A College Fairytale

Once upon a time…

It’s a tale as old as time. A beautiful young girl with golden locks is forced into the unforgiving real world. She meets obstacle after obstacle, task after task until she is saved--favorably by a handsome prince. They marry, and they live happily ever after.

The fairytale world is pretty straightforward. Each story follows the same pattern: isolation, adventure, and reintegration, well at least that is what my class titled, “Fairy Tales: Grimms to Disney,” emphasizes.

My class discusses the purpose of a fairytale as a story of maturation, or a coming-of-age story. The protagonist must leave her home or place of familiarity, which commences her journey into an unknown realm, often a forest or a new town. This stage of adventure where the protagonist is in the process of learning about the world and herself in an unfamiliar place is the limbo stage. Eventually, she finds herself engaged and then married, which means she has completed her maturation or coming-of-age.

In this class, I’ve seen time and time again the similarity of the limbo stage in a fairy tale to the function of college. In fairytales, the protagonist ventures into a foreign land, castle, or forest. In college, you (the protagonist of your own world) enter an unknown place far from home.

It’s a tale as old as time…a beautiful young girl is forced from the comforts of her home, pressured by her parents and societal norms to pursue a college degree after high school. Rejection after rejection she finally finds her place at *insert generic prestigious institution*. Here, she goes through a series of trials and tribulations to find her place. It’s a weird land of limbo: you’re on your own, isolated from your privacy and your parents--and in most cases their credit card too. You navigate the public bathrooms, attempting not to step on the mound of hair scuttling around the shower floor and how to tell your roommate to stop talking on the phone while you sleep. Often you find a little helper along the way, like a talking bird or a fairy godmother who will help you dress for the ball, but most likely it will be a girl down the hall who does your makeup for you and tells you time after time that that grimy prince does not deserve you. Instead of balls there are frat parties and college bars. When the clock strikes 12am it’s not time to go home, it’s time to go out.

In every fairytale classic, repetition is a key element. The princess is warned three times not to open the mysterious door hidden within the castle, or a bird warns the protagonist three times of dangers to come. In college, you receive three “u up?” texts over the span of three nights before they finally get the message.

The end goal of most fairytales is simple: marriage. The young girl finally endures her time of maturation and lands a handsome prince who will provide her a sense of security. I guess some people do get married after college, but for the most part, the young prince waiting for you at the end of your college experience is a job. You hope it will provide security, but it probably won’t.

The fairytale’s protagonist lives “happily ever after” at the end. At the end of college, you just live.

By Arden Schraff

Duke Student, mental health activist and resident goddess making Insta casual.