Fairy tales exist to create a time for children where they dream of imaginable creatures and people they want to be. Some fairy tales teach children some kind of morals while others teach them the difference between good and evil. But when you take an in-depth look at the fairy tale, what do you discover? In the classic fairy tale treasure tale Thumbelina Hans Christian Andersen illustrates the patriarchal views that continue to control traditional stereotypical views of men and women in society by insinuating Thumbelina as a sensitive, beautiful and fragile being and the prince and male animals as rich, strong, powerful beings.Hans Christian Andersen describes Thumbelina as a beautiful, fragile little woman through the choice of diction and juxtaposition to attest to the traditional view of a woman in society. Thumbelina is considered fragile by her mother as she has to sleep in a “walnut shell” with “the blue petals of violets for a mattress and a rose petal for a blanket” (Andersen, p. 1). While Thumbelina sleeps, she is kidnapped by an ugly frog, which begins its journey. Throughout this journey, Thumbelina continues to fall into the arms of unattractive creatures. The juxtaposition Andersen creates between Thumbelina and the creatures further confirms that she is the traditional view of a woman, demonstrating that she is the "damsel in distress" as she has no way to escape. Even the comparison created between the "beautiful and delicate" (Andersen, pg.1) Thumbelina and the "cold and thin" (Andersen, pg.2) Thumbelina illustrates the urgent need for savings. Anderson uses the diction of words like “Beautiful,” “adorable,” and “delicate” (Anderson, Thumbelina) over words like “poor,” “terrible,” “tattered”… middle of the paper. .....h for a male to be a male; must be masculine. A woman, in addition to being female, must be feminine”, in the sense that males possess certain traits that society has given them and females possess certain traits that society has given them. These traits have become the mainstream stereotype that defines our society in more ways than most. That being said, there will always be gender difference between men and women, movies will have damsels in distress and knights in shining armour, who in turn will continue to teach the traditional ways of society. Works Cited Hodgkison, Kate Reynolds and Eugenie Brightman. "Hans Christian Andersen." University of Leeds. Network. 05 January 2012. "The social roles of men and women". www.hu-berlin.de. Network. 05 January. 2012. .