| Folk tales are stories which contain interesting contents that are especially suitable for children. As the core theme of folk tales is unchanging and repeated, there are universal features of human development and psychology, about unconscious and psychic development. The purpose of this research is to clarify the specificity and universality of folk tales in psychodynamics through psychoanalytic methods, identify the psychoanalytic meaning of 'hyo', or filial piety, and even further sort out appropriate folk tales for children in the psychic development stages.
The author chose 61 Korean folk tales which were carried more than 13 times in 271 books from 1923 to 1995, and which have been universal and representative for over 70 years. The author studied the folk tales with psychoanalytic methods and obtained the following results:
The main character's sex was predominantly male (64%) and adult (55.7%). But in male character folk tales, only 7 dealt specifically with male gender issues and the psychologic conflicts for males were the same as those for females. The rest of the folk tales had themes and stories for the psychic development of both genders. From the results, the author could conclude that male and adult dominance had not negatively influenced female gender development.
There were 24 stories dealing with family situations. In these stories, one parent-child relationships were more prevalent that both parent-child relationships. It reflected the dyadic relationship in object relationship development. Even in the developmental stages of triadic relationships, children unconsciously wanted to focus their attention to mastering the conflict with one parent unconsciously. Step-mother dominant reflects the defense mechanisms of daughters who have aggressions towards their mother.
Father-son relationships were more friendly than western cultures in dealing Oedipal complex. Oedipal conflict and incestuous wishes were sublimated to 'hyo' and 'respect for parents' in masochistic reaction formation pattern. This is a Korean cultural feature also present in legends and other cultural contexts.
In marital relationships females had the anxiety of losing their positions, and males had the fear of losing their spouses, so there were sexual differences in solving their problems.
Sorting the stories according to psychosexual development stages there were 3 stories reflecting preoedipal stages, 7 stories oedipal stages, and 10 for latency stages. Also, there were 8 folk tales that had diverse developmental experiences in one story. |
