Within life and literature, people and characters often overcome some type of circumstance that has hindered them in the past. However, fairy tales typically display the outcome of that unfortunate situation as being somewhat of a happily ever after. However, life routinely has moments of bliss as well as misfortune. In Anne Saxton’s “Cinderella” Saxton both highlights the inaccuracies of common fairy tales and challenges the traditional version of Cinderella and questions the aftermath of her encounter with the prince.
The speaker of “Cinderella” makes many assertions using different scenarios of what society now calls Cinderella stories. For example, the speaker first introduces the plumber who surpassed the confines of his economic
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status, that was brought upon by his giant family menial profession, by miraculously winning a sweepstake. It is implied that due to his wealth he lives happily ever after. The speaker emphasizes his change from “toilets to riches” (Sexton 4) in order to highlight the disparity from his once frugal life to his current, seemingly luxurious life. The speaker then goes on to discuss another Cinderella story of sorts in which a nursemaid utilizes her beauty to entice the oldest son and thus raise her socioeconomic status. She makes the transition from “diapers to dior” (Sexton 9) and again it is implied that she lives happily ever after. The last scenarios involves situations where individuals and lucky enough to gain massive riches in a very short amount of time and again live happily ever after. The speaker's use of the four cinderella stories to foreshadow the traditional Cinderella story. The use of these Grimms tales depicts the fairy tales or myths that show how a person can supercede their poor circumstances and low economic status to gain prestige and wealth. In addition to the foreshadowing, the four fairy tales told by the speaker also serve to highlight and subtly mock the repetitive endings of these fairy tales. All of them imply a happily ever after however the speaker looks at these stories from a more realistic and secular view. Following the individual tales involving the plumber, nursemaid, milkman and charwoman the speaker repeatedly states “that story” (5,10,20). The speaker does this in order to make it apparent that these tales all implore a non realistic ending of life. Thee speakers seeks to prove that the a happily ever after is only a facade and is not ever seen in the real world because life is full of constantly highs and lows. With this, the speaker nonetheless challenges the status quo and idea that one had a happily ever after once they have an increase in income. Following the four tales of coinciding Cinderella stories the speaker tersely describes the Grimm’s version of Cinderella.
She begins by explaining the transitionary period within Cinderella’s life in which she essentially lost her mother and gained a new one. Her new stepmother was wicked, her stepsisters were entitled and her father had been enticed by all of them and utterly ignored his own daughter. The speaker is sure to explain this dichotomy because it marks the period of her socio economic peril. She heightens this through the use of simile. For example, the speaker states that Cinderella had “walked around looking like Al Jolson”(Sexton 31) in order to provide both comic relief and display the way she had fallen so far from the lavish, wealthy lifestyle she had grown accustomed to while her mother was alive to the bleek and menial confines of servitude that she had been relegated to. She also explains that Cinderella had planted a twig that her father gave her and it grew into an astonishing tree which also contained a magically dove. Following this, the speaker then elaborates on Cinderella’s new …show more content…
life. The poem hastily describes the three nights at the prince’s ball in which he is to choose his bride.
After three consecutive nights of being enthralled by Cinderella and then quickly abandon, he had made sure that CInderella could not escape. The prince placed wax on the floor in the hopes of forcing her to stay instead of running away. However the prince only caught the slipper. The differences between the time periods that all the events occurred were all made apparent by the bloc structure of the poem. The speaker of “Cinderella” uses certain structural techniques in order to more effectively display the essence of the story. For example, separating the upbringing of Cinderella and the events that took place on the night of the ball served to remind the reader that these are two dissimilar events that had a causal relationship. The speaker also sought to provide a chronological backing for the moments that occur. The speakers structure throughout the poem allow the reader to analyze and interpret the poem more
effectively. During the time following the ball, the prince began a hasty pursuit for Cinderella. In the midst of his pursuit he made Cinderella’s stepsister try on the shoe. Both the sisters had to cut off part of their feet in order to fit into the shoe. The feet of the stepsisters bleed profusely which revealed their deception. The speaker adds commentary to this action by stating that “That is the way with amputations.They just don't heal up like a wish.”(Sexton 93-94). This bit of commentary shows the speakers sarcasm toward the acknowledgment of immense blood. In real life any amputation would result in a person hemorrhaging a large amount of blood so the speaker is poking fun at the use of blood as evidence because it seems so trivial. In the end, Cinderella ends up marrying the prince and it is emphasized, as all fairy tales are, that they live happily ever after, however the speaker challenges this status quo against the confines of reality. The speaker states that the two will end up living a mundane life and will ultimately never experience the trials and tribulations that an actual couple will go through. Due to this, the author again utilized the repetition she employed in the previous scenarios in order to emphasize that they are so similar to each other yet so different from the ongoing life of an average person.
It all begins with “Once upon a time” and ends with “and they lived happily ever after”. “Cinderella” is a very widely known story that many children around the world look up to and admire through their entire life. The history of this story, how scholars interpret this tale, and how the authors have retold the story are all key points to keeping this story fresh and popular. Most of the time when people hear the story of “Cinderella”, they think about the Disney version and maybe it is time that changes. All in all, the story brings light to everyone’s life even if they only know the original “Cinderella”.
A young girl is forced to live with her step-mother and step-sisters after her father and mother die. She becomes the maid of the family, tending to their every need. Eventually there is a ball; she acquires a fairy Godmother, goes to the ball, falls in love with the prince, blah blah blah. All you really need to know is that she has a happy ending. A happy ending. No matter how much suffering she went through in her early years, at the end, it all came together and she had no more worries. And this is the problem. Cinderella is not realistic. It never was and never will be. Watching this movie when I was young made me believe there was a prince waiting for me somewhere. I grew up thinking that life was simple and uncomplicated, that I did not need to worry about the future because there was a man that would provide everything I wanted and needed. But as I got older, I realized this was not the case. I saw many of my friend’s parents divorce, people die, and the world fight with each other. My fantasy died off, and I realized I had to work hard for myself, and not others. The poem Cinderella by Anne Sexton made fun of the ending of Cinderella. She states, “Cinderella and the prince / lived … happily ever after … / their darling smiles pasted on for eternity. / Regular Bobbsey Twins. / That story.” (Sexton 11). Notice who she referenced and how she has a sarcastic tone. Cinderella and the prince smiled for others, trying to convince
As the world has transformed and progressed throughout history, so have its stories and legends, namely the infamous tale of Cinderella. With countless versions and adaptations, numerous authors from around the world have written this beauty’s tale with their own twists and additions to it. And while many may have a unique or interesting way of telling her story, Anne Sexton and The Brother’s Grimm’s Cinderellas show the effects cultures from different time periods can have on a timeless tale, effects such as changing the story’s moral. While Sexton chooses to keep some elements of her version, such as the story, the same as the Brothers Grimm version, she changes the format and context, and adds her own commentary to transform the story’s
Bettelheim, Bruno. ""Cinderella" A Story of Sibling Rivalry and Oedipial Conflicts." Bettelheim, Bruno. The Uses of Enchantment. 1976. 279-282.
Fairytales, the short stories that most children heard as they went to bed, are actually folktales from previous decades. The fairytales today are primarily adaptations of older versions recreated by Disney— the pioneers of this generation. With that said, the modern versions consistently display good triumphing over evil, a prince charming that constantly came to the rescue, and a happily ever after ending. However, the original folktale version didn’t always come with fortunate events, but often were more violent and gruesome. With the fairytale Cinderella, Disney maintains a similar theme as its Grimm version; however, the conflicts, events, and characters that support this idea are rather different.
Over centuries of children have been enjoying the classic fairy tales of the Grimm Brothers and Charles Perrault. The fanciful plots and the vivid details allow children to be entranced by characters and adventures that can only be found in these stories. One of the most beloved fairy tales, which both the Perrault and the Grimms have their own separate versions of, is Cinderella. Cinderella is able to show how both versions are able to feed off the same plots while personifying the century and social economic situation in which they have lived.
Anne Sexton’s poem “Cinderella” is filled with literary elements that emphasize her overall purpose and meaning behind this satirical poem. Through the combination of enjambment stanzas, hyperboles, satire, and the overall mocking tone of the poem, Sexton brings to light the impractical nature of the story “Cinderella”. Not only does the author mock every aspect of this fairy tale, Sexton addresses the reader and adds dark, cynical elements throughout. Sexton’s manipulation of the well-known fairy tale “Cinderella” reminds readers that happily ever after’s are meant for storybooks and not real life.
As the poem begins, Sexton starts with how the Prince and Cinderella are living happily ever after, but compromising the original naïve direction, she gives the poem a modern context bringing the reader back to reality. While it is obvious to the audience the discrepancies in Sexton’s version, it brings out many jealousies many of us struggle with, such as wealth and everlasting happiness. Sexton makes her audience notice early on many of the pre-conceived notions and expectations we bring to fairy tales. Sexton knows that real life gives no reason to be perceived as happiness, because why learn something that will never amount to use in reality? This tale is Sexton’s answer to her audiences of the “happ...
“Cinderella” the tale of a suffering young girl who finds her prince charming, and lives happily ever after in a big beautiful castle. Truly, the dream of many young female readers. This story is well known all around the world and has many different versions. This paper will specifically focus on the versions by Charles Perrault and Giambattista Basile. One cannot argue that while writing their individual version of Cinderella both Charles Perrault and Giambattista Basile were strongly influenced by the many other tales of Cinderella, and this can be seen by the repetitive plot line, character and morals in both their stories. Giambattista Basile story was called “The Cat Cinderella” and Charles Perrault named his “Cinderella” or “Little Glass
of the Cinderella story are psychologically harmful to women.” (p648). The fact that Cinderella is a limited character may give the girl an impression that she should be happy with what she has and not have any or aspirations in her life. That is, until her Prince comes to rescue her. Since these comments were made, the Cinderella story has been modified and changed. In order to see how gender roles have changed in fairy tales from the old to the new, let’s compare the classic version of Cinderella by Charles Perrault to a recent version which is a movie that was released in 1998 called “Ever After”which was directed by Andy Tennant.
Throughout history, fairy tales have grown to captivate the hearts and minds of many. A Cinderella Story is set firmly in reality and in the present day; in fact, it's every bit a fantasy as the original story. This film refrains from any allusions to magic, but instead lets serendipitous occurrences provide the engine on which this fairy tale creates its plot. The impression A Cinderella Story is in place of a well-thought out story and characters that anyone could relate to or believe. Although the target audience of the film are teens, females, and romantics, A Cinderella Story can be praised and savored by all audiences because of its ingenious screenplay, acting, and melodic soundtrack.
The classic tale of Cinderella is well known for the fight of overcoming great obstacles despite great odds. However, there are always a few ill-hearted people who go out of their way to cease any competition that they might face, as seen with Cinderella’s step-sisters. Samuel Jackson says is his distinguished quote, “The hunger of imagination…lures us to…the phantoms of hope,” to help develop a more defined view of a fairytale. The story of Cinderella fully embodies the ideals of a true fairytale by encompassing magic, hope, and struggle between good and evil throughout the duration of the plot.
...eam but have transformed her in a Cinderella way the place she will take in the world (Berst 100). So the Cinderella success in society has been for the moment (Berst 100-101). But her screams have changed through the education she learned through pronunciation and her felling about the problems she faces can be stated clearly is seen as a Cinderella accomplishment (Berst 101).
In today 's society, it is normal for young children to believe in fairytales. These fairytales are normally seen throughout books and movies but also through parents reading them as bedtime stories. These tales in our society have unrecognized hidden guidelines for ethics and behaviors that we provide for children. One such children 's story is Disney’s Cinderella, this film seems to be a simple tale of a young woman whose wishes work out as to be expected. This tale reflects the expectations of women 's actions and beliefs of a proper women.
Cinderella’s mother passed away and her father remarried a woman who had two daughters from a previous marriage. A few weeks passed and a prince is holding a three day festival and all the beautiful young girls in the town were invited. Cinderella wanted to go but her evil stepmother gave her two impossible tasks to complete before she could attend the festival. Cinderella completes the two tasks with the help of her bird friends and her mother’s grave. Cinderella goes to the festival and she dances with the prince all three days. Finally, the prince has fallen in love with her and eventually they get married. Fairytales and Disney productions threaten gender politics and women’s role by portraying women in certain areas like domestic behaviors