Ruth Panttaja Cinderella Sparknotes

Elisabeth Panttaja, author of “Cinderella: Not So Morally Superior” and former professor at Tufts University, expounded on many details of the story of Cinderella such as the similarities between the biological mother and stepmother of Cinderella and other factors that influenced Cinderella (658-659). One of the most encompassing themes of the story is that of parental abandonment, an issue that affects Cinderella and the real-world. Although Panttaja focussed on the mother-daughter dynamic in the story, she may have neglected to analyze the lack of a father figure in the story and how it affects Cinderella.
Panttaja begins by reviewing the role that Cinderella’s biological mother plays in the story and in her daughter’s life (659). She claims

Panttaja credits the tree that Cinderella planted on her mother’s grave and the birds that inhabit it with the spirit, direction, and wishes of Cinderella’s mother in the original Cinderella story (659). Although this is a valid idea that shows one way that her mother still influenced her life beyond the grave, there are a multitude of other factors, such as a father figure and other family members, that could be just as valid. Giving all of the credit that she did to the other creatures, Panttaja seems to be stretching a little bit on her reasoning and may not credit the human characters with what they deserve. The reason why the belief that other creatures replaced Cinderella’s mother could be flawed is that these replacement beings do not have plainly visible signs that show their

Throughout the article, Panttaja proved that both mothers were working towards the same goal, to “[get] her married to the ‘right man’ (660).” However, history can verify that the father of a girl can be quite stringent on who he allows his daughter to marry. In this sense, Cinderella’s father could have had just as much of an influence on who she married as her mother had. This also demonstrates that Cinderella’s father may not have been given sufficient thought in order to be attributed with some of her major successes.
Panttaja continues by implying that Cinderella acquired her prince because she was pretty and that her prince was enchanted by her (661). Nonetheless, there could have been other factors in this matchmaking process that Cinderella was not made aware of; for instance, the intentions of her father could have influenced this situation. Cinderella’s father could have also wanted the best husband for his daughter, just as Cinderella’s mother had (660). Again, Panttaja may not have spent enough time contemplating the hidden actions of Cinderella’s