BEYOND FOLLY: A SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF ALIENATION AND INTRINSIC VALUE IN THE BROTHERS GRIMM'S, "HANS IN LUCK"

Abstract

This study promotes a new socio-psychological approach to the Brothers Grimm's tale, "Hans in Luck" and a new literary-critical interpretation. Departing from conventional understandings of Hans as a simple fool, this analysis sets forth that the narrative amounts to a sophisticated allegory for the working-class experience in the process of socio-economic transients of early 19th century Germany. Using the theoretical structure of an interdisciplinary approach combining archetypal criticism, theories of social alienation, humanistic psychology (notably the human aspect of resilience and cognitive agency) and value theory, the study decodes the tale's symbolic structure. The "seven years" of service is interpreted as an archetypical cycle of labor, favourable, whereas the succession of trades of the protagonist is read not in terms of loss, but witness to a strategic surrender of the alienating equation of an emergent market economy. Hans's enduring utterances of joy are examined in the light of our notion of cognitive reframing (a conscious adaptation practice through which one asserts agency in the face of systemic constraint or circumstances beyond one's control) as adaptive resilience. The gist of the argument comes down to the argument that the settlement of the tale is showing preferences for intrinsic human values (familial connection, freedom of mind, peace of mind) over extrinsic material accumulation, thereby providing a deep pre-emptive critique of capitalistic definitions of success. By situating literary analysis alongside the narratives of social thought and psychology, this research shows the story's continuing relevance as a story of dignity and meaning-making and an important contribution to the scholarship about folklore as a place where social thinkers and commentators debate and to methodologies for interdisciplinary study of literature.