MORALITY IN THE FOLKTALE : AN EXAMINATION OF SINGAPOREAN CHILDREN'S FOLKTALES

Abstract

Chapter one looks at the qualities of the folktale which makes it attractive to children. It is important to know what is in the folktales which accounts for their popularity before we consider them as vehicles of moral education. Chapter two explores the educational and moral worth of magical folktales. An exegesis of two local magical folktales, "Peria Pokak" and "Three Gifts from the Green Dragon" reveals how magical folktales work at the level of the unconscious to aid in a child's moral development. First, the child is offered a hero with whom he identifies because of their similar home circumstances. This identification with the hero enables the child to grasp the moral dilemmas the hero faces. Since the hero embodies the virtues, in striving to emulate him, the child is in fact taking a step forward in his moral development. Chapter three examines how the local realistic folktales function as a child's socialization tool. Chapter four attempts to uncover the specific moral values in the folktales and tries to draw conclusions on the relevance of these moral values in present day Singapore. It also evaluates the achievement of the writers in delivering the moral lesson and in telling an enjoyable story: the criteria of my evaluation being the texture of their writing.