1999-English 1102
Third Place
Jack's Quest for Maturity
By Jeff Cook
"Jack 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 Scudder's versions, the tale can always be read as Jack's quest for maturity. Some critics, however, analyze the tale as one in which Jack remains spoiled and immature. While they make points which support their claims, careful analysis of the tale will reveal that Jack's struggle to grow up and to achieve maturity is representative of the difficult process of adolescent (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 giant's wife; who steals the giant's treasures; and who, having killed the giant, lives with his mother happily ever afterward in affluence" (26). Byers' statement would lead one to believe that Jack does not change very much. Granted, a literal reading 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 tale's meaning.
Another critic, William Mayne, comments on Jack's 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 out to steal things from the giant, or ogre" (98). Again, a literal reading of the tale leads to questions about Jack's motives, morality, and maturity like the ones that Mayne raises. A closer reading, though, reveals why entering into the Giant's land and stealing the Giant's treasures is significant to the progress of Jack's maturity.
Jack does indeed begin as an immature, spoiled child. In Scudder's version, which is a moral version containing a fairy who justifies Jack's decision to steal the Giant's treasures, Jack's mother blames him for making her "a beggar" (23). In Jacobs' version, which is a traditional version without the fairy, Jack's inability to get a job shows his immaturity. As Martha Wolfenstein states, Jack "is spoiled or lazy or cannot hold a job or . . . has carelessly exhausted the family substance" (243). When the cow, Milky-white, stops giving milk, Jack's mother sends him to the marketplace to sell the cow for money (Jacobs 59). This venture is a very important first step in Jack's road to maturity, though it may not seem so at the time. This is the first time that we know of Jack's mother ever sending him to the market. According to Bruno Bettelheim, this first encounter with the world represents the end of infancy for Jack. As Bettelheim reminds us, Jack's mother demands that he "learn to make do with what the outside world can offer" (188). Now that Jack can no longer expect his mother to do everything for him, he realizes that he must take steps toward maturity. As Bettelheim says, "The child then has to begin the long and difficult process of turning himself into an adult" (188). By reading either Jacobs' or Scudder's version of the tale, one can tell that the process of adolescent maturation and socialization has begun.
On the way to the market, Jack meets an old man (Jacobs 60) or a butcher (Scudder 23), depending on the version, who trades Jack the magic beans for the cow. Of course, his mother views this trade as foolish (Wolfenstein 243). In Jacobs' version, she speaks harshly to Jack and beats him (61), while in Scudder's version she "burst into tears" (24). Both versions, however, show the mother's displeasure for Jack. If being sent to the marketplace breaks the close bond that Jack enjoyed with his mother in infancy, then his mother's displeasure with him places "mother and son in initial conflict with one another" (Utley 14). As Bettelheim states, Jack's trading the cow for the magic beans is his "first act of independence and initiative" (189). Jack's encounter with the old man, or butcher, is important to the process of adolescent maturation and socialization because selling the cow is an expression of the beginning of his personal initiative.
The mother's reactions to Jack's trade of the cow for the magic beans are puzzling. A literal reading of the tale may seem to justify the mother's reactions. She must sell the cow, or else, how will she obtain money for food? A deeper reading, however, suggests that her reactions are not fully justifiable. While Jack did not follow his mother's orders to trade the cow for money, she still should have recognized and approved of his display of initiative (Bettelheim 189).
Her failure to recognize and approve of his display of initiative can be viewed in different ways. First, Jack's mother does not trust his ability to make mature decisions and therefore has reservations about sending him out on his own. She tends to take a negative view of everything that he does. Evidence of her distrust can be found in Jacobs' and Scudder's versions of the tale. In Jacobs' version, Jack's mother rejects her son's request to go find work because nobody would hire him before (59). In Scudder's version, Jack desires to take the cow to the nearest village to sell, but his mother believes that he lacks the knowledge needed to make such a transaction. A second view is the argument that Jack's mother may not have wanted Jack to mature. Bettelheim offers this explanation: "If she had had her way, Jack would have remained an immature child, and neither he nor his mother would have escaped their misery" (192-3). Jack is sheltered according to this argument; in effect, his mother is deliberately inhibiting his ability to mature.
The final way to view the mother's failure to recognize and to approve of Jack's display of initiative might be the most disturbing. Jack's mother might not care if he matures. She does not warn Jack of the danger of talking to strangers, such as the butcher, before sending him to the market. As a result, Jack is vulnerable to making a mistake. Also, in Scudder's version, his mother fears that Jack is not knowledgeable enough to sell the cow, but she makes no effort to teach him what he needs to know. She puts Jack in a position to fail, not to succeed, in his quest for maturity and social growth. I think, however, that it may also be that Jack's mother does not trust his ability to mature. Whether Jack's mother does not trust Jack's ability to mature, if she just does not want him to mature, or if she does not care if he matures, is not significant, though. What is significant is that Jack must overcome his mother's low opinion of him in order to achieve maturity and to grow socially.
Jack responds to his mother's displeasure with his actions in two ways, both of which result in greater maturity. First, as Wolfenstein states, Jack desires to relieve "himself of the burden of guilt" (243) which he feels. Most versions of the tale, including Jacobs', mention that Jack feels sorry for causing his mother grief (61). He relieves this guilt, as Wolfenstein states, through "his heroic feats and the gifts which he brings the mother" (243). Instead of feeling sorry for himself, he determines to make the most of the situation (which is possible through the growth of the beanstalk). He also wants to prove his mother wrong by showing that he can, and did, use initiative and gain maturity. He feels that he must gain his mother's approval to have self-assurance of his own maturity. Removing his guilt and proving himself to his mother is important to his process of obtaining greater maturation and socialization.
The beanstalk is extremely important to Jack's achieving maturity and demonstrating his social growth. The beanstalk, in Wolfenstein's eyes, is "the means by which the boy attains his purpose" (243). Literally, he climbs up and down to take the giant's treasure. Figuratively, he "will climb into the sky to achieve a higher existence" (Bettelheim 190). He "uses the beanstalk to obtain presents for his mother . . . (Wolfenstein 244). In this way, as stated by Wolfenstein, Jack lessens the guilt which he feels by obtaining these gifts (243). Jack's actual climbing of the beanstalk is another display of initiative. As Bettelheim states: "he climbs the beanstalk on his own initiative, not because somebody else suggested it" (189). The initiative that Jack shows through the beanstalk helps him to gain greater maturity.
The beanstalk also deals with Jack's obtaining sexual maturity. "The fantastic growth of the humble but magic seeds during the night is . . . a symbol of the miraculous power and of the satisfactions Jack's sexual development can bring about . . ." (Bettelheim 190). However, as in other aspects of life, Jack's views of sexuality are initially immature. He believes that he can basically conquer anything, according to Bettelheim, because of "the hopes which his newly discovered masculinity evokes in him" (189). Jack cannot give up his need to believe in phallic self-assertion and its magic power until he chops down the beanstalk (Bettelheim 187), which I will explain when discussing Jack's chopping down of the beanstalk. The beanstalk is imperative to Jack's quest to obtain greater maturity and social growth.
The ogre's wife is also instrumental to Jack's gaining his maturity. According to Utley, the ogre's wife acts as a mother figure and "helps Jack win his vindication . . ." (14). The way that she does so is described by Bettelheim, who compares the safe places that she hides Jack to the safety of the mother's womb. "Such a short regression to a previous stage of development provides the security and strength needed for the next step in independence and self-assertion" (193). Because of this increase in independence and self-assertion, however, he is one step closer to convincing his mother that he is mature while obtaining even greater maturity and social growth. The ogre's wife also helps Jack overcome oedipal conflict with the ogre. According to Bettelheim, the giant's wife protects Jack as he undergoes "oedipal conflict with the ogre, which he survives and finally wins . . . (187). The oedipal conflict begins with Jack's disappointment in his mother because she has stopped meeting all of his needs (188). Therefore, he turns to the ogre's wife to try to replace what he has lost with his mother. The ogre's wife helps Jack, and she is friendly with him. When Jack feels that the ogre is threatening his relationship with the ogre's wife, he becomes jealous of the ogre. The ogre has become a father figure. This jealousy of the ogre represents oedipal conflict and leads Jack to steal the ogre's treasures (190). According to Bettelheim: "To master the difficulties of this period, the boy needs a mother's understanding help: only because the ogre's wife protects and hides Jack can he acquire the ogre-father's powers"(191). Jack overcomes the oedipal conflict and gains greater maturity because of the ogre wife's understanding help.
The ogre wife's protection allows Jack to gain the giant's powers (191), which are the three magic objects. Jack's acquirance of the three magic objects has great symbolic meaning. As Bettelheim states, the harp is the most important of the magic objects, for "Jack gains full humanity by striving for and gaining what the harp represents . . . ," which is "beauty, art, and the higher things in life" (191). The protection of the giant's wife, as well as the representation of the harp, is vital to Jack's progress toward maturity and social growth.
Jack's chopping down the beanstalk is the final step in his gaining maturity. He seems to cut ties with his past problems. The crash of the beanstalk and the death of the giant allows Jack to move forward in his life and in the maturation process. As Bettelheim states, "Jack . . . frees himself from the view of the father as a destructive and devouring ogre . . . " (192). Jack gives up his belief in the phallus " as the means for gaining him all the good things in life" (192). Chopping down the beanstalk allows him to free himself from unrealistic sexual fantasies and to move forward in the development of mature masculinity (187). He also gains the trust of his mother, who recognizes his maturity by immediately bringing the axe as Jack requested (Jacobs 67).
"Jack and the Beanstalk" is a story of movement from immaturity to maturity, especially pertaining to males. Jack gains maturity through several steps, including the conflict with his mother, the climbing and chopping down of the beanstalk, the aid of the ogre's wife, and the taking of the giant's treasure. Overcoming his mother's low opinion of him and gaining her approval is vital to Jack's obtaining maturity and social growth. He also undergoes sexual maturation, which can be a trying time in a male's development. The beanstalk and the ogre's wife are the major means by which Jack obtains mature masculinity and the approval of his mother. Once he comes to grips with his sexual maturity and proves himself to his mother, he can finally conclude the long and difficult process of social and adolescent maturation and become an adult.
Works Cited
Bettelheim, Bruno. The Use 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. 3rd 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 Children's 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.
(My name is Jeff Cook. I am currently a second semester freshman majoring in Biology/pre-Physical Therapy. I am involved with Wesley Fellowship, the Baptist Student Union, intramural sports, and the Honors Program)