Criticism Of Cinderella And Feminism

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Cinderella and Feminism written by Kheyfet is a criticism to traditional Cinderella’s story. It points out many thinking that I have never thought about. In Kheyfet’s opinion, Cinderella sets an improper model for little girls. It is a tool used by men to stipulate a female gender. Male chauvinism is hidden behind the story and is successfully impressed to little girl who can’t think critically. I agree with Kheyfet’s viewpoint. I would like to expand on 3 points that expressed me most. They are the early education to children, what characters woman could be, and woman’s wrong attitude to marriage.
In early education, adults always use attractive story to replace preach to rule children’s behavior, because it is more efficient. However, some …show more content…

Cinderella is “beautiful, quiet, nurturing, and subordinate”. Compared with her the stepmother is “scheming, outspoken, dominant, and essentially evil”. Kheyfet indicated “Cinderella 's triumph over the wicked stepmother and stepsisters, displays to the audience that her female qualities are the ones to be repeated and grained into the unconscious.” Stepmother ‘s ugly expression and her failure make kids believe none of her personalities is worth learning. But, maybe girls can choose to be dominant and independent like the stepmother. Elizabeth Tudor never got married, so she have no possibility to rely on the husband. But, England became one of the powerful countries at that time resulted from her governance. She is a good model of dominant woman as she is powerful both in regime and mind, instead of a nominal queen. Therefore, women can’t give up their power inside and just be controlled by …show more content…

In Kheyfet’s words,” Little girls who identify with Cinderella will wait for their prince charming to fulfill their life and accept subordination and domesticity as their nature role.” It is not a correct attitude to marriage. Some place like border area of Yunnan Province in China has early marriage customs. Many girls get married at 12 or 13, so they leave school before graduate. And then they give birth to babies before 20. They never think of study further and have a command of professional skills. Getting married seems to be the only aim of their life. As far as I am concerned, a woman’s life only has marriage and home, without career is incomplete in today’s

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