George Baslous, Pd 5, 9/22/2020, Day B

George Baslous
9/22/20
Period 5
Modern Mythology 2021

Before reading different versions of the Cinderella story from Maria Tatar's 1st and 2nd editions of "The Classic Fairytales," I thought to myself that it would be very repetitive as I would be reading the same story over and over. Although the stories were conceptually the same, each one had a different cultural aspect to it which made it interesting to read. Take for instance the Chinese version of Cinderella called "Yeh-hsien." At first I thought it was funny how Yeh-hsien was praying to fish bones in order to get her dress and shoes, but then I had to remind myself that not only was it the Chinese version, but it was also written in 1697. At the same time, most other countries may find it confusing that a fairy Godmother appeared in the Cinderella story. Although it didn't make sense to me, it most likely made sense to people living in China during the time it was written. Reading this story as well as others such as "Donkeyskin," and "Catskin" helped me realize that each story has its own cultural background and each story brought a new aspect to the table.

By reading these Cinderella stories, I realized how each one described the characters very differently, especially in the way women are perceived in different cultures as well as time periods. In most, if not all of the stories, the mother and sisters take advantage of 'Cinderella' and she doesn't argue back, but instead stays speechless. Back then, it was more stereotypical for women to be submissive and act in a 'lady-like' fashion rather than going out and getting into trouble. I feel that if someone were to rewrite a new 'Cinderella' nowadays, you wouldn't see the same storyline of Cinderella being submissive to her mother. I think that although there is still much more room for improvement, women nowadays are not afraid to argue and stand up for themselves. Reading all of the Cinderella stories allowed me to realize how much more confident women are today compared to the times when all of the stories were written. I remember learning about lotus feet APWH freshman year which existed in China and forced women to disfigure their feet to they like more 'appealing.' Nobody was willing to speak up and defend themselves for a while even though they knew how wrong the foot binding was. Nowadays however, you see women out in the streets protesting and standing up for what they think is right which is a great thing. In the end, all of the Cinderella stories were able to, in the words of Tatar, "recharge the narrative and make it crackle with cultural energy," which is perhaps the most important aspect of fairytales in my opinion.