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Comparing The Nutcracker And The Mouse King

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Comparing The Nutcracker And The Mouse King
The Nutcracker is a story of a young girl that is whisked away to the Land of Toys to help her animated nutcracker defeat the Mouse King. “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” by E.T.A. Hoffmann, the altered version by Alexandre Dumas and the ballet by Tchaikovsky tell the same story; however, there are significant differences between the three and the audiences they connect with. Hoffmann’s Nutcracker is an extraordinarily innovative and unusual piece of writing that was originally for adults but became a children's tale way ahead of its time. Hoffman’s tale was certainly not written for children as young as seven year old Marie. Hoffmann wrote this fairytale highly descriptive and detailed therefore making it difficult for children to understand. The language and expressions in the text were much too sophisticated for children. This probably wasn’t the author’s intention but because of it the book itself is not children-friendly. The book is adult-friendly because obviously they are able to understand the highly descriptive and detailed tale. In Chapter 2, it said “Maria spied the prettiest dolls, a tea set, all kinds of nice little furniture, and what eclipsed all the …show more content…
If the writer had simply said, Maria saw the prettiest dolls, a tea set, all kinds of nice little furniture but what caught her eye the most was a silk dress …show more content…
This is the advantage that the book has over the ballet because it helps prepare children mentally for the physical part of The Nutcracker later on. Additionally, it assists children in the thorough understanding of The Nutcracker. With this being said, The Nutcracker and The Mouse King by E.T.A. Hoffmann connect with the adult audience while the ballet by Tchaikovsky and the altered version of The Nutcracker by Dumas connect with
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