Perry Nodelman's Cinderell Uncovering The Truth

Once upon a time in a land far away, a young girl named Cinderella lived with her Stepmother and two stepsisters. Although they were exceedingly cruel, Cinderella continued to be as benevolent as a human could be. One night Cinderella had come across a ball that her mother had forbidden her to attend. Her stepsisters tore and ripped her dress that she had made herself, so Cinderella couldn’t attend the ball. After Cinderella’s stepmother and sisters went off to the ball, a fairy godmother had appeared to grant Cinderella’s dreams to attend the ball. There she met a young fellow whom she danced with all night. Little had she known he was the prince who was throwing the ball. At the beginning of the night the fairy godmother had told

This is a battle not of beauty, but of material. The prince does not recognize the face of Cinderella, only the gown she is wearing, making this fight for marriage one based on the clothing on the girls’ backs (288). While Cinderella comes home from the ball, her mother is hard at work making sure she is not seen for who she really is. Panttaja claims, “...it is quite possible that we are meant to see the mother's influence also at work in the rather mysterious way that Cinderella manages to avoid too-early detection” (287). This symbolizes how hard Cinderella's mother is working and how little it matters that Cinderella is pious and

Furthermore, when the upcoming ball is announced, the stepsisters consult Cinderella because of her good taste, and she willingly gives them excellent advice and even offers to help style their hair. She toils away happily and selflessly. She is so self-sacrificing that at the end of the tale she not only forgives her stepsisters cruelty but arranges advantageous marriages for them.

The Disney version of the story, Cinderella, illustrates a different moral than that of the original story. This story believes an ideal child should do what they are told and follow directions and in the end they will reap the rewards. In this story, Cinderella’s mother dies and her father remarries to a woman who has two daughters. While the daughters are pampered, Cinderella must work to keep the house from falling into disrepair. She befriends the animals and they help her to get ready to go to the ball by finishing her chores and making her a dress. When the evil stepsisters discover the dress they become furious because the mice used trimming from their clothing when making the dress. In revenge, the stepsisters rip the dress, leaving Cinderella out of options and out of hope. Just as Cinderella is about to give up, her fairy godmother appears and with a wave of magic creates a dress and turns a pumpkin and the mice into a horse and carriage. The only problem is that everything will turn back to what it was beforehand at midnight. Cinderella and the Prince fall in love at the ball but she must quickly leave because the

To begin, the tale of Cinderella’s upbringing and the people surrounding her portray the concept of false superiority, which is the idea that people think they are superior as a result of superficial characteristics when, in reality, they are inferior in a myriad of ways. For instance, Cinderella’s stepsisters exemplify false superiority because even though they “were beautiful with fair faces,” they had “evil and dark hearts” (page 1). Furthermore, when Cinderella “stood up, the prince looked into her face, and he recognized the beautiful girl who had danced with him” (page 6). This quote depicts how societal standards for beauty and

Society can learn a lot from Cinderella-like movies such as Maid in Manhattan. However, what society learns from these fairy tales is not always that Cinderella meets a prince and lives happily-ever-after. In the movie Maid in Manhattan, directed by Wayne Wang, a hotel maid meets a wealthy politician and lives a Cinderella-like tale after wearing a wealthy guest’s designer outfit. Most people focus on the obvious love story between the maid and the politician. Many overlook the psychological plight of Cinderella herself. In these tales Cinderella loses her mother and often her father too. This has a tremendous effect on the young girl’s self-worth. However, other complex relationships are also revealed, including the mother/daughter relationship. Similarly, the text “Cinderella: Not So Morally Superior,” by Elisabeth Panttaja, discusses the influences of Cinderella’s mother. These sources are worth exploring because they demonstrate how a woman’s self-worth is shaped by her relationship with her mother.

With her magnificent gown and majestic shoes in hand, Cinderella proceeds to the ball where the prince falls madly in love with her solely based on her appearance. However, the prince is unable to recognize Cinderella after she changes back to her sooty face and ragged clothes. The shallow relationship between Cinderella and the Prince reveals another fault of society: the pressure placed on superficial characteristics and the emphasis placed upon beauty is a priority set too high. When people must "gussy up" (30) to be noticed, the person within is unable to be seen.

Cinderella’s story is undoubtedly the most popular fairy tale all over the world. Her fairy tale is one of the best read and emotion filled story that we all enjoyed as young and adults. In Elizabeth Pantajja’s analysis, Cinderella’s story still continues to evoke emotions but not as a love story but a contradiction of what we some of us believe. Pantajja chose Cinderella’s story to enlighten the readers that being good and piety are not the reason for Cinderella’s envious fairy tale. The author’s criticism and forthright analysis through her use of pathos, ethos, and logos made the readers doubt Cinderella’s character and question the real reason behind her marrying the prince. Pantajja claims that

The story of Cinderella based on Hans-Christian Anderson’s version, portrays a young girl who was of “…unparalleled goodness and sweetness of temper.” After her mother’s death, her father remarried, “…his second wife was the proudest and most haughty woman that was ever seen.” The stepmother had two daughters who were, “exactly like her in all things.” The stepmother and stepsisters forced Cinderella to do all the hand work around the house such as scrubbing the floors. News was brought that the King’s son was going to hold a ball and immediately the step sisters began to find the most lavish dresses they could. For poor Cinderella, she was not permitted to go by the stepmother who said, “it would make people laugh to see a cinder wench at a ball” (Anderson).

Cinderella, a favorite fairy tale for all ages, shows that if one would truly believe in their hopes and dreams, they can achieve anything. The story of Cinderella is about a young girl, Cinderella, who lost her father at a young age, and became an almost slave to her devious step-mother and step-sisters. When the king and queen decided to hold a ball for the prince one day, all the maidens in town was all invited in hopes of finding the right woman for the prince. Hearing these news, Cinderella decides to also go and enjoy the ball only then to have her dress ruined by her step-mother. As she weeps about her broken dreams, a fairy godmother appears and lifts up her spirit of not giving up.

“Cinderella,” by Charles Perrault is a piece of writing that seems to be an average fairy tale. The name “Cinderella” is a name known throughout the world; it is known by a variation of people ranging from kids to adults. We associate this name with the average fairy tale. When looking at this particular story of Cinderella, it is clear that it is the story of the house maiden who ends up living happily ever after. The main point of “Cinderella” is that when someone is a good person and they live a life of kindness, good things happen to them. For example, throughout the story Perrault hints to the idea of Cinderella being beautiful and having a good heart, “Cinderella, in spite of her mean apparel, was a hundred times more handsome than her sisters, though

Fairy tales are not always rainbows and green pastures as seen in the short story of Cinderella. The story tells the tale of a misfortunate daughter who is neglected by her evil stepmother, stepsisters, and father. Before the mistreatment Cinderella’s mother passes away and is left to live with her father. Cinderella mourned her mother’s death all winter long and when the spring arrived her father soon found another wife. This new wife did not come alone as she was accompanied by two daughters. The daughters were described as beautiful women with wicked hearts. At the time of their arrival things went downhill for Cinderella, the stepsisters labeled her as a kitchen maid and replaced her elegant garments with peasantry clothing.

She does every work that servants do. But Cinderella did not allow the opinion of others to define her. She knew who she was and didn’t lost from her deep-seated goodness or the greatness of the aim of her life. In the same way, young child should learn the bitterness of the world that people will try to put tag on him. Furthermore, out of the sudden she lost her mother at such a small age. Unfortunately, becomes daughter without mother. Moreover, her father gets married with another woman who already had two daughters. Her step sisters tease her all the time and give her much enough work to keep her busy entire day. Even though in her work, she easily finds happiness. Hence, Cinderella sets one example for children that shows how person can be happy in his life with all ups and downs.

This tale represents the social classes of the 17th century in the matter that it differentiates between the upper class and the lower class. Like the step-mother in the tale, upper class women often were selfish and took charge of the family. Cinderella on the other hand was not so

It was a typical Friday night for Cinderella; dusting pictures, scrubbing the floor, and doing laundry. What else did she expect to do on a Friday night? Nothing at all. Her step mother always had her do chores making it impossible for her to have a social life. She got out of the house once a week on Monday morning, and that was only to get groceries at the store. Cinderella was always on a schedule that her stepmother set. Cinderella had to clean up after her two evil step sisters. All Cinderella wanted was one best friend that she knew she could always count on.