











































The Cultural 
Significance of “Jack and 
the Beanstalk”
INTRODUCTION

For the majority of humanity’s 
existence, oral history has been 

the only way of preserving events 
and passing stories on to future 
generations. Long before reading 
and writing became forms of human 
communication, oral history was 
the only way to make events survive 
beyond oneself. From these oral 
histories come many of the most 
popular stories, whose existences 
have long outlived their medium. 
These stories, or folktales, have 
spawned archetypes that stretch 
throughout cultures and through 
time. One notable example of this is 
the trickster story. As explained by 
the Encyclopedia of African-American 
Writing, “ [i]n all cases, trickster 
characters are wily, charming, and mischievous, and they almost invariably come into 
conflict with characters who are physically larger and more powerful than they are, 
so they must use their craftiness to trick these more powerful adversaries” (“Trickster 
Tales”). Examples of this type of character date back thousands of years. Some of the 
most well-known are David from his Biblical battle against Goliath, Br’er Rabbit 
from African-American slave stories, Loki from Norse mythology, and of course, 
Jack from “Jack and the Beanstalk,” which has continued to be a popular story even 
to this day. However, the version examined here comes from a 1907 publication of 
the 1890 Red Fairy Book by Andrew Lang. At the time of the publication of Lang’s 

ABSTRACT
“Jack and the Beanstalk” is a widely 
known fairy tale with a longstanding 
tradition of rewrites to fit the cultural 
norm. Andrew Lang’s version from 1890 
is just another such version of the classic 
story. However, his version has distinct 
influence from the culture around him at 
the time, namely those of Marxism and 
British imperialism mindsets, which were 
wildly influential at the time. It is within 
these cultural ideologies that Lang’s Jack 
exists, as Jack the oppressor and Jack 
the oppressed. Along with other artifacts 
of the time, this paper seeks to position 
Lang’s version against the Marxist and 
British imperialist influences to paint a 
full picture of the cultural significance of 
“Jack and the Beanstalk.” 

Madeline M.H. Grosh, Aidan S. McBride, & KJ Ross-Wilcox, Ball State University

1Digital Literature Review, vol. 4 (2017).     Ball State University. All Rights Reserved.
Please direct all requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce critical edition to dlr@bsu.edu.



edition of “Jack and the Beanstalk”, two of the primary rhetorical lenses through 
which society was viewed were class distinctions (famously analyzed by Karl Marx 
and Friedrich Engels in their work The Communist Manifesto), and the British 
Imperialist mindset. The duality between these two mindsets creates the framework 
through which one can understand the cultural implications of the story. It is 
within this cultural duality that Jack exists, both as Jack the oppressor and Jack the 
oppressed.   
 While the story has been around in many forms across many centuries, the 
story and its themes became widely popular around the early nineteenth to early 
twentieth centuries (“Jack Tales”). Our version, from 1907, fits perfectly within 
this timeframe. In this time, issues of class and wealth disparity were very much 
in the focus of society. Marx and Engels’s The Communist Manifesto both perfectly 
summarizes and embodies this shift in the understanding of social differences. 
The document, originally published in 1842, was relatively obscure to an English-
speaking audience because it was not translated into English until the 1880s. 
However, in the 1870s, the pamphlet rose to become one of the most important 
political documents of its time (“Marxism”). 
 What was most striking about The Communist Manifesto was Marx and 
Engels’s observations on class systems. Marx and Engels argue that classes, groups 
of people loosely connected by their access to the means of production, have 
always existed as a form of oppression. Specifically addressing issues of the mid-
to-late nineteenth century, Marx and Engels say, “The modern bourgeois society 
that has sprouted from the ruins of feudal society has not done away with class 
antagonisms. It has but established new classes, new conditions of oppression, and 
new forms of struggle in place of the old ones” (485). The Oxford English Dictionary 
defines bourgeois as “a person who upholds the interests of capitalism, or who is 
considered to be an exploiter of the proletariat, typically through ownership of 
the means of production” (“bourgeois”). These words about class disparity and the 
antagonism between social groups have had a profound impact on the world and 
have influenced every aspect of society, going all the way down to the stories told to 
children before bed.
 At the same time as Marx and Engels’s The Communist Manifesto, the ideas 
of Manifest Destiny and British imperialism were at their strongest. The concept 
of social classes may well have resurfaced in the minds of many people throughout 
societies at the time, but ideas of imperialism were almost subconscious at that 
point. For clarification, imperialism “is widely used as an emotive—and more rarely 
as a theoretical—term to denote specific forms of aggressive behavior on the part of 
certain states against others” (“Imperialism”). Imperialism is also about the power 

2Grosh, McBride, Ross-Wilcox



of an empire, specifically the act of exerting said power over another group in the 
interest of strengthening the empire’s control and influence around the world. In 
this time period, imperialism was not seen as bad thing.In fact, quite the opposite 
was true: it was seen as a necessary procedure to allow Westernized societies to 
elevate other, “lesser” societies to their level. This idea that it was the white man’s 
burden to lift other cultures up from their supposed barbarism is expressed in a 
Rudyard Kipling poem of the same name and is best illustrated by Victor Gillam 
in the political cartoon appropriately titled The White Man’s Burden (Apologies to 
Rudyard Kipling). This illustration will be further discussed later in this paper, but 
what matters for now is to understand that it represents the view that it was seen as 
the responsibility of the British and Americans to raise other cultures to what they 
considered a civilized standard at that time. 
 The part of this duality which is most emphasized in Lang’s version itself is 
Jack as the oppressed. Trickster tales, such as this one, are almost universally used 
to craft a narrative around the small character fighting against the larger, usually 
oppressive, character. In this regard, it makes perfect sense to look at Jack’s trickster 
story in the context of monster scholar Jeffrey Jerome Cohen’s “Monster Culture 
(Seven Theses)” to understand the cultural implications of what Jack’s monster, the 
Giant, means. As Cohen states in his first thesis, “[t]he monster is born only at this 
metaphoric crossroads, as an embodiment of a certain cultural moment—of a time, 
a feeling, and a place” (4). This is to say that to understand the monster’s purpose, 
we must understand what it is doing and why Jack is afraid of it.
 To that end, we must understand what makes the Giant a monster, both in 
the general sense and in regards to Jack specifically. It is first relevant to understand 
what a giant is, in terms of the history of folklore. According to Archetypes and 
Motifs in Folklore and Literature, “[i]n world mythologies, however, giants are 
generally colossal figures of evil disposition, enemies of gods and mortals, and 
frequently exhibiting an unusual trait such as breathing fire, having multiple 
heads, or engaging in cannibalism” (Nagar 32). While this specific retelling of 
the Jack story leaves out such absurd qualities, it certainly has its own unique 
characteristics, which are best understood through the grotesque. As described by 
Kelly Hurley, who references M. M. Bakhtin — a Russian literary critic whose 
work has been widely influential to the field of literary theory — the grotesque 
deals with “the human body in all its coarse, clumsy earthiness and changeful 
mortality, focusing on the material thingness of the human subject rather than 
intellect or spirit” (138). This is to say that the grotesque breaks humanity down 
to an excess of earthly body, lacking in spirituality, and this is something which is 
seen with the Giant. Specifically, this Giant’s unique characteristics are an excess 

3Grosh, McBride, Ross-Wilcox



of size and weight and an uncanny gluttony to match. The Giant is described as 
eating elephant steaks in this version, which is particularly monstrous when one 
considers that the townspeople are all starving below his castle (Lang 138). This 
emphasis on weight also falls in line with a long-running association between 
upper-class people and weight. Throughout history, until the twentieth century, the 
wealthy were often portrayed as massive beings, thus creating a direct comparison 
between the disparity in weight and the disparity of class (“Fat Bias”). Put simply, 
the aristocratic class is viewed as both physically big and economically oppressive in 
relation to the lower classes. As can be seen below in Joseph Keppler’s “The Bosses 
of the Senate,” the rich trust members who are portrayed as running everything 
(in a negative way) are physically very similar to the Giant: large, overweight, and 
certainly gigantic.
Importantly, the story is told 
from the perspective of a young 
man who is not only poor but 
also is without a father and in 
drastic need of food. With this 
in mind, it makes sense for Jack 
to be contrasted with the Giant. 
As Cohen says, what we fear in 
monsters is really what we desire: 
“The same creatures who terrify 
and interdict can evoke potent 
escapist fantasies; the linking of monstrosity with the forbidden makes the monster 
even more appealing as a temporary egress from constraint” (17). For instance, the 
Giant is alone with a motherly figure, his wife, and is also shown to not be very 
intelligent, as his wife easily convinces him that Jack is not there. However, what is 
important is the contrast between the two: Jack is small and poor while the Giant 
is gluttonous and wealthy, his size a literal reflection of his status. The things that 
make him monstrous— his size, his imposing nature, and his excessive greed— are 
all things that Jack openly envies.
 More telling of the time is the ending, in which, after the Giant is slain 
(unintentional as the death may have been), the people of the local village rally 
behind Jack, charge the castle to overthrow the Giantess, and take back the land 
for Jack and the people (Lang 145-146). This ending is oozing with a Marxist aura, 
both with the rallying of the lower class to overthrow the upper class and with the 
peasants arguing that it is their duty to fight for their land. All of these Marxist 
undertones relate to portraying Jack as a trickster because he must use charisma 

4Grosh, McBride, Ross-Wilcox



and wit to take down the oppressive, threatening creature attacking him in order to 
make it out alive.
 However, what can be revealed upon closer inspection is the fact that this 
piece reinforces the narrative of the white man’s burden, completely absolving Jack 
of any wrongdoing and, in this version, even rewarding him and outright stating 
that his invasion of the Giant’s home and his robbery of the Giant’s possessions 
is a birthright. Something important to note is that this piece does not humanize 
the Giant. Both the Giant and the Giantess are only referred to as that: Giant and 
Giantess. The audience does not even know their names; the giants are only referred 
to by their species, something very telling of the times.
 Additionally, Lang’s version of “Jack and the Beanstalk” goes out of its way to 
show the audience that Jack did nothing wrong. In fact, the story makes Jack a hero 
for his actions. This may seem strange to a contemporary audience, but, at the time, 
the attitude that some  groups of people were inferior to others made perfect sense. 
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the ideas of Manifest Destiny 
and imperialism were very prominent in the minds of the people. In the cartoon 
shown here, John Gast’s American Progress, one can see this mindset represented. 
 What this image shows is a woman, representing Western culture, leading 
a group of citizens onward into the “uncivilized” land, towards the natives and the 
animals. Ahead of them, the land is dark, and the woman is bringing forth a holy 
light with her to illuminate the lives of the natives. This represents the mindset 
that Western cultures were justified and morally obligated to elevate the cultures 
of the rest of the world. While this 
specific painting is about America’s idea 
of Manifest Destiny, it also very much 
portrays the British mindset. Through 
the perspective of this picture, one can 
see why Jack’s questionable actions are 
shown in a positive light in the story: he 
is acting out this idea of imperialism on 
the Giant.
 The Giant himself makes it clear 
that he is of a different species than Jack. 
He makes the distinction by saying that 
he can smell that Jack’s breath is that of 
an Englishman, implying that the Giant himself is not (Lang 139). Something to 
keep in mind is that Lang’s version is unique because it portrays Jack’s family as the 
original rulers of the castle until the Giant stole Jack’s father’s land, murdered his 

5Grosh, McBride, Ross-Wilcox



siblings, and cast him and his mother out. More importantly, Jack has a birthright 
to steal the hen which lays golden eggs, and ultimately the castle itself, because of 
who he is; i.e., a representative of Manifest Destiny. The Giant invades Jack’s lands 
and takes the belongings of Jack’s ancestors. Thus it becomes Jack´s duty to take 
everything back. 
 The Giant represents a fear of imperialism inverted, as portrayed by Patrick 
Brantlinger, a professor of English at Indiana University, in Rule of Darkness. 
Brantlinger says, “Imperial Gothic expresses anxieties about the waning of religious 
orthodoxy, but even more clearly it expresses anxieties about the ease with which 
civilization can revert to barbarism or savagery and thus about the weakening 
of Britain’s imperial hegemony” (229). This fear that another culture might one 
day take over the empire and revert it to barbarism was an idea that was prolific 
throughout the late nineteenth century. Jack, through this lens, stands to reassure 
the readers. Even if another culture has people of unfathomable size and strength, 
it is the duty of the crafty British boy to win the day. Because he is doing what is 
perceived as right, he will always win, thus reaffirming his place at the top of the 
cultural ladder.
 It is between these two influential ideologies of the late nineteenth century 
that Lang’s version of “Jack and the Beanstalk” rests. Jack is at once an oppressor 
and the oppressed. The reading of the text must then reflect this notion, viewing 
Jack as neither exclusively the hero Lang intended, nor the conquering imperialist 
that the subtext reveals, but rather a combination of both of these ideologies, fused 
into one cultural entity.

JACK AND THE BEANSTALK

Jack Sells the Cow
 Once upon a time there was a poor widow who lived in a little cottage 
with her only son Jack1. Jack was a giddy, thoughtless boy, but very kind-hearted 
and affectionate. There had been a hard winter, and after it the poor woman had 
suffered from fever and ague. Jack did no work as yet, and by degrees they grew 
dreadfully poor. The widow saw that there was no means of keeping Jack and 
herself from starvation but by selling her cow; so one morning she said to her son, 
 `I am too weak to go myself, Jack, so you must take the cow to market for 

6Grosh, McBride, Ross-Wilcox

1 This is an example of some of the oppression that Jack faces. For this time, one would have to be poor to 
face the living conditions Jack and his mother do, making them members of the proletariat. The proletariat 
is defined as “[w]age earners collectively, esp. those who have no capital and who depend for subsistence 
on their daily labour; the working classes. The lowest class in society; the poor, the masses” (“proletariat”).



me, and sell her.’ 
 Jack liked going to market to sell the cow very much; but as he was on the 
way, he met a butcher who had some beautiful beans in his hand. Jack stopped 
to look at them, and the butcher told the boy that they were of great value, and 
persuaded the silly lad to sell the cow for these beans2. When he brought them 
home to his mother instead of the money she expected for her nice cow, she was 
very vexed and shed many tears, scolding Jack for his folly. He was very sorry, and 
mother and son went to bed very sadly that night; their last hope seemed gone. At 
daybreak Jack rose and went out into the garden. 
 `At least,’ he thought, `I will sow the wonderful beans. Mother says that they 
are just common scarlet-runners, and nothing else; but I may as well sow them.’ 
 So he took a piece of stick, and made some holes in the ground, and put 
in the beans. That day they had very little dinner, and went sadly to bed, knowing 
that for the next day there would be none and Jack, unable to sleep from grief 
and vexation, got up at day-dawn and went out into the garden. What was his 
amazement to find that the beans had grown up in the night, and climbed up and 
up till they covered the high cliff that sheltered the cottage, and disappeared above 
it! The stalks had twined and twisted themselves together till they formed quite a 
ladder. 
 `It would be easy to climb it,’ thought Jack. And, having thought of the 
experiment, he at once resolved to carry it out, for Jack was a good climber. 
However, after his late mistake about the cow, he thought he had better consult his 
mother first.

Wonderful Growth of The Beanstalk
 So Jack called his mother, and they both gazed in silent wonder at the 
Beanstalk, which was not only of great height, but was thick enough to bear Jack’s 
weight. 
 `I wonder where it ends,’ said Jack to his mother; `I think I will climb up and 
see.’ 
 His mother wished him not to venture up this strange ladder, but Jack 
coaxed her to give her consent to the attempt, for he was certain there must be 
something wonderful in the Beanstalk; so at last she yielded to his wishes. Jack 
instantly began to climb, and went up and up on the ladder-like bean till everything 
he had left behind him--the cottage, the village, and even the tall church tower-

7Grosh, McBride, Ross-Wilcox

2 This could be perceived as a way of controlling the working classes by pitting them against one another. 
Jack is trusting that the butcher will not cheat him in a deal, but, instead of giving Jack (who is an impres-
sionable child) money, he gives him “magical beans.” It does not appear to be a fair deal, and it seems that 
the older, smarter, working man is taking advantage of a poor child within his same social standing in order 
to get ahead.



-looked quite little, and still he could not see the top of the Beanstalk. Jack felt a 
little tired, and thought for a moment that he would go back again; but he was a 
very persevering boy, and he knew that the way to succeed in anything is not to give 
up. So after resting for a moment he went on. After climbing higher and higher, 
till he grew afraid to look down for fear he should be giddy, Jack at last reached the 
top of the Beanstalk, and found himself in a beautiful country, finely wooded, with 
beautiful meadows covered with sheep. A crystal stream ran through the pastures; 
not far from the place where he had got off the Beanstalk stood a fine, strong castle. 
Jack wondered very much that he had never heard of or seen this castle before; but 
when he reflected on the subject, he saw that it was as much separated from the 
village by the perpendicular rock on which it stood as if it were in another land. 
While Jack was standing looking at the castle, a very strange-looking woman came 
out of the wood, and advanced towards him. She wore a pointed cap of quilted red 
satin turned up with ermine, her hair streamed loose over her shoulders, and she 
walked with a staff. Jack took off his cap and made her a bow. 
 `If you please, ma’am,’ said he, `is this your house?’ 
 `No,’ said the old lady. `Listen, and I will tell you the story of that castle. 
 `Once upon a time there was a noble knight, who lived in this castle, which 
is on the borders of Fairyland. He had a fair and beloved wife and several lovely 
children: and as his neighbours, the little people, were very friendly towards him, 
they bestowed on him many excellent and precious gifts. Rumour whispered of 
these treasures; and a monstrous giant, who lived at no great distance, and who was 
a very wicked being, resolved to obtain possession of them. 
 `So he bribed a false servant to let him inside the castle, when the knight 
was in bed and asleep, and he killed him as he lay. Then he went to the part of 
the castle which was the nursery, and also killed all the poor little ones he found 
there. Happily for her, the lady was not to be found. She had gone with her infant 
son, who was only two or three months old, to visit her old nurse, who lived in the 
valley; and she had been detained all night there by a storm.
 ‘The next morning, as soon as it was light, one of the servants at the castle, 
who had managed to escape, came to tell the poor lady of the sad fate of her 
husband and her pretty babes. She could scarcely believe him at first, and was 
eager at once to go back and share the fate of her dear ones; but the old nurse, with 
many tears, besought her to remember that she had still a child, and that it was 
her duty to preserve her life for the sake of the poor innocent. The lady yielded to 
this reasoning, and consented to remain at her nurse’s house as the best place of 
concealment; for the servant told her that the giant had vowed, if he could find her, 
he would kill both her and her baby. Years rolled on. The old nurse died, leaving her 
cottage and the few articles of furniture it contained to her poor lady, who dwelt in 

8Grosh, McBride, Ross-Wilcox



it, working as a peasant for her daily bread. Her spinning-wheel and the milk of a 
cow, which she had purchased with the little money she had with her, sufficed for 
the scanty subsistence of herself and her little son. There was a nice little garden 
attached to the cottage, in which they cultivated peas, beans, and cabbages, and the 
lady was not ashamed to go out at harvest time, and glean in the fields to supply 
her little son’s wants.
 `Jack, that poor lady is your mother. This castle was once your father’s, and 
must again be yours3.’
  Jack uttered a cry of surprise.
 `My mother! oh, madam, what ought I to do? My poor father! My dear 
mother!’
 `Your duty requires you to win it back for your mother. But the task is a very 
difficult one, and full of peril, Jack. Have you courage to undertake it?’
 `I fear nothing when I am doing right,’ said Jack4.
 `Then,’ said the lady in the red cap, `you are one of those who slay giants. You 
must get into the castle, and if possible possess yourself of a hen that lays golden 
eggs, and a harp that talks. Remember, all the giant possesses is really yours5.’ As 
she ceased speaking, the lady of the red hat suddenly disappeared, and of course 
Jack knew she was a fairy.
 Jack determined at once to attempt the adventure; so he advanced, and blew 
the horn which hung at the castle portal. The door was opened in a minute or two 
by a frightful giantess, with one great eye in the middle of her forehead. As soon as 
Jack saw her he turned to run away, but she caught him, and dragged him into the 
castle.
 `Ho, ho!’ she laughed terribly. `You didn’t expect to see me here, that is 
clear! No, I shan’t let you go again. I am weary of my life. I am so overworked, and 
I don’t see why I should not have a page as well as other ladies. And you shall be 
my boy. You shall clean the knives, and black the boots, and make the fires, and 
help me generally when the giant is out. When he is at home I must hide you, for 
he has eaten up all my pages hitherto, and you would be a dainty morsel, my little 

9Grosh, McBride, Ross-Wilcox

3 On one hand the giant is the oppressor, but this is also reminiscent of the stories and mindsets settlers 
had when it came to the natives—Settlers felt that it was their destiny to discover new worlds and that they 
were entitled to the land. They justified this behavior by making the natives seem evil and savage (Kipling).
4 This is an example of the mindset the settlers had (that the settlers were saving the natives from 
themselves)—the settlers believe it to be their moral obligation to civilize who and what they perceive as 
“uncivil.” This can be seen in “The White Man’s Burden,” as the settlers saw it as their duty to make “civilized 
men” out of “savages” (Kipling).
5 This is the mindset of entitlement the settlers possessed as they entered new lands. It also reflects the 
entitlement of the bourgeoisie, defined as “the capitalist class who own most of society’s wealth and 
means of production, typically with reference to its perceived materialistic values or conventional attitudes” 
(“bourgeois”).



lad.’ While she spoke she dragged Jack right into the castle. The poor boy was 
very much frightened, as I am sure you and I would have been in his place. But he 
remembered that fear disgraces a man; so he struggled to be brave and make the 
best of things.
 `I am quite ready to help you, and do all I can to serve you, madam,’ he said, 
`only I beg you will be good enough to hide me from your husband, for I should 
not like to be eaten at all.’
 `That’s a good boy,’ said the Giantess, nodding her head; `it is lucky for you 
that you did not scream out when you saw me, as the other boys who have been 
here did, for if you had done so my husband would have awakened and have eaten 
you, as he did them, for breakfast. Come here, child; go into my wardrobe: he never 
ventures to open THAT; you will be safe there.’
 And she opened a huge wardrobe which stood in the great hall, and shut him 
into it. But the keyhole was so large that it ad- mitted plenty of air, and he could 
see everything that took place through it. By-and-by he heard a heavy tramp on 
the stairs, like the lumbering along of a great cannon, and then a voice like thunder 
cried out;
 `Fe, fa, fi-fo-fum, I smell the breath of an Englishman. Let him be alive or 
let him be dead, I’ll grind his bones to make my bread6.’
 `Wife,’ cried the Giant, `there is a man in the castle. Let me have him for 
breakfast.’
 `You are grown old and stupid,’ cried the lady in her loud tones. `It is only a 
nice fresh steak off an elephant, that I have cooked for you, which you smell. There, 
sit down and make a good breakfast.’ And she placed a huge dish before him of 
savoury steaming meat, which greatly pleased him, and made him forget his idea 
of an Englishman being in the castle. When he had breakfasted he went out for a 
walk; and then the Giantess opened the door, and made Jack come out to help her. 
He helped her all day. She fed him well, and when evening came put him back in 
the wardrobe.

The Hen That Lays Golden Eggs.
 The Giant came in to supper. Jack watched him through the keyhole, and 

10Grosh, McBride, Ross-Wilcox

6 This is an example of the assumed savagery of the native, demonstrated by their inability to speak English.
The use of “Englishman” could be perceived as reflecting how the settlers felt attacked by the “uncivilized” 
natives that they invaded, which we see when the Giant is searching for the intruding Jack. On the other 
hand, from a more satirical standpoint, as shown in the political cartoon “The Bosses of the Senate” (in the 
Introduction), the Giant is the bourgeois oppressor instead of the oppressed.



was amazed to see him pick a wolf ’s bone, and put half a fowl at a time into his 
capacious mouth. When the supper was ended he bade his wife bring him his hen 
that laid the golden eggs.
 `It lays as well as it did when it belonged to that paltry knight,’ he said; 
`indeed I think the eggs are heavier than ever.’ The Giantess went away, and soon 
returned with a little brown hen, which she placed on the table before her husband. 
 `And now, my dear,’ she said, `I am going for a walk, if you don’t want me 
any longer.’
 `Go,’ said the Giant; `I shall be glad to have a nap by-and-by.’ Then he took 
up the brown hen and said to her: `Lay!’ And she instantly laid a golden egg. `Lay!’ 
said the Giant again. And she laid another. `Lay!’ he repeated the third time. And 
again a golden egg lay on the table. Now Jack was sure this hen was that of which 
the fairy had spoken. By-and-by the Giant put the hen down on the floor, and soon 
after went fast asleep, snoring so loud that it sounded like thunder. 
 Directly Jack perceived that the Giant was fast asleep, he pushed open the 
door of the wardrobe and crept out; very softly he stole across the room, and, 
picking up the hen, made haste to quit the apartment7. He knew the way to the 
kitchen, the door of which he found was left ajar; he opened it, shut and locked it 
after him, and flew back to the Beanstalk, which he descended as fast as his feet 
would move. When his mother saw him enter the house she wept for joy, for she 
had feared that the fairies had carried him away, or that the Giant had found him. 
But Jack put the brown hen down before her, and told her how he had been in the 
Giant’s castle, and all his adventures. She was very glad to see the hen, which would 
make them rich once more.

The Money Bags.
 Jack made another journey up the Beanstalk to the Giant’s castle one day 
while his mother had gone to market; but first he dyed his hair and disguised 
himself. The old woman did not know him again, and dragged him in as she had 
done before, to help her to do the work; but she heard her husband coming, and hid 
him in the wardrobe, not thinking that it was the same boy who had stolen the hen. 
She bade him stay quite still there, or the Giant would eat him.
 Then the Giant came in saying: `Fe, fa, fi-fo-fum, I smell the breath of an 
Englishman. Let him be alive or let him be dead, I’ll grind his bones to make my 

11Grosh, McBride, Ross-Wilcox

7 This is another example of Jack stealing what he believes to be his and what he believes he has a right to. 
This is what keeps Jack in this dual category of how settlers saw the natives and their land, as well as how 
the bourgeoisie treated the proletariat.



bread.’
 `Nonsense!’ said the wife, `it is only a roasted bullock8 that I thought would 
be a tit-bit for your supper; sit down and I will bring it up at once.’ The Giant sat 
down, and soon his wife brought up a roasted bullock on a large dish, and they 
began their supper. Jack was amazed to see them pick the bones of the bullock as if 
it had been a lark. 
 As soon as they had finished their meal, the Giantess rose and said: `Now, 
my dear, with your leave I am going up to my room to finish the story I am reading. 
If you want me call for me.’ 
 `First,’ answered the Giant, `bring me my money bags, that I may count my 
golden pieces before I sleep9.’ The Giantess obeyed. She went and soon returned 
with two large bags over her shoulders, which she put down by her husband.
 There,’ she said; `that is all that is left of the knight’s money. When you have 
spent it you must go and take another baron’s castle.’
 `That he shan’t, if I can help it,’ thought Jack. The Giant, when his wife was 
gone, took out heaps and heaps of golden pieces, and counted them, and put them 
in piles, till he was tired of the amusement. Then he swept them all back into their 
bags, and leaning back in his chair fell fast asleep, snoring so loud that no other 
sound was audible. Jack stole softly out of the wardrobe, and taking up the bags 
of money (which were his very own, because the Giant had stolen them from his 
father10), he ran off, and with great difficulty descending the Beanstalk, laid the bags 
of gold on his mother’s table. She had just returned from town, and was crying at 
not finding Jack.
 `There, mother, I have brought you the gold that my father lost.’
 `Oh, Jack! you are a very good boy, but I wish you would not risk your 
precious life in the Giant’s castle. Tell me how you came to go there again.’ And 
Jack told her all about it. Jack’s mother was very glad to get the money, but she did 
not like him to run any risk for her. But after a time Jack made up his mind to go 
again to the Giant’s castle.

12Grosh, McBride, Ross-Wilcox

8 Bullock is an term for steer (“bullock”).
9 In lore, Giants also have a history of being perceived as either rich or stealing riches from others and 
claiming it as their own. This is the entitlement the settlers had and how the bourgeoisie was also per-
ceived. Andrew Teverson discusses this perception in his essay “‘Giants Have Trampled the Earth’: Colonial-
ism and the English Tale in Samuel Selvon’s Turn Again Tiger.”
10 This, once again, is an example of Jack taking what he believes is his. He thinks and believes, just like the 
settlers, that it is his birthright to take these things. This is also an example of Jack being a trickster, de-
scribed further in “Jack Tales.” 



The Talking Harp
 So he climbed the Beanstalk once more, and blew the horn at the Giant’s 
gate. The Giantess soon opened the door; she was very stupid, and did not know 
him again, but she stopped a minute before she took him in. She feared another 
robbery; but Jack’s fresh face looked so innocent that she could not resist him, and 
so she bade him come in, and again hid him away in the wardrobe. 
 By-and-by the Giant came home, and as soon as he had crossed the 
threshold he roared out: `Fe, fa, fi-fo-fum, I smell the breath of an Englishman. Let 
him be alive or let him be dead, I’ll grind his bones to make my bread.’
 `You stupid old Giant,’ said his wife, `you only smell a nice sheep, which I 
have grilled for your dinner.’ And the Giant sat down, and his wife brought up a 
whole sheep for his dinner. 
 When he had eaten it all up, he said: `Now bring me my harp, and I will 
have a little music while you take your walk.’ The Giantess obeyed, and returned 
with a beautiful harp. The framework was all sparkling with diamonds and rubies, 
and the strings were all of gold.
 `This is one of the nicest things I took from the knight,’ said the Giant. `I am 
very fond of music, and my harp is a faithful servant.’
 So he drew the harp towards him, and said: `Play!’ And the harp played a 
very soft, sad air.
 `Play something merrier!’ said the Giant. And the harp played a merry tune.
 `Now play me a lullaby,’ roared the Giant; and the harp played a sweet 
lullaby, to the sound of which its master fell asleep.
 Then Jack stole softly out of the wardrobe, and went into the huge kitchen to 
see if the Giantess had gone out; he found no one there, so he went to the door and 
opened it softly, for he thought he could not do so with the harp in his hand. 
 Then he entered the Giant’s room and seized the harp and ran away with it; 
but as he jumped over the threshold the harp called out: `MASTER! MASTER!’
 And the Giant woke up. With a tremendous roar he sprang from his seat, 
and in two strides had reached the door. But Jack was very nimble. He fled like 
lightning with the harp, talking to it as he went (for he saw it was a fairy), and 
telling it he was the son of its old master, the knight. Still the Giant came on so fast 
that he was quite close to poor Jack, and had stretched out his great hand to catch 
him. But, luckily, just at that moment he stepped upon a loose stone, stumbled, and 
fell flat on the ground, where he lay at his full length. This accident gave Jack time 
to get on the Beanstalk and hasten down it; but just as he reached their own garden 
he beheld the Giant descending after him.
 `Mother I mother!’ cried Jack, `make haste and give me the axe.’ His mother 

13Grosh, McBride, Ross-Wilcox



ran to him with a hatchet in her hand, and Jack with one tremendous blow cut 
through all the Beanstalks except one.
 `Now, mother, stand out of the way!’ said he.

The Giant Breaks His Neck.
 Jack’s mother shrank back, and it was well she did so, for just as the Giant 
took hold of the last branch of the Beanstalk, Jack cut the stem quite through and 
darted from the spot. Down came the Giant with a terrible crash, and as he fell on 
his head, he broke his neck, and lay dead11 at the feet of the woman he had so much 
injured. Before Jack and his mother had recovered from their alarm and agitation, a 
beautiful lady stood before them.
 `Jack,’ said she, `you have acted like a brave knight’s son, and deserve to have 
your inheritance restored to you. Dig a grave and bury the Giant, and then go and 
kill the Giantess.’
 `But,’ said Jack, `I could not kill anyone unless I were fighting with him; and 
I could not draw my sword upon a woman. Moreover, the Giantess was very kind 
to me.’ The Fairy smiled on Jack.
 `I am very much pleased with your generous feeling,’ she said. `Nevertheless, 
return to the castle, and act as you will find needful.’ Jack asked the Fairy if she 
would show him the way to the castle, as the Beanstalk was now down. She told 
him that she would drive him there in her chariot, which was drawn by two 
peacocks. Jack thanked her, and sat down in the chariot with her.
 The Fairy drove him a long distance round, till they reached a village which 
lay at the bottom of the hill. Here they found a number of miserable-looking men 
assembled.
 The Fairy stopped her carriage and addressed them: `My friends,’ said she, 
`the cruel giant who oppressed you and ate up all your flocks and herds is dead, and 
this young gentleman was the means of your being delivered from him, and is the 
son of your kind old master, the knight.’
 The men gave a loud cheer at these words, and pressed forward to say that 
they would serve Jack as faithfully as they had served his father. The Fairy bade 

14Grosh, McBride, Ross-Wilcox

11 With the giant dead, the question at hand is, “Did Jack slay those he oppressed or did he conquer his 
oppressors?” The Giant’s death can be seen as the oppressed finally defeating their oppressors (bourgeoisie 
being taken down by the proletariat), but it is also a metaphor for the settlers killing, robbing, and conquer-
ing the native people. With the two narratives being simultaneously told in this story, on one hand Jack is 
the poor, proletariat boy who has taken back what was rightfully his, defeated his oppressor, and appears 
to be the moral hero; on the other, Jack is a young settler who comes to a foreign land, stealing riches he 
believes to be his birthright as he kills the native who he views a savage. This is also an example of the 
trickster winning in the end after he has outsmarted the giant and taken back what is “rightfully” his.



them follow her to the castle, and they marched thither in a body, and Jack blew 
the horn and demanded admittance. The old Giantess saw them coming from the 
turret loop-hole. She was very much frightened, for she guessed that something 
had happened to her husband; and as she came downstairs very fast she caught her 
foot in her dress, and fell from the top to the bottom and broke her neck. When 
the people outside found that the door was not opened to them, they took crowbars 
and forced the portal. Nobody was to be seen, but on leaving the hall they found 
the body of the Giantess at the foot of the stairs.
 Thus Jack took possession of the castle. The Fairy went and brought his 
mother to him, with the hen and the harp. He had the Giantess buried, and 
endeavoured as much as lay in his power to do right to those whom the Giant had 
robbed. Before her departure for fairyland, the Fairy explained to Jack that she had 
sent the butcher to meet him with the beans, in order to try what sort of lad he was. 
‘If you had looked at the gigantic Beanstalk and only stupidly wondered about it,’ 
she said, `I should have left you where misfortune had placed you, only restoring 
her cow to your mother. But you showed an inquiring mind, and great courage and 
enterprise, therefore you deserve to rise; and when you mounted the Beanstalk you 
climbed the Ladder of Fortune.’ She then took her leave of Jack and his mother.

INTRODUCTION TO “TOBIT AND JACK THE GIANT-KILLER”
 The name “Jack” was used in many trickster stories. This larger narrative 
makes the character of Jack in “Jack and the Beanstalk” both a unique character and 
a common example of this genre of “folk lore” (“Jack Tales”). In “Tobit and Jack 
the Giant-Killer,” a short story published in 1898, Jack is a cunning warrior who 
has become renowned for his agility and swiftness as a giant slayer. After being 
captured for his actions, Jack serves as a loyal servant at the hands of the prince, 
who has earned Jack’s services after showing a grand gesture of generosity. These 
services occur prior to Jack’s death at the hands of the law. 
 The prince’s life is endangered multiple times throughout this tale, and, each 
time, Jack uses his trickery, special gifts, and warrior’s will to save the prince from 
death’s clutches. The prince is in love with a fair maiden and desires her hand in 
marriage. She will accept if he completes two (impossible) tasks given to him. With 
Jack’s cunning and swiftness, Jack helps the prince to complete these tasks. At the 
end, readers find out the devil has bewitched the maiden. By completing these 
tasks, Jack and the prince finally trick Lucifer and successfully cut off his head. 
This act releases the maiden from his power and allows the maiden to be with the 
prince. 
 This story gives the reader a sense of why Jack’s trickery is thought to be 

15Grosh, McBride, Ross-Wilcox



acceptable. Jack uses his skills and cunning behavior to keep the prince alive, and it 
is in the same way that Jack is able to steal from the Giant and eventually slay the 
him. Another connection that can be made is Jack’s ability to slay another person 
yet be perceived as a hero. This is only possible if the being he slayed was a monster 
of a sort. Similar to the Giant, Lucifer is also seen as a grotesque and evil monster, 
who Jack must kill to ensure the safety of the people he cares about. The murder 
seems justified because the threat is personal to Jack. Also, because Lucifer is 
perceived as the monster in this story, his actions are perceived as immoral. Overall, 
this story reinforces the idea that anyone can become great—even a young peasant 
boy. “Tobit and Jack the Giant-Killer” simply gives a greater sense as to why Jack is 
considered a hero: Jack illustrates to the reader through his actions that one is able 
to succeed in any act with enough mental ability, will power, and strength.

“TOBIT AND JACK THE GIANT-KILLER” EXCERPT12

 Now it happened in these days that King Arthur’s only son asked his father 
to give him a large sum of money in order that he might go and seek his fortune 
in Wales, where lived a beautiful lady possessed with seven evil spirits. The king 
did his best to dissuade his son, but in vain, so at last gave way; and the prince set 
out off with two horses, one loaded with money, the other for himself to ride upon. 
Now, after several days’ travel, he came to a market-town in Wales where he beheld 
a vast crowd of people gathered together. The prince asked the reason of it, and 
was told that they had arrested a corpse for several large sums of money which the 
deceased owed when he died. The prince replied that it was a pity creditors should 
be so cruel, and said: ‘Go, bury the dead, and let his creditors come to my lodging, 
and there their debts shall be paid.’
 They came in such great numbers that before night he had only twopence 
left for himself. Now Jack the Giant-Killer, coming that way, was so taken with the 
generosity of the prince that he desired to be his servant. This being agreed upon, 
the next morning they set forward on their journey together, when, as they were 
riding out of the town, an old woman called after the prince, saying: ‘He has owed 
me twopence these seven years; pray, pay me as well as the rest.’
 Putting his hand to his pocket the prince gave the woman all he had left, so 
that after their day’s food, which cost what small spell Jack had by him, they were 
without a penny between them . . . . [T]hey quickly arrived at the house of the 
lady the prince sought, who, finding the prince to be a suitor, prepared a splendid 
banquet for him. After the repast was concluded she told him she had a task for 

16Grosh, McBride, Ross-Wilcox

12 (Groome 226-244)



him. She wiped his mouth with a handkerchief, saying: ‘You must show me that 
handkerchief to-morrow morning or else you will lose your head.’ With that she 
put it in her bosom.
 The prince went to bed in great sorrow, but Jack’s cap of knowledge informed 
him how it was to be obtained. In the middle of the night she called upon her 
familiar spirit to carry her to Lucifer. But Jack put on his coat of darkness and his 
shoes of swiftness, and was there as soon as she was. When she entered the place 
of the Old One she gave the handkerchief to old Lucifer, who laid it upon a shelf, 
whence Jack took it and brought it to his master, who showed it to the lady next 
day, and so saved his life. On that day she gave the prince a kiss, and told him he 
must show her the lips to-morrow morning that she kissed last night or lose his 
head.
 ‘Oh!’ he replied, ‘if you kiss none but mine, I will.’
 ‘That is neither here nor there,’ said she. ‘If you do not, death’s your portion.’
 At midnight she went as before, and was angry with old Lucifer for letting 
the handkerchief go. ‘But now,’ quoth she, ‘I will be too hard for the king’s son, for I 
will kiss thee, and he is to show me thy lips.’
 Which she did, and Jack, when she was not standing by, cut off Lucifer’s 
head, and brought it under his invisible coat to his master, who the next morning 
pulled it out by the horns before the lady. This broke the enchantment, and the 
evil spirit left her, and she appeared in all her beauty. They were married the next 
morning.

INTRODUCTION TO “MOTHER GOOSE AND THE GOLDEN EGG”
 “Mother Goose and the Golden Egg,” published circa 1850, is a children’s 
poem many grew up hearing and reading. In this poem, Jack tries to sell a golden 
egg that came from his goose, but a “rogue Jew”— an ethnic stereotype — tries to 
take advantage of him and refuses to pay the price Jack has asked for the golden 
egg. When Jack comes to the realization that the Jew is trying to swindle him, Jack 
goes for help. The Jew then comes back and surprises Jack, stealing from Jack once 
again. 
 This Jack story echoes the two themes from “Jack and the Beanstalk.” First, 
it pits poor Jack against a rich man who cheats him, just as the wealthy Giant 
had robbed the peasants in “Jack and the Beanstalk.” Second, whereas the Giant 
symbolized another race, in this case, Jack’s opponent is an actual member of an 
ethnic minority, who is portrayed in a stereotypical and stigmatizing manner as 
greedy and untrustworthy. According to Learning about the Holocaust: A Student’s 
Guide, in Europe between 1870 and 1944, Jews often served as “scapegoat[s]” 

17Grosh, McBride, Ross-Wilcox



(“Antisemitism”). Thus, while this story tries to teach a lesson through the way Jack 
deals with the upper-class gentleman who attempts to cheat him in a deal, Jack still 
oppresses the minority, the Jew. 

“MOTHER GOOSE AND THE GOLDEN EGG” EXCERPT13

Mother Goose had a house,
 ‘Twas built in a wood,
Where an owl at the door,
 For sentinel stood.
This is her son Jack,
A plain looking lad,
He is not very good,
Nor yet very bad.
She sent him to market,
A live goose he bought,
Here, mother, says he,
It will not go for naught.
Jack’s goose and her gander,
Grew very fond,
They’d both eat together,
Or swim in one pond.
Jack found one morning,
As I have been told,
His goose had laid him,
An egg of pure gold.
Jack rode to his mother,
The news for to tell,
She called him a good boy,
And said it was well.
Jack sold his gold egg,
To a rogue of a Jew,
Who cheated him out of
The half of his due.
Then Jack went a courting,
A lady so gay,
As fair as the filly,

18Grosh, McBride, Ross-Wilcox

13 (“Mother Goose” 2-8)



And sweet as the May.
The Jew and the Squire,
Came behind his back,
And began to belabour,
The sides of Poor Jack.
Then Old Mother Goose,
That instant came in,
And turned her son Jack,
Into fam’d Harlequin.
The Jew got the goose,
Which he vow’d he would kill,
Resolving at once, His pockets to fill.
Jack’s mother came in,
And caught the goose soon,
And mounted it’s back,
Flew up to the moon.

INTRODUCTION TO THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO
 The Communist Manifesto had a profound impact on the culture of the mid-
to-late nineteenth century in Britain and the United States. This is because the 
fears to which The Communist Manifesto appeals were common throughout society 
and ones which Marx and Engels were simply putting to words. With this in 
mind, while one cannot say that Lang’s “Jack and the Beanstalk” was specifically 
influenced by Marx and Engels’s piece, it is clear that both works are reacting in 
different ways to similar fears of class oppression. Specifically, Jack and his mother 
and their abhorrent living conditions could represent the proletariat and their 
oppression by the bourgeoisie. The Giant, of course, could then be the bourgeoisie, 
hoarding all the communal wealth for himself.   
 Most tellingly, the ending of Lang’s edition of “Jack and the Beanstalk” has 
an almost uncanny similarity to the revolutions that would take place in Russia in 
the early twentieth century. This depiction has Jack rallying the common people, 
reflective of the proletariat masses of which Marx and Engels speak, to rise against 
the oppressive Giant, or the bourgeoisie, so that they can take back the wealth that 
is rightfully theirs. In other words, Jack is motivating the people by saying that they 
have nothing to lose but their chains of oppression and have everything to win, 
which is what Marx and Engels argue as a form of motivation and justification for 
communism. 

19Grosh, McBride, Ross-Wilcox



THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO EXCERPT14

 The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.
 Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and 
journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to 
one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that 
each time ended, either in a revolutionary reconstitution of society at large, or in 
the common ruin of the contending classes.
 In the earlier epochs of history, we find almost everywhere a complicated 
arrangement of society into various orders, a manifold gradation of social rank. In 
ancient Rome we have patricians, knights, plebeians, slaves; in the Middle Ages, 
feudal lords, vassals, guild-masters, journeymen, apprentices, serfs; in almost all of 
these classes, again, subordinate gradations.
 The modern bourgeois society that has sprouted from the ruins of feudal 
society has not done away with class antagonisms. It has but established new 
classes, new conditions of oppression, new forms of struggle in place of the old 
ones.
 Our epoch, the epoch of the bourgeoisie, possesses, however, this distinct 
feature: it has simplified class antagonisms. Society as a whole is more and more 
splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each 
other — Bourgeoisie and Proletariat. From the serfs of the Middle Ages sprang the 
chartered burghers of the earliest towns. From these burgesses the first elements of 
the bourgeoisie were developed.
 The discovery of America, the rounding of the Cape, opened up fresh ground 
for the rising bourgeoisie. The East-Indian and Chinese markets, the colonisation 
of America, trade with the colonies, the increase in the means of exchange and in 
commodities generally, gave to commerce, to navigation, to industry, an impulse 
never before known, and thereby, to the revolutionary element in the tottering 
feudal society, a rapid development.
 The feudal system of industry, in which industrial production was 
monopolised by closed guilds, now no longer sufficed for the growing wants of 
the new markets. The manufacturing system took its place. The guild-masters were 
pushed on one side by the manufacturing middle class; division of labour between 
the different corporate guilds vanished in the face of division of labour in each 
single workshop.

20Grosh, McBride, Ross-Wilcox

14 (Engels and Marx 482-485)



INTRODUCTION TO “THE WHITE MAN’S BURDEN (APOLOGIES TO 
RUDYARD KIPLING)”
 “The White Man’s Burden (Apologies to Rudyard Kipling)” is an illustration, 
based on a poem by Rudyard Kipling, depicting British John Bull and American 
Uncle Sam carrying offensive caricatures of those ostracized by the dominant, 
white European culture. Both carry the burdens of those whom they are bringing 
up and into the light of “civilization.” This is reflected in “Jack and the Beanstalk” 
because the Giant is a foreigner, and Jack’s family are nobles.
 Jack’s father is burdened with elevating the Giant, a foreigner, to the point 
where it ultimately leads to the destruction of his family and personal wealth. After 
gaining the father’s trust, the Giant eats Jack’s siblings and his father, leaving only 
Jack and his mother to fend for themselves. Jack’s father is ultimately the reason for 
this cruel finale of the family, as well.
 In this sense, the reader perceives that Jack is completely justified when he 
begins to steal from the Giant, as the Giant’s possessions are all truly Jack’s. By 
killing the Giant, Jack is alleviating himself and his mother of the burden of not 
living up to the father’s desires, one which has been laying upon their shoulders for 
so long. Therefore, when viewed through the social environment of the time, Jack’s 
murders and thefts are simply his successes in freeing himself of the white man’s 
burden.

THE WHITE MAN’S BURDEN (APOLOGIES TO RUDYARD KIPLING)

21Grosh, McBride, Ross-Wilcox



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24Grosh, McBride, Ross-Wilcox

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