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Chapter 12: Fairy Tales: A Closer Look at "Cinderella" |
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Few forms of literature have the broad and lasting appeal of the fairy tale. Perhaps you grew up listening to such stories. You are not alone. Children of many generations and cultures across the globe grow up listening to variations of the same stories. Scholars debate the reasons for such striking similarities between stories in such a variety of cultures and try to ascertain the possible meanings behind these seemingly simple children's tales. Using "Cinderella" as an example, this chapter explores variations of a tale and the diverse ways of examining them. First, in "Universality of the Folktale," Stith Thompson raises the broad questions and the underlying assumptions that govern the folklorist's study of tales. He claims that folktales should be objects of study as well as entertainment. Although there are many variations of the "Cinderella" theme, there are many common bonds that tie the variants together. Then Catherine Orenstein's "Fairy Tales and a Dose of Reality" discusses just how non-romantic marriages were before the twentieth century.
The first variant given is "Cinderella" by Charles Perrault. This 1697 version of the "Cinderella" story is perhaps most familiar to contemporary readers and is also the version on which the Disney film of the same name is based. Perrault is widely suspected of having changed the story in an effort to make it more acceptable to his audience—members of the French court. The Grimm Brothers' version "Ashputtle, " a 1812 version of the "Cinderella" story, is a literary reworking of the original oral source. Tanith Lee's "When the Clock Strikes," combines the "Cinderella" motif with the shadows of revenge found in many of Edgar Allen Poe's stories. "A Chinese 'Cinderella,'" by Tuan Ch'Eng-Shih, the earliest datable version of Cinderella story anywhere in the world, dates back to 850-860 AD. "The Maiden, the Frog, and the Chief's Son (An African 'Cinderella')" is an African version of the tale recorded in the Hausa language and translated into English in 1965. Additional versions of Cinderella can be found via the web destinations page.
The Native American version of "Cinderella," "Oochigeaskw—The Rough-Faced Girl" was originally told in the Algonquin language. "Walt Disney's 'Cinderella,'" adapted by Campbell Grant, is the Little Golden Book adaptation of the Disney film. "Cinderella," by Anne Sexton, is a poetic retelling of the "Cinderella" tale that exposes the artificiality of the fairy tale. The last version, written in 1976, is John Gardner's "Gudgekin the Thistle Girl." After the variants, in "'Cinderella': A Story of Sibling Rivalry and Oedipal Conflicts," Freudian psychologist Bruno Bettelheim analyzes "Cinderella's" hidden meanings and asserts that the tale appeals to children because it focuses on the sibling rivalry many children feel at a young age. A Jungian analyst, Jacqueline Schectman, examines the tale to find a sympathetic Stepmother in "'Cinderella' and the Loss of Father-Love. The chapter concludes with Judith Rossner's "I Am Cinderella's Stepmother and I Know My Rights," and Elisabeth Panttaja's "'Cinderella': Not So Morally Supeior," both of which present a less sympathetic view of Cinderella.
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