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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