<P> Maria Tatar, in The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales (2002), notes that Southey's tale is sometimes viewed as a cautionary tale that imparts a lesson about the hazards of wandering off and exploring unknown territory . Like "The Tale of the Three Little Pigs", the story uses repetitive formulas to engage the child's attention and to reinforce the point about safety and shelter . Tatar points out that the tale is typically framed today as a discovery of what is "just right", but for earlier generations, it was a tale about an intruder who could not control herself when encountering the possessions of others . </P> <P> In The Uses of Enchantment (1976), the child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim describes Goldilocks as "poor, beautiful, and charming", and notes that the story does not describe her positively except for her hair . Bettelheim mainly discussed the tale in terms of Goldilocks' struggle to move past Oedipal issues to confront adolescent identity problems . </P> <P> In Bettelheim's view, the tale fails to encourage children "to pursue the hard labor of solving, one at a time, the problems which growing up presents", and does not end as fairy tales should with the "promise of future happiness awaiting those who have mastered their Oedipal situation as a child". He believes the tale is an escapist one that thwarts the child reading it from gaining emotional maturity . </P> <P> Tatar criticises Bettelheim's views: "(His) reading is perhaps too invested in instrumentalizing fairy tales, that is, in turning them into vehicles that convey messages and set forth behavioral models for the child . While the story may not solve oedipal issues or sibling rivalry as Bettelheim believes "Cinderella" does, it suggests the importance of respecting property and the consequences of just' trying out' things that do not belong to you ." </P>

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