What accounts for the enduring charm of fairy tales? Why are generations of children drawn to stories such as Hansel and Gretel, Snow White, and Cinderella? The Witch Must Die explores how fairy tales help children deal with psychological conflicts by projecting their own internal struggles between good and evil onto the battles enacted by the characters in the stories. Rumpelstiltskin, Pinocchio and Rapunzel vividly dramatize lust, envy, avarice and sloth on a safe stage, allowing children to confront their own "deadly sins." The author offers elegant analyses of how fairy tales speak to basic human concerns, highlighting the roles played by iconic images like glass slippers, gingerbread houses, evil stepmothers and sorcery. He shows how fairy tales differ from culture to culture, what happens when classic fairy tales are "Disneyfied," and why it is that fairy tales can have a surprisingly salutary effect on adult readers. Along the way he probes the eternal questions: Why does Snow White eat the poison apple? Why is the stepmother so mean? Why is Cinderella's father never around when she needs him?

Author

Sheldon Cashdan, Ph.D., is Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is the author of Abnormal Psychology, Interactional Psychotherapy and Object Relations Therapy.

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Preface
Acknowledgments

1. Once Upon a Time
2. The Witch Within: The Sleeping Beauties
3. Vanity: Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall
4. Gluttony: Where Bread Crumbs Lead
5. Envy: If the Slipper Fits ...
6. Objects That Love
7. Deceit: Spinning Tales, Weaving Lies
8. Lust: A Tail of the Sea
9. Greed: The Beanstalk's Bounty
10. Sloth: Geppetto's Dream
11. Inside Oz: Off to See the Wizard
12. Once Upon a Future

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• World Editions: The Witch Must Die

• Objects Relations Therapy  ( W.W.Norton)