Children's stories are short stories, each full of adventure, excitement, sadness and more. They are usually filled with a minimal amount of words and are filled with many images. As such, these stories are responsible for giving children a creative imagination. These stories are made up of stereotypes, morals/lessons, different gender roles, ideas of good versus evil, and even concepts of beauty and fantasy. However, children's stories are also capable of giving a child misconceptions about the real world in which he lives. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay There are many examples of stereotypes in children's stories, and they are responsible for bringing children to the idea that stereotypes in stories can be used to judge people and things in the real world. The dictionary definition of stereotyping is “to unfairly believe that all people or things with particular characteristics are the same”. Evidence of a stereotype can be found in the books "Cinderella", "Hansel and Gretel", "Snow White" and so on, promoting that all stepmothers are cruel and evil. For example, in the book “Cinderella,” a girl had a cruel and evil stepmother who forced her to work all day. According to this story, the stepmother provided only the best for her real daughters. This is a stereotype, because in reality it is not always true. In fact, most stepmothers in the non-fictional world are people who love and care for their children as if they were their own. Unfortunately, even today, the idea that all stepmothers are cruel and evil persists. The impression that all stepmothers are cruel and evil is absurd since there are approximately 36 million stepmothers in the United States alone. Imagine how many other stepmothers there are in the entire world. It is impossible to say that all those women are rude and cruel. Another example of stereotype in children's stories is found in the role of a man and a woman in children's stories. The book “Rapunzel” is an example of where this stereotype is shown. “Rapunzel” is about a woman who is held prisoner in a tower and therefore must be “rescued” by a man. According to this story, this stereotype states that the woman who is saved should be beautiful, innocent and so on. It also shows that the man who is saving the woman should be handsome, brave, strong and much more. This stereotype is not only present in Rapunzel but also in many other stories, such as “The Little Mermaid”, “Beauty and the Beast” and so on. Therefore, stereotypes in children's stories establish distorted views about the roles of women and men among girls and boys living in the 21st century. Many children's stories involve a theme of Good versus Evil. This type of theme is one of the most popular themes as it is typically full of suspense. However, these types of stories aren't always the best to read about. An example of a good versus bad children's story is "Hansel and Gretel." In this story the good guys (the protagonists) are Hansel and Gretel while the bad guys (the antagonists) are their stepmother and the cannibalistic witch. These children lived a miserable life when their mother died, and when their stepmother arrived, their life got much, much worse. They were abandoned in the forest by their stepmother and captured by a cannibal witch. In the end, Gretel pushed the cruel witch into the oven, and the two brought back her riches and lived happily ever after with their father. This ending describes that good always conquers evil and also that life will be full of “happily ever after” endings,.