Preview

Anne sexton's cinderella

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
946 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Anne sexton's cinderella
With many variations of fantasies, "Happily ever after" is reoccurring in every fairy tale. "Cinderella" by Anne Sexton is a different variation of the classic tale. The author sets up her version of Cinderella with four anecdotes sharing how others can go from poverty to riches or gritty reality to fantasy. Sexton changes her happily ever after ending by satirizing the message the story gives. By doing so, Sexton would like the reader to know the difference between a fairy tale and reality. Anne Sexton deconstructs the ending of her retold fairy tale by using sarcasm to change the reader's expectations of the story and myth.

Setting up the poem with little anecdotes of unexpected reality, Sexton's sarcastic tone foreshadows the outcome of the poem. In the first anecdote, Sexton writes, "You always read about it: the plumber with twelve children who wins the Irish sweepstakes. From toilets to riches. That story" (S1). Sexton uses a sarcastic tone by implying the situational irony in each story. The reader may find it hard to believe the story because each anecdote is so far fetched. The fantasy is brought back into gritty reality, however, the luck the man has to be in a poverty stricken situation to win the Irish sweepstakes. Sexton brings fantasy into the fairy tale so the readers can pick up on it and relate the new fantasy with Cinderella's tale. Sexton implies that the happily ever after story happens by pure chance and luck, not experienced by everyone.

Sexton's uses sarcasm in the refrain to influence the reader's predictions of the fairy tale by using the previous knowledge of the story Cinderella. "That Story" (L 5,10,21,109) is used as the refrain in the poem. "That story" is a clue for the reader to rethink the previous told stories of Cinderella and other fairy tales that go along the same lines of living happily ever after. The reader can sense the ridicule that sexton portrays in the refrain because she is simple and to the point. The anecdotes are

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    After he writes about tough, no-worries princesses, he goes on to state that princesses could finally have found a happy medium. Contemporary writers now say that today's Cinderella would have to be attractive but still be able to make the honor roll. The Cinderella story doesn't have to be all love and affection between the Prince and the Princess, and the Princess does not always have to be saved by the prince. He thinks the princesses don't always need to prove themselves worthy of being a princess, the position must prove itself to the…

    • 268 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cinderella, the main character of the world’s most famous children’s tale, exhibits traits that, if looked at carefully, show she is a morally compromised character with sadistic tendencies. This is what Elisabeth Panttaja, an ex-professor at Tufts University, argues in “Cinderella: Not So Morally Superior”. Panttaja uses the role of Cinderella’s mother to highlight the heroine's unsavory actions. Cinderella and her mother constantly employ treacherous tactics to manipulate people in the name of riches and power instead of love, as readers have been led to believe. Panttaja’s article, “Cinderella: Not…

    • 252 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As is well known, the famous storytale "Cinderella" has many variants across cultures and time periods. These variants have been found to have the same general plot, which is characterized by the persecuted heroine, the meeting with the prince, the revealing of an inner identity, and marriage with the prince. This plot is simple enough to be understood by a child, yet the details that support the story's timeless popularity are more difficult to discern, and are sometimes viewed quite differently by different critics. This shall be demonstrated in the synthesis of Freudian psychologist Bruno Bettelheim's work "'Cinderella': A Story of Sibling Rivalry and Oedipal Conflicts," and an excerpt from Feminist writer Madonna Kolbenschlag's work "Kiss Sleeping Beauty Good-Bye: Breaking the Spell of Feminine Myths and Models."…

    • 905 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In The essay Cinderella: Not So Morally Superior by Elisabeth Panttaja, the author analyzes the classic fairy tale that most of us have grown up knowing of Cinderella. The author’s analysis is a bit abrupt and right to the point, but also cleverly stated. The authors essay is about Cinderella being crafty, and not the normal perception of Cinderella being a princess who is virtuous and patient. It is also described in the essay that Cinderella may not be as motherless as it seems in the classic fairy tale. We think to assume that because she has magical powers looking over her that she is also of hierarchy morally. It is an example of the complexity in what is portrayed as a simple story. A story about good Vs. Evil, and good always overcomes.…

    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There was once a fair maiden named Cinderella. She lived with her stepmother; Lady Tremaine, and her two stepsisters Anastasia and Drizella. Unfortunately for Cinderella, she was always treated as a servant and a peasant at home. Due to her never socializing enough to actually have friends she was so desperate that she befriended mice. She was so selfless yet her family was the complete opposite. One morning, she was working on the floor with a rag and then there was a knock on the door. As she opened the big brown doors there was a short man with a black sack on his back filled with invitations, he handed Cinderella one of the invitations. She walked back inside and read the invitation out loud to the mice. It was an invitation to the royal ball! The damsel ran up the…

    • 754 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In cinderella this young teenage girl wants to live up to her dream, but never get's because of her stepmom and stepsisters. Always in the end she ends up achieving what she was trying to work so hard for in the beginning. In all conclusion the story of cinderella shows the theme in literature to be sometimes predictable and other times unrecognizable.…

    • 535 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Perrault embraced the truism of the story by allowing the stepsisters to apologize to Cinderella for treating her so badly. True to her character, Cinderella “forgave them with all her heart” (Perrault, 2009). Furthermore, Cinderella arranged for both sisters to be married on the same day. Perrault concluded with a moral statement declaring that: “beauty is a fine thing… but charm is beyond price and worth more… more than a happy ending” (Perrault, 2009). Perrault’s ending reinforced the readers’ understanding of text and provided a good explanation of the purpose behind the tale while reinforcing readers understanding of text. Disney’s version merely ended soon after the shoe fit with a “happily ever after”…

    • 802 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Conte Poem Analysis

    • 1022 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In “Conte” by Marilyn Hacker, Cinderella shows the reader a glimpse of her life after the childhood tale ends, a less happier ending than the original story implies. She feels trapped in a constant state of misery and boredom in the royal palace. Without life experience guiding her, Cinderella is in a dilemma caused by her ignorance of the potential consequences of her actions. With the use of irony, structure, and diction, “Conte” shows how innocence and naïveté result in regrettable mistakes that create life experience.…

    • 1022 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Anne Sexton Cinderella

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages

    "You always read about.../...the nursemaid some luscious sweet from Denmark / who captures the oldest son's heart. / from Diapers to Dior. / That story." Satiric poetry like "Cinderella" often blends criticism with humor to convey a message that the author is trying to convey. Satire can be seen in "Cinderella" without even finishing the first stanza. In Anne Sexton's case she is…

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Everyone knows the story of Cinderella, the girl who finds her prince with the help of a magical fairy god-mother, transforming her previously horrible life to a fabulous depiction of every little girls dream. Generations of children around the world have heard the story Cinderella countless times, however most people are unaware of the multiple versions of this legend. The European version of Cinderella ,“Aschenputtel” written by the Grimm Brothers consists of the female protagonist being treated as a servant, yet somehow manages to leave her cruel family behind for her Prince whom she lives happily ever after with. Another version of Cinderella is the Native American tale “The Algonquin Cinderella”, where the female protagonist is also mistreated by her family, however she is fortunate enough to “find” her own prince in her village. Although both stories present similar morals, both vary in details such as characters, settings,and use of magic.…

    • 1118 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    The opening chapter of the book, “Peasants Tell Tales: The Meaning of Mother Goose”, provides a historical reading of the many fairy tales we were told as young innocent children. These fairy tales had everything but happy endings and sweet morals. The gruesome truth is revealed for each fairy tale including Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty,…

    • 1566 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Kolbenschlag begins the article by telling that it is one of the most popular children’s stories documented and that it has a popular moral of good fortune being given to those who deserve it. She then goes on to say that Cinderella has good virtues, because she accepts her place in the household and doesn’t complain. She accepts her worthlessness. Kolbenschlag states that women are treated unfairly because they are subject to gender roles. She also discusses how small feet in the story plays into sexual bondage and the degradation of women in that sense. She tells that women leaving the house was wrong back in history and that the glass slipper contributes to that idea.…

    • 692 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Desiree's Baby

    • 907 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Chopin introduces the story with pleasant images and events; she enchants the reader with fairy tales. A woman who cannot have children is blessed with the most "beautiful and gentle, affectionate and sincere" (31) of all girls, whom she believes "had been sent to her by a beneficent Providence to be the child of her affection" (31). A real Cinderella story becomes true when a girl who holds the burden of not knowing where she came from is now the object of desire of the handsome and wealthy Armand Aubigny, a man who 's so in love that ignores the fact of her obscure origin. According to Armand, "what did it matter about a name when he could give her one of the oldest and proudest in Louisiana?" (31). Armand 's love is such that he orders the "corbeille" from Paris, and impatiently waits on it to marry the woman he desires. Chopin goes on with the fantasy in her successful attempt to soften the readers ' hearts. Desiree has a baby and makes Armand "the proudest father in the parish" (32), who changes from a cruel slave owner to a more patient boss. Chopin takes the readers to wonderland and opens up their hearts with this romance in the first half of the story. The writer ends the first phase of the tale with Desiree 's expression of her feelings at that point: "Oh mamma, I 'm so happy; it frightens me" (32). This comment is both a conclusion of the first phase of the story and a prediction of what 's to come next.…

    • 907 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the Grimm Brothers story “Cinderella” they tell the story of a girl with an unfortunate beginning and her transition to happiness. The story is written to inspire by showing that even at your darkest of days things can always get better and lead to your happily ever after. Throughout the tale, you will read how the main character goes from rags to riches despite many unfortunate trials.…

    • 363 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Cinderella In The Odyssey

    • 1270 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Everyone knows and loves the fairytale “Cinderella” where Cinderella starts out as a maid, wearing nothing but rags, and doing nothing but chores. She desires to go to this ball, but her nasty stepmother sends her to work right away, without allowing her to go. Fortunately for Cinderella, her fairy Godmother transforms her into a beautiful princess and lets her go to the ball, where she meets the price of her dreams. He is astonished by her beauty and in the end of the fairytale they fall in love. Everyone is fascinated by Cinderella’s story but one may not realize who is truly the reason for Cinderella’s good fortune. Without the help of her fairy godmother ensuring that everything worked out for Cinderella in the end, she never would have…

    • 1270 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays