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On page 206 of his 1976 book, The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales, author Bruno Bettelheim writes:

The paragraph goes like this: "In "Snow White" the pubertal girl's oedipal struggle is not repressed, but acted out around the mother as competitor. In Snow White's story the father-huntsman fails to take a strong and definite stand. He neither does his duty to the queen, nor meets his moral obligation to Snow White to make her safe and secure. He doesn't kill her outright, but he deserts her in the forest, expecting her to be killed by wild animals. The hunder tries to placate both the mother, by seemingly executing her order, and the girl, by merely not killing her. Lasting hatred and jealousy of the mother are the consequence of the father's ambivalence, which in "Snow White" are projected onto the evil queen, who therefore continues to reappear in Snow White's life.

When it says "jealousy of the mother", does it mean that the mother is jealous of someone or someone is jealous of the mother?

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  • It is not clear to me without more context.
    – NVZ ♦
    Jul 1, 2017 at 16:22
  • See also: What preposition should follow “jealousy”?
    – NVZ ♦
    Jul 1, 2017 at 16:22
  • The paragraph goes like this: "In "Snow White" the pubertal girl's oedipal struggle is not repressed, but acted out around the mother as competitor. In Snow White's story the father-huntsman fails to take a strong and definite stand. He neither does his duty to the queen, nor meets his moral obligation to Snow White to make her safe and secure. He doesn't kill her outright, but he deserts her in the forest, expecting her to be killed by wild animals. The hunder tries to placate both the mother, by seemingly executing her order, and the girl, by merely not killing her. . ."
    – kinder country
    Jul 1, 2017 at 16:28
  • The rest of the paragraph is the sentence in the question.
    – kinder country
    Jul 1, 2017 at 16:28
  • Just edit that into the question itself. People may not notice the comments section.
    – NVZ ♦
    Jul 1, 2017 at 16:29

1 Answer 1

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You ask:

When it says "jealousy of the mother", does it mean that the mother is jealous of someone or someone is jealous of the mother?

The paragraph speaks of feelings projected onto the queen. Since it would be odd to speak of the queen projecting feelings onto herself, it would be reasonable to conclude that the text claims that "someone is jealous of the mother", as you put it.

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  • @kindercountry You're welcome.
    – Lawrence
    Jul 2, 2017 at 0:01

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