Anne Sexton Cinderella

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In the poem “Cinderella”, Anne Sexton illustrates the unrealistic expectations that fairy tales put into the minds of young women. The story of “Cinderella” has many versions in both print and film. Millions of dollars are generated annually with romance novels and romantic comedies commonly dubbed chick flicks. All versions share a similar story, a young lady meets a man and her life is then happy, fruitful, carefree and complete. These images are nothing more than fairy tales but they set expectations on young women that are unattainable. The poem was written in 1971, there was a growing awareness of women’s liberation and feminism at the time but, sadly, in 2016, I feel that the majority of women are still aiming for the fairy tale …show more content…

This reincarnation of Cinderella’s mother forces blindness upon the stepsisters, a punishment to them for their ill will towards Cinderella. (McGowan 325) There are people in this world who truly do not like to see others happy, they do not like to see them succeed in life, these kinds of people exist in everyone’s life. Cinderella’s story is yet again giving a misleading message to young women that once you are married, negativity will no longer follow you, life will be happy and without enemies. The story has the usual happily-ever-after ending. This happily ever after is the dream that some women chase their entire lives, the idea that once they find a man they will be complete. The ending further emphasizes the unrealistic ideas young women may have about marriage, Cinderella and the prince are not subject to diaper changes, house cleaning or arguments, the tedious parts of marriage do not exist for them. (Aguero 3) “Clearly such a happy ending is achieved only by keeping the couple frozen in time.” (Keely 72) Sexton ends the poem with “That story” as she did at the beginning of the poem showing her contempt for the message the story of Cinderella sends to young

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