"On Fairy-stories": Children

            In the "Children" section of J.R.R Tolkien's essay, "On Fairy-stories," two of the most important topics which he addresses is the misconception that fairy-stories are naturally for children and the functional desirability of a fairy-story.
            Tolkien rants in this portion of his essay on the absurdity that fairy-stories are simply for children and that children are circumstantially better suited for digesting these tales of fantasy based on their own "credulity." Tolkien states that this very mindset leads to "artistic impairment" for the author. He even goes on to express his final judgment on the matter: the entire idea is "erroneous" or blatantly incorrect. Much is lost when a story is abridged or appropriated for a younger audience and Tolkien even believed that the things in a story which one might desire to shield a child from may not best be omitted but given to them anyway, and to let the merit of the story (dark and light) grow in them as they grow in their understanding.
            Tolkien addresses the idea of "desirability" as a more pragmatic, utilitarian goal within the creative process, one that is a necessity to the success of a fairy-story. Following up on the previous point, Tolkien believed that the truly successful fairy-story is devoid of "adaptation," not merited by adults simply based on nostalgia or "sentiment," and the key to the lack of these vices is a tight-knit web of story. A story so engrossing and separate from the modern world of mankind that "subterfuge" is never required in order to continue believing the story.