I
chose Cinderella by the Grimm brothers as my fairy tale, their story of
Cinderella goes as follows: One particular Rich man’s first wife dies, after
giving birth to good pious girl, and the man remarries a control freak and the
wife brings two externally beautiful but internally vile, wretched and ugly
daughters into the house. The good and
pious daughter forced to be maid and servant nick named Cinderella because she
sleeps near the fireplace and ashes or cinders get on her. As it just so happens there is a three day
royal festival coming to town.
The
tree growing from Cinderella’s mothers grave (where she cries and prays every
chance she gets) and its birds give Cinderella a spectacular and gorgeous dress
and slippers were so dazzling was her dress that her no one recognized her, the
prince dances with Cinderella. On day two of the festival the tree and birds
give Cinderella an even more beautiful dress, everyone was too astonished for
words. Except the princess who calls Cinderella his “partner.”
One
of Cinderella’s glass slippers is caught on stairway upon Cinderella’s quick
escape. The Prince goes on quest to find the lady who will fit the “dainty”
shoes. The evil step sisters cant mangle their feet without getting noticed and
so Cinderella gets to marry the prince and the step sisters are rendered blind
by birds for the rest of their miserable lives.
As
a totally different take on the Cinderella story I chose Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer published in
2012. In this dystopian sci-fi retelling
of Cinderella, Cinder is a girl mechanic and servant who is also a “lunar”
cyborg living in a dystopian New Beijing, on a planet earth that has been
ravaged by a plague. Cinder is a servant who is, in disguise the single last
hope for a planet doomed by the plague, but she has loyalties to the “lunars”
who are because of a evil dictator woman hell bent on taking over the planet.
Because of Cinder’s attraction to earth’s Prince Kai, Cinder finds her self in
the midst of a intergalactic struggle that seems poised on the edge of war.
Caught
between loyalty to her identity and her hearts desire, between honesty to who
she is, and loyalty to her hearts desire. What is Cinder going to do? Common
elements include the royal ball, a love interest that is also an important
prince, a royal festival, a dropped slipper, horrible self image, abuse,
bullying, and protagonist who is forced to be a servant for a long time (a
number of years).
Cinder
is a story book that is a great example of the mixing of science fiction and
classic fairy tales. Cinder is a very likable character despite her mysterious
and strange identity, and her sometimes quirky and clumsy behavior. Marissa Meyers’s book speaks of betrayal of
identity as a means to be honest to ones heart, an important lesson.
Meyer, M. (2012). Cinder. New York: Feiwel and Friends.
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