Whats the Difference Between the Theme of a Story and Its Moral?
In many versions of the beanstalk story, a background story is usually slipped in that justifies Jack’s thieving from the giant; but in most versions the giant has done nothing particularly wrong. He is, like Rumplestiltskin, simply not “like us” and therefore we are perfectly contented to have the very tall man and the very little dwarf suffer at the hands of the hero. We can see this premise perfectly well in the story of Rumplestiltskin, where no backstory is needed to justify the maiden not keeping her promise to the dwarf. The girl is a victim of her greedy mother, and the bargain she made with Rumplestiltskin passes all ethical and maternal boundaries and is downright usurious. We therefore do not need to hear mitigating backstory about Rumplestiltskin. In both Rumplestiltskin and Jack and the Beanstalk, the main characters –the girl who lies yet benefits from her lies, and the boy who steals something not his own– are the heroes. These protagonists are not moral, although their
