learners
completing this assignment. Some learners may be academics specialising in research
on Hans Christian Andersen, while others are taking this course as an introduction to
the author. This will affect the nature of the way they have answered the question and
should not be penalised if the assignment fulfils the above criteria.

For some learners, English may not be their first language, which may affect the
wording of their response. This should not be penalised if the assignment fulfils the
above criteria.

Assignment Guidelines

Youre going to be asked to give feedback on the following aspects of the authors
assignment:

To what extent has the author demonstrated knowledge and understanding of Hans
Christian Andersen and his fairy tales and offered new insight into the topicality and
cross cultural relevance of these?

To what extent are the authors reflections clear and coherent

To what extent has the author provided evidence to support his/her analysis?