[DAY 35][OPEN][ALL][TEXT: NETWORK POST]
In Advanced Literature we've been analyzing fairy tales. More specifically we're talking about how the author of a tale frames the text to produce a moral they agree with. This week's subject is Cinderella.
Conniving women are punished and long suffering women are rewarded. That's the simplest moral that can be derived from the tale. The stepsisters and wicked stepmother scheme to catch the prince. They are outwardly obedient to him but inwardly try to trick him.
Cinderella, however, suffers mainly in silence. Her suffering and wishing are rewarded by the appearance of a magical ally. While it may appear that Cinderella too is trying to trick the Prince with her changed appearance, it is all the work of the Fairy Godmother who has done all the dirty work for her. The extent of her involvement is to dance with him.
Of course we all know how the tale ends. The prince authenticates that it is Cinderella who was the girl he danced with by way of her feet. She is proved more feminine than the stepsisters by way of that measuring of her body part. This is an important part of the text to interrogate. Cinderella proves herself, being long suffering and obedient, with little impulse to rebellion (save when a magical ally appears and authorizes it for her, thus making it no longer rebellious), to be a true woman. This is in comparison to her haughty, proud stepsisters and stepmother, whose big feet and trickery render them false women
Is this a right moral? A good one to be teaching young girls? Maybe not. But it is the one the author of the tale wrote and that's what determines where the story goes.
________________________________________________________________________
Anyway, that's the start of my paper. Am I totally on the wrong track here?
[In a room in the ADAMS HQ, two men with silver insignia argue.
"What's this shit about wicked stepmothers and fairy godmothers? This sounds like code. I want the boys in crypto to look over this."
"You're overthinking this. She's a teenager. The reference is probably to her own mother. She's feeling rebellious. Mom probably doesn't approve of her scruffy new boyfriend. What we've got here is maybe a case of nostalgia but this is not a message to the remnants of Twenty Faces gang."
"I still don't like it. I'm gonna run it through the analysis engine."
"Suit yourself."]
Conniving women are punished and long suffering women are rewarded. That's the simplest moral that can be derived from the tale. The stepsisters and wicked stepmother scheme to catch the prince. They are outwardly obedient to him but inwardly try to trick him.
Cinderella, however, suffers mainly in silence. Her suffering and wishing are rewarded by the appearance of a magical ally. While it may appear that Cinderella too is trying to trick the Prince with her changed appearance, it is all the work of the Fairy Godmother who has done all the dirty work for her. The extent of her involvement is to dance with him.
Of course we all know how the tale ends. The prince authenticates that it is Cinderella who was the girl he danced with by way of her feet. She is proved more feminine than the stepsisters by way of that measuring of her body part. This is an important part of the text to interrogate. Cinderella proves herself, being long suffering and obedient, with little impulse to rebellion (save when a magical ally appears and authorizes it for her, thus making it no longer rebellious), to be a true woman. This is in comparison to her haughty, proud stepsisters and stepmother, whose big feet and trickery render them false women
Is this a right moral? A good one to be teaching young girls? Maybe not. But it is the one the author of the tale wrote and that's what determines where the story goes.
________________________________________________________________________
Anyway, that's the start of my paper. Am I totally on the wrong track here?
[In a room in the ADAMS HQ, two men with silver insignia argue.
"What's this shit about wicked stepmothers and fairy godmothers? This sounds like code. I want the boys in crypto to look over this."
"You're overthinking this. She's a teenager. The reference is probably to her own mother. She's feeling rebellious. Mom probably doesn't approve of her scruffy new boyfriend. What we've got here is maybe a case of nostalgia but this is not a message to the remnants of Twenty Faces gang."
"I still don't like it. I'm gonna run it through the analysis engine."
"Suit yourself."]