Poisoned Apple, Anyone? – JL Merrow – Blog Post – Blow Down (Plumber’s Mate Mysteries #4)
Hi, I’m JL Merrow and I’m delighted to be here as part of the Blow Down blog tour.
Ah, stepmothers. They get such a bad press. But who is really to blame? The wicked stepmother trope has been around since time immemorial, and has been described as an archetype.
There ís a stepmother in Blow Down and itís safe to say she and her grown-up stepdaughter arenít exactly best buds although there, the fault is on both sides.
It ís easy to see how a child of whatever age might resent an interloper coming into the family to take the place of a much loved parentóand how the step-parent might come to resent the hostile child spoiling their happiness with the new spouse.
Whatís harder to see is why, in fairy tales, legends and folklore from around the world, itís always a stepmother who is portrayed as evil, and never a step father. One reason for this is that some retold fairy tales were given a little selective editing by the Brothers Grimm among others, as the original tales involved an evil birth mother, which was apparently far too shocking a concept (and considering some of the stuff they left in, like red-hot shoes and body parts being lopped off willy nilly)
So the original wicked stepmother was in fact just an archetype of perverted motherhood: the woman who schemes against her own children (and is generally soundly, and often disproportionately, punished at the end of the tale.)
It ís the flipside of the tendency, in stories, to see mothers (especially dead ones) as saintly, perfect figures, sacrificing all for their childrenóand woe betide anyone who dares to interfere with the sacred bond of motherhood. Fathers can be fallible, human figures; mothers must be perfect stereotypes or they’re irredeemably wicked.
Which in its turn has invidious effects on women parenting today after all, who can live up to that ideal?
Throughout history, there are many examples of women’s power being limited by disinformation and counterfactual stereotypes ñ Jenna Sauers, http://jezebel.com/5398093/the-wicked- stepmother-just- another-way- of-keeping-women-down
And as for fathers: well, when it comes to parenting their own kids they’re often relegated in the popular view to the role of helpless dilettantes, always getting it wrong.
That ís the real poisoned apple the fairy tales have given us.
Question: Readers, what do you think about fairy tales and their stereotypes? Harmless fun or truly grimm? 😉 Don’t forget to enter the giveaway!
Blurb:
Death is what happens when you’re making other plans.
The last thing newly engaged plumber Tom Paretski needs is to stumble over another dead body. He’s got enough on his mind already as the reality of his impending marriage sinks in. Not only is his family situation complicated, his heroism at a pub fire made him a local celebrity. Now everyone and their uncle wants a piece of his psychic talents. Hired to find a missing necklace, Tom and his fiance, private investigator Phil Morrison, wind up trying to unmask a killer – and there’s no shortage of suspects, up to and including the local bishop himself. As Tom and Phil try to uncover the truth, they find themselves pulled in all different directions by the conflicting pressures of their families and their own desires. But the murderer they’re up against is a ruthless schemer who won’t hesitate to kill again. If Tom and Phil aren’t careful, their love – and all their plans for the future – could be blown down like a house of straw.
Warning: Contains a bishop of questionable Christian charity, a necklace of questionable taste, and a plumber of questionable nationality who may be running out of time.
JL Merrow is that rare beast, and English person who refuses to drink tea. She read Natural Sciences at Cambridge, where she learned many things, chief amongst which was that she never wanted to see the inside of a lab ever again. Her one regret is that she never mastered the ability of punting one-handed whilst holding a glass of champagne.
She writes across genres, with a preference for contemporary gay romance and and mysteries, and is frequently accused of humour. Her novel Slam! won the 2013 Rainbow Award for Best LGBT Romantic Comedy and her novella Muscling Through and novel Relief Valve were both EPIC Awards Finalists.
JL Merrow is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, International Thriller Writers, Verulam Writers’ Circle and the UK GLBTQ Fiction Meet organising team. Find JL Merrow online at www.jlmerrow.com, on Twitter as @jlmerrow, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/jl.merrow
Prizes! I’m offering a prize of a signed paperback copy of winner’s choice from the first three Plumberís Mate Mysteries, plus a $10 gift certificate. I’m happy to ship worldwide, and I’ll throw in some small goodies as well. 🙂
Good luck!
Hmm. I say it’s a little bit of both (harmless fun and somewhat grimm), because the stereotype in fairytales do – sometimes – happen in real life, especially the step-parent/sibling part considering how many criminal news (attempt or with casualty) I saw on the news. Perhaps some people took villainy in fairy tales too seriously, idk. Really wish for more fairy godmother (or godfather) figures in this crazy world!
Gawd, yes – we could definitely do with a few more fairy godparents these days!
Thanks for commenting! 😀
For far too much of history, fathers have been given a bit of a pass. As my sister rightly points out, when anything happens with a child that is wrong, it’s always the mother and their parenting which is questioned. Rarely does anything seem to reflect on the father (although that does seem to be changing – finally!). Fairy tales generally follow this same pattern – not surprising since you know – the patriarchy. Whether it’s the tired cliche of “original sin” or anything else, I seems that the definite leaning is to blame the mother/stepmother/woman and see that she is punished which I do think is insidious in our culture. There is a lot of internalized misogyny out there. I personally like it when Fairy Tales are twisted and retold with different and more empowering messages. Like Sisters Red and Wish from Jackson Pearce.
I do find it heartening that in today’s “fairy tales” it does seem to that at least some of the heroines go against type. But then you see something like all this horrific backlash against the Ghostbusters reboot or the Star Wars lead characters. Seriously? It’s like nothing has changed in the last 60 years and now these idiots have a bully pulpit/platform to spew their garbage. *SMDH*
*nods* Yes, it’s not just gender stereotyping we have to get over, there’s misogyny in there too. And as you say, recent events have proved it’s still alive and kicking. *sigh*
I hadn’t heard of Jackson Pierce’s books before, but they look very interesting – thanks for sharing! 🙂
It seems fairy tales does show the father somehow unaware of what is going on.
I’m reminded of the lines from the 1920s song, “Masculine Women, Feminine Men” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSlfQ49Bq1s)
Wifey is playing billiards and pool,
Hubby is dressing kiddies for school
– where the father doing *anything* for the kids was seen as a subversion of the roles. It’s been going on for a long, long time!
I remember the late American humorist Erma Bombeck (who was so much cooler than people give her credit for–sure, she wrote about being a mom and such, but her style was more Phyllis Diller snarky than idealistic) writing a profile of three of the fairy tale stepmoms (Cinderella’s and Snow White’s for sure, but I can’t remember the third), and I definitely came away thinking that they’d been victims of a hatchet job in the books. Wish I could remember what it was called!
I googled, and it’s in The Erma Bombeck Collection: If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing …
By Erma Bombeck
The one about Hansel & Gretel’s stepmother is particularly good! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
I think part of it has to do with how much scarier an angry father figure would be. The stepmother is evil, but outside of passive aggressive manipulations, has no real power. The heroine of the story was on fairly equal footing, regardless of the outcome. But men were absolutely in control. I think it’s less frightening overall to picture a kind benevolent authority figure than it is to imagine him wielding totalitarian malevolent power.
I can’t speak for the originators of the fairy tales felt, but that’s my view on it.
Oh, that’s a really interesting take on it. Yes, the father’s role is often to be unaware of what’s going on – and then in the end to step in and punish the wicked woman. If he were the evil one, it’s likely there’d be no recourse for our heroine. Scary indeed!
Interesting post. I think blending families together can be difficult and divided loyalties can exist for step parents, for either male or female. Since men have historically held the power and money in families in most cultures, step mothers may feel the need to insure their status/power/fortune especially if they have children. I do dislike the misogyny that some people seem to heap on female characters, even when they are vehement about being so tolerant in other areas.
Nice post! And food for thought.
Personally, I think it depends on which context you look it at. Sometimes I like a really good stereotype or thrope if I’m reading a book. For instance, I love the Cinder-fella thrope.
If you’re looking at it from a historical context, then yes, most fairytales have a purpose and then this one is the all out one of keeping women under the tumb
What is the best book that you have read recently? Thanks for the giveaway. I hope that I win.