A Narrative Analysis of Fairy Tales—At the Back of the North Wind

Abstract

George MacDonald’s fairy tales were very popular during the Victorian era, which was attributed to the unique narrative techniques he created. This paper mainly takes the fairy tale—At the Back of the North Wind as the research object and explores the literary and artistic beauty and moral and ethical value of At the Back of the North Wind from following three aspects: the classification of fairy tale texts, the choice of narrative perspective, and the meaning and value of fairy tales. As a devout Christian, George MacDonald not only created a supernatural fantasy setting but also incorporated a series of Christian ideas, making the fairy tale stories interweave between reality and fantasy and presenting a literary narrative structure that is both real and fantasy. MacDonald also combined his own values and ingeniously from the narrator to convey his real ideological care, bringing readers a new reading experience.