Anne Sexton Cinderella

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Another Cinderella Story-FIX SIEZE From Japan to Germany, some version of “Cinderella” exists and is well known to everyone. It is a classic story about a misfortunate girl who, with a little magic and a lot of luck, gets her happily ever after. It is endearing with its ‘rags to riches’ archetype involving an instantaneous shift from a pitiful situation to a desirable one. With Disney’s “Cinderella,” it is unquestionable to girls everywhere that a happily ever after means a prince charming as well as a castle full of beautiful gowns. However, some girls grow up skeptical of this dream being sold in such a fairy tale. Particularly, Anne Sexton retells the classic “Cinderella” to express her doubts of this story, with its deceptive happily ever…show more content…
However, Sexton derives away from expectations in the first four stanzas, by referencing other stories that everyone has “always read about” (5). From a plumber to a charwoman who strikes some sort of fortune, it is constantly referred to as “that story” in the end of each stanza. The repetition of “that story” in Sexton’s poem is as redundant as the stories themselves (1). While nobody knows the specific milkman or nursemaid Sexton is referring to, it is clear the kind of story she is referring to— a Cinderella Story. Each of these stories is retold so that the person is labeled by their undesirable occupation, in contrast with their lucky encounter. Such stories sensationalize characters that only arbitrarily stumble upon fortune, as indicated by the opening Irish Sweepstake lottery winner who relies entirely on luck. In doing so, Sexton begins to raise the questionable aspects for these stories with plots driven by luck. It is questionable if the nursemaid’s “luscious sweet” is the only thing that captures the oldest son’s heart (8). It is questionable how the milkman achieved success in real estate. It is questionable if the charwomen should be entitled to insurance money just because she happened to be “on the bus when it cracks up” (19). The…show more content…
While the stepfamily was described to have “hearts like blackjacks,” it does not change the facts that the stepsister was willing to amputate her feet for the prince. In contrast to Cinderella who attains the ability to make wishes after planting the twig on her mother’s grave, the narrator says that the stepsister’s feet “don’t just heal up like a wish” (87). Although Cinderella is able to wish to a dove for “a golden dress/and delicate little gold slippers” in order to attend the prince’s ball, the stepsister is someone unable to wish (60-61). That is to say, the stepsister does not earn the right to wish because unlike Cinderella, the stepsister does not choose to “be good” like Cinderella who suffered without complaining—or doing anything really. The narrator dismisses magic and luck for the case of the stepsister, but considers that it “is no surprise” for Cinderella to go to the ball with the help from the magical dove that came to her after a series of unfortunate events (63). It is no surprise because good fortune is to be expected from misfortune. Similar to the stories in the beginning, hardships were used to justify their fortune. It should be admirable the length the stepsister is willing to go compared to Cinderella who puts in none of the same efforts. The stepsister was willing to bleed while Cinderella only goes

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