Cinderella, in most versions, is about a young girl who, through circumstance, is left without either of her biological parents. Her step-mother dislikes her and she has a pair of step sister's who follow in their mother's footsteps. Cinderella is told at the time in her life where it all works out. Cinderella gains a Fairy Godmother and is able to go to the ball and fall in love with the prince and live happily ever after.

Cinderella, according to both the Grimms brother's version and the Perault version, is very nice, pretty and naive. She is made out to be the perfect 'slave'. She cooks, cleans and never complains. She is waiting until her perfect MAN can rescue her and take her away from all of the bad things in her life. The portrayed set of values sends the message that all we, as women, are looking for is a husband. That it is all we need. Cinderella doesn't show how later in her life she is fed up with always having to wait for her husband to help her or another male figure to save her. It shows that this is eternal bliss but as Betty Friedan (author of The Feminine Mystique) says, "women are starting to ask themselves 'is this all?'". The Feminine Mystique discusses women who have dreamt of growing up to be the great American housewife only to find the actual occurance mundane and unfulfilling. Fairytales are subconciously breaking all the barriers women try to build up- that we can be self sufficient, that we don't need men to succeed.

 

 

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