What Does The Juniper Tree Symbolize

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Symbolism and Theme in “The Juniper Tree” In “The Juniper Tree”, numerous themes and symbols play on both the desires and the fears of humans. Innate human fears are played upon throughout the story, including the fear of being trapped and the more primitive fear of consumption. “The Juniper Tree” does not rely only on fears, however, as it shows how you can rise above said fears and problems.
An overarching theme in many of the fairy tale stories that we have read is consumption and the perversion of food and nutrition. The concept of the monster as one that consumes and our innate fear of being consumed and the fear of consuming something that will make us impure or monstrous ourselves resonates in many literary and visual monster dialogues and representations. The fear of consuming that which is monstrous or “other” or being consumed is prevalent in “The Juniper Tree”.
The Juniper tree itself represents a monstrosity because it is the source of both life …show more content…
The father, through the consumption of the stew and his cannibalism, although unknowing, becomes monstrous or less pure himself. Cannibalism, in itself, is monstrous and the father’s unknowing partaking in this monstrosity seems to make it even more monstrous. This monstrosity once again plays upon the fear of consumption of something that is impure and the transfer of this impurity onto your own self. Although the stews contents are not made known to the father and he eats the stew in innocence, he still is transformed into a monster and loses his purity. The monstrosity is felt by the reader as it is impossible to not recoil from the father as he says while eating the soup; “Oh, wife, this stew tastes so good! Give me some more… no one else will get any. Somehow I feel as if it’s all mine,” and proceeds to finish the stew and his child off by himself (CITE PAGE
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