Reddit reviews The Witch Must Die: The Hidden Meaning of Fairy Tales

Well, a lot of these stories are based on existing folk stories, some of which have existed for centuries. Though Disney films are neither historically accurate or follow the original stories completely, a lot of the original tales did not have mothers. In this here book, the author goes into quite a lot of detail about the role of the missing mother. "..the dying mother usually attempts to protect the child after she is gone. In some fairy tales, a blessing or benediction is used to cement the spiritual connection between the two." Though we do not see this in Disney movies, there is always a maternal figure or friend around to assist the princess; the forest animals in Snow White, The Fairy God Mother in Cinderella, Flounder and Sebastian in The Little Mermaid, Rajah in Aladdin and the furniture in Beauty and the Beast. We're also told that mothers in fairy tales symbolise safety and all that is good. The absence of a mother or protector also forces the 'child' to "draw on inner resources that might not have been tested were the mother still around. It is the mother's death that sets the stage for the later confrontation with the witch." These heroines, for the most part, fight their battles on their own (of course, with the help of a man, but that's a different conversation altogether) and they become better role models and a lot more interesting for it. In the original tales, women were celebrated and were a lot more resourceful than the Disney versions give them credit for. I'd say a lot of this "missing parent" malarky is based on the tradition that fairy tales have absent mothers and also to provide strong, female role models who take on the world on their own.

It's a good book, by the way, I'd recommend it.

they were, but the stepmom was never good and almost always killed. There are theories this is a way for children to compartamentalize and deal with "bad things" happening in the world, without blaming/hating mom.

See:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Witch-Must-Die-Meaning/dp/0465008968/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376023510&sr=8-1&keywords=The+witch+must+die