Modern Themes In Anne Sexton's 'Cinderella'

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Fairy tales have been known to identify different aspects of life such as modern issues and concerns without having to directly point them out. In Anne Sexton’s poem, her version of “Cinderella”, modern issues and concerns are discussed through the lens of the fairytale. She touches on aspects of marriage such as wealth and possessiveness of money by discussing how most of the women in fairytales want to marry into wealthy families. Sexton also discusses how fitting into society’s complex standards is another modern issue by showing that in order for Cinderella to go out in public, she feels as if she needs to dress according to the way society dresses. Furthermore, many women in society today admire models and actresses because they …show more content…

In order to go to the ball, Cinderella believes she must look as society wants her to. She believes this to the fact that she must wear a fancy dress and slippers with her hair done in an attractive manner; in reality, she doesn’t have to please society by dressing like they do. She tells her mother “Send me to the prince 's ball!/The bird dropped down a golden dress/and delicate little slippers”(li.58-61). To sum up, throughout the world fitting into society’s standards is a modern issue; however, jealousy and envy are issues as …show more content…

There is obvious competition between Cinderella, her step-mother, and her step-sisters. The conflict between them began because they both want the father’s/ husband’s love and attention; this explains the step-mother’s cruelty toward the step-daughter. Cinderella 's stepmother declared “No, Cinderella..../you have no clothes and cannot dance./That 's the way with stepmothers”(li.53-55); this statement reveals the step-mother’s abiding envy towards Cinderella because even after she had picked up the lentils the step-mother had thrown, she still made up excuses to keep Cinderella at home and isolated. Although there were two step-daughters, “Cinderella was their maid./She slept on the sooty hearth each night/ and walked around looking like Al Jolson(li.30-32). This line refers to how Cinderella walked around the house with dirt and sludge on her all day and slept on the fireplace each night while the two step-sisters walked around the house clean and slept in comfortable beds. This shows the contrast between the two step -sisters and Cinderella and how they are treated differently throughout daily life. Obviously, there is no reason the step-family should envy Cinderella; however, they do anything in their power to make sure they receive the most attention from the rich father/husband to get whatever they

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