Cross-Cultural Analysis of Cinderella

Abstract

The story of Cinderella tells the tale of a mistreated maiden forced to live with an unpleasant stepfamily. This tale has been retold across the ages and, like with most well-loved tales, has seen a rebirth between cultures. Four of these stories go by the titles of “Rough Face Girl”, “Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters”, “Ye Xian”, and finally “The Little Glass Slipper/Cinderella”. The stories have a similar idea across despite being from different cultures. In every carnation, there is abuse from a sister, a grand event, an ally, and a happily-ever-after for the Cinderella character.

The French Cinderella

The version most people are familiar with is Charles Perrault’s “Cinderella.” A version of this story was found on a webpage published in 2003. The webpage was part of a University of Pittsburgh website and had Perrault’s story on it. In this story, there is a stepfamily and a deceased father. Cinderella is forced to work as a servant in her own house, because her stepmother knows Cinderella is much more beautiful than her own daughters.

The family is invited to a ball and Cinderella is left behind, but she has the help of her fairy godmother to get her to the ball. Cinderella must be back before midnight and she goes to the ball. The event lasts for two days and on the second day Cinderella loses track of time, leaving behind one of her glass slippers in haste. The prince sends people out to fit the entire kingdom with the shoe and Cinderella fits in it.

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Her stepsisters beg for forgiveness and Cinderella not only forgives them, she also matches them with two court lords and gives them living spaces in the palace (University of Pittsburgh, 2003).

There are two morals to this story. The first is that graciousness is a highly valued trait and the second is that the blessing of a godparent is crucial (University of Pittsburgh, 2003). The way the story was originally written appears to have been a part of a primer or a mere lesson book, the story having been directed more towards women at that time.

There was heavy mention of how intrinsically good Cinderella was. It is commented many times in the story about a time when Cinderella could have gotten revenge on her stepsisters by “fixing their hair awry,” or she could have not forgiven her stepsisters for their mistreatment of her (University of Pittsburgh, 2003). Since this story seemed to have been written to teach people values, it can be inferred that this amount of kindness was uncommon in this time period.

The fact that a blessing from a godparent is crucial is important due to the hold of the Catholic Church on Europe at the time, where the concept of a godparent is pushed. In 2018, Catholic Publishing Company stated that godparents are people that basically bless a child, teach them religious lessons, and steers them towards Catholicism. This would explain why the ally happens to be a godparent in this version of the story.

In this version of the story, a high emphasis is placed on fashion, which was just something the French were into at the time (Speck & Mason, 2007). Reasonably, the more elaborately dressed someone was, the more money they appeared to have. This would explain the high focus placed on fashion throughout the story – from the stepsisters having fashionable bedrooms, to a ball where people essentially flaunt their fashion, to the stepsisters’ love of fashion, and on to Cinderella’s fashion advice (University of Pittsburgh, 2003).

The Zimbabwean Cinderella

Another Cinderella-type story is called “Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters.” According to HarperCollins Publishers in 2018, this story takes place in Zimbabwe, and from the title alone, it is clear that this story takes a collectivist approach. This term means that things are done for the good of the group or that the group’s identity triumphs over an individual’s identity. The title implies that both daughters are beautiful, and it is stated within the story. While this is not a Zimbabwean tale, a black American author named John Steptoe wrote this story, so the story has some credibility (The Estate of John Steptoe, n.d.).

This version of the story was retrieved online from a website run by a fifth-grade teacher with the surname of Inchaustegui. The story focuses on a father and his two daughters. Nyasha is the Cinderella character and Manyara is the stepsister character. Manyara teases Nyasha for her kindness, but this stems from her own insecurity about her own beauty. Manyara is confident that she will become queen and Nyasha will be her servant, and this haughty behavior is shown in her treatment of others. Nyasha keeps a garden and is not a household servant. In this garden, Nyasha befriends a snake named Nyoka, who is the king in disguise. An invitation is sent out to all the women in the kingdom, and Mufaro is eager to send both of his daughters. Manyara, seeing competition from Nyasha, goes out alone into the night and travels to the city where the king lives. Along the way there is a series of trials each involving the king as an active participant and Manyara, letting her pride and confidence get in the way, does not pass the trials and goes into the city (Steptoe J., n.d.).

The next morning, Nyasha gets ready to head into the city – not wanting to leave home – when it is discovered that Manyara is missing. The whole village searches for her, going along the path containing the trials. Nyasha passes each trial and Manyara is found fleeing the king’s city, terrified of the king because he appeared as a five-headed snake that revealed all of her faults. Nyasha bravely goes to see the king and finds out that he is the snake in her garden. The king turns human and chooses Nyasha as his wife. Thus, Nyasha becomes the queen and Manyara becomes the servant (Steptoe J., n.d.). There is no clear moral in the story, but it is implied that respect and kindness prevail.

This story has some Zimbabwean values evident. In the general Zimbabwean culture, respect is an important value, especially towards elders (Cultural Atlas, 2018). Throughout the story, special care is taken to not upset Mufaro. This shows in Manyara’s mild mistreatment of Nyasha and how no argument is raised when Mufaro insists on sending both daughters to be chosen. This causes Manyara to go out by herself as opposed to arguing with Mufaro about keeping Nyasha at home with him. Manyara also shows that her disrespect towards the people she sees that were a part of the trials resulted in a nasty surprise at the king’s city.

On an earlier note, the value of collectivism also shows up in the form of the entire village going out to search for Manyara as opposed to just Nyasha and Mufaro going out to search for her. The implication also exists by showing the negative results of when someone goes alone to do something. Aside from Manyara’s pilgrimage to the city, there is no mention of anyone doing anything alone.

A common belief in many African countries is that the supernatural does exist, and Zimbabwe is no exception (Mutiwanyuka, 2017). The story shows this belief in the form of Nyoka being able to magically transform into both humans and animals. It is hinted that magic is and can be dangerous, as the incident with Nyoka transforming into a five-headed snake to scare Manyara away.

The Algonquin Cinderella

The variation of Cinderella known as “Rough Face Girl” was not written nor told by the Algonquians but was written by a man outside of the community. However, the author Rafe Martin lived near the Algonquians for a good portion of his life, so he had some background knowledge on this group of people (Martin, 2011).

This version of the story was retrieved at the Springfield Public Schools website in the year of 2018. There was a widowed man with three daughters. The Cinderella character was known as “Rough Face Girl.” She was the small, sickly one that got abused by the eldest daughter. The eldest would disfigure Rough Face Girl with hot coals and would viciously cut her hair. The other daughter sometimes felt sorry for Rough Face Girl and would defend her. Their father was always told by the eldest that Rough Face Girl would disobey him and mess with the fire, which made him wonder about Rough Face Girl’s future. One day, the two older daughters decided to try seeing the mighty but invisible hunter that functioned as the prince character. The hunter’s sister would test all who decided to try finding him, so like those before them, the two daughters lied about seeing him, having had no luck finding him. The sister saw through the lie and was not fooled. The two were sent back home and Rough Face Girl decided to try.

She assembled an outfit with what she could find and went across the village to try the trial. She got scorned and laughed at by the villagers, and her sisters tried to shame her into returning home, but a brave spirit walked with her and got her to the Invisible One and his sister’s wigwam. Rough Face Girl was treated kindly by the sister of the Invisible One, then was taken to the trial site. Rough Face Girl was honest when she said that she cannot see him, then suddenly she could. She passed the test and was cleaned with water from a special jar to wash away her disfigured parts. She also had her hair combed with a magical comb that made her hair grow long again. Rough Face Girl became joyful and the joy in her face made her attractive. The Invisible One revealed himself to her and states that her brave spirit and pure heart enabled her to see him. She marries him and gains the ability to turn invisible too. While there is no clear moral to the story, but the ending thought is that she kept herself hidden until the right person found her (Springfield Public Schools, 2018). It can be believed that a brave spirit and a pure heart grants one power.

The Algonquians had women staying in the village while the men went hunting (Redish & Lewis, 1998). This explains why the men were not common in the story despite still existing among the women. It can be presumed that being a great hunter is equivalent to being a figure of royalty, although none of the literature indicated this. It was not an easy task to find information on this culture’s value system, and what could be gathered was insufficient at best.

The Chinese Cinderella

The final variation of Cinderella has been considered the original Cinderella story (Winter, 2016). The story variation originated in China around the Qin dynasty era and has two names: “Ye Xian” and “Ye Shen,” both pronounced the same way (Winter, 2016). The story discussed here is entitled “Ye Xian.”

This story was retrieved from the Saint Louis Public Schools website in 2018. A cave chief in a village had two wives, both of which he had daughters with. One of the wives died in childbirth, who was Ye Xian’s mother. Ye Xian was smart and beautiful, with a talent for embroidery and spinning. After the cave chief died, Ye Xian was left with her stepmother and half-sister. Her stepmother demoted Ye Xian to servitude, and Ye Xian was mistreated and forced to do the worst jobs. Ye Xian found a fish and adopted it as a pet, giving the fish food even when she had little for herself. She released the fish once it got bigger into a pond. Ye Xian’s stepmother was furious with Ye Xian finding happiness and she killed – then cooked – the fish. Ye Xian was distraught, but an ancestor came down from the heavens and told her to get the bones of the fish and wish on them only when she needed them. The cave festival came, which is an event for people to find spouses, but Ye Xian knew that her stepmother would not let her go because of the concern her own daughter would not find a suitor, and this would result in a lack of half property to pay the dower (Saint Louis Public Schools, 2018). Ye Xian prayed to the bones for a dress and shoes, of which she got both. The shoes were golden. Ye Xian got much attention but left before her family could come to greet her. Ye Xian lost a shoe in her escape and a merchant found it. The slipper exchanged hands a few times before a king received it. Obsessed with the shoe’s small size and who wore it, he sent ministers out to search for the owner of the shoe. Every time someone would try to get the shoe on, the shoe would change size. Eventually Ye Xian got to try the shoe and was taken to the king. She dressed up and revealed herself to the king, and she had the beauty equivalent of a fairy’s beauty. The stepfamily begged for her forgiveness and Ye Xian granted them forgiveness. Ye Xian then married the king (Saint Louis Public Schools, 2018). There seems to not be a moral, unless the purpose of the story was to reinforce the Chinese cultural values regarding women.

During the time this story came into existence, a scholar named Ban Zhao wrote a lesson book for women called “Admonitions for Women.” Ban Zhao stated that a woman needed to be industrious, humble, respectful, yielding, should never refuse doing her domestic duties, always stay busy, never brag, keeps to herself, and she should know how to sew and spin (Columbia University Press, 1999). These qualities appear in Ye Xian. She never complains nor refuses to do her work, always stays busy, respects and yields to everyone, has a talent for spinning and embroidery, keeps to herself and never brags. Tiny feet were also valued in China, so that would explain the king’s obsession over the tiny slipper (Foreman, 2015).

Analysis

Throughout each version of the Cinderella story, the general concept is the same: triumph over oppression. Usually a rise in social status is evident, with some variations of the tale involving royalty. In tribal cultures, the father is alive and appears loving, denoting the patriarchal focus with little mention of the mother, while the European and Chinese versions of the tale focus on a cruel stepmother taking over after the father died. In the two variations of Cinderella known as “Ye Xian” and “Cinderella”, the stepfamily shows pride in the stepdaughter, but cannot bear to see how the Cinderella character outshines the stepdaughter in external and internal beauty.

In Europe, pride is evident in France during this time due to fashion. People needed the highest quality fashion to appear the best, even if they were rotten on the inside. In China, honor, high-context communication, and facework come to the forefront. The implication that a child that was not a parent’s is better than the parent’s own child brings them to shame, which damages their facework and family honor.

In the stories “Rough Face Girl” and “Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters”, there are less superficial reasons for mistreatment of the Cinderella character. In “Rough Face Girl”, the Cinderella character is mistreated because she is sickly, which implies that those who are weak are not valued. With the semi-nomadic lifestyle of the historical Algonquians, it would make sense why the sick are pushed aside (Redish & Lewis, 1998). In “Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters”, the mistreatment stems from low self-esteem from the equally beautiful stepsister character, bringing in the focus of family as the Cinderella character appears to have a normal relationship with her sister despite being teased and how come the stepsister character does not abuse her or demote her to servitude in her own house.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the telling of the same tale with different cultural viewpoints makes the Cinderella tale a classic. From a teaching tool to a way of entertainment, the Cinderella tale contains a similar message explained differently throughout each culture: oppression and triumph. Altogether, these stories were created to mold girls into ideal women by using a story to accentuate the ideal traits of a woman.

References

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