REWRITING A SHORT STORY FROM A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE: CINDERELLA

 

INTRODUCTION

Each person is different and grows up in a singular environment which distincts him/her from other people. Each person differs in his/her thoughts, wishes, and dreams. That’s why everybody has a different perspective, different thoughts, a different mood and tone.

Things may not be as they seem to be. Stories might have been written in a different mood and perspective. Memories or past experiences may look more pathetic when we recall them in a sad mood.

In a story, when we look from the other character’s point of view, the events would probably be interpreted differently. Especially when we look from the antagonist’s point of view instead of that of the protagonist’s. When we read from the antagonist’s point of view, we might see that the character is not bad at all. Even the character can be a good person and he/she/it might be on the same side with the protagonist.

THE STORY AS CINDERELLA TELLS

 

Cinderella is a girl whose mother died when she was little. Her father marries with an evil woman who has two daughters. Cinderella’s stepmother, always makes her do housework. She spends all her time in the kitchen next to the fireplace. She never does something nice after her mother’s death. When there is a ball, organized by the prince, her stepmother gives her housework at that time, as usual. Cinderella, becomes very sad about this situation. Then a fairy comes up. The fairy makes coachmen from a few mice and a cart from a pumpkin. The fairy also gives Cinderella a magnificent dress and she becomes absolutely gorgeous. Unfortunately, the cart will turn into a pumpkin, precisely at twelve o’clock in the night. Cinderella goes to the ball, meets the prince and falls in love with him. She suddenly realizes that it is midnight and runs away in order not to look poor and ugly in her old clothes. While running away, she drops her shoe. The prince takes the shoe and he checks out everyone in her village. The shoe fits her foot only. They get married, they have a perfect life and they live happily ever after.
		We all know the story of Cinderella. All of us had read this story when we were young. The main character, the protagonist is Cinderella, a young girl who suffers a lot because of her vicious stepmother and her daughters, who are the antagonists. This is typically “her side” of the story. How would it be if we had heard it from the stepmother?

 PRE-WRITING

Cinderella’s stepmother is not an evil woman. Actually she is like a fairy. Although she always helps Cinderella, Cinderella does not understand and hates her. Cinderella is very depressed because she misses her mom, who passed away and they become poorer. She thinks that her stepmother ruins her life.

At the beginning of the story stepmother’s husband and Cinderella’s mother die. The stepmother is Cinderella’s neighbor. The stepmother and Cinderella’s mom Emily used to be close friends.

Emily’s father have been supporting them financially, until Emily dies. They were also not rich back then, but after she dies they become poorer day by day. That’s why Cinderella’s father and the stepmother get married. They think it would be easier to run a single house with their very tight budget.

The stepmother’s daughters are older than Cinderella, so they go to work every day. Cinderella and her stepmother are doing housework together, but Cinderella thinks that her stepmother makes her to do housework. Her stepmother wants to teach her housework because she thinks Cinderella may need the skills in the future.  Her only purpose is to teach her housework so that Cinderella can stand on her own feet when she grows up.
	When Cinderella turns eighteen, the royal family organizes a ball. Her stepmother wants her to be very beautiful. She and her daughters sew a beautiful dress for Cinderella.
In those days, she calls her nephews in order to clean the mice in their house. While they are cleaning, she realizes that she has not got money to hire coachmen for Cinderella. She asks her nephews to be her coachmen and they accept. That’s why Cinderella thinks her coachmen are mice.

She sells pumpkins in order to hire a private cart for her. Unfortunately, they must bring the cart precisely at twelve o’clock to the cart owner because rich people will leave the ball after midnight, and he can make more money by carrying them. This is the reason why Cinderella thinks her cart is a pumpkin.

She goes to the ball and meets with prince. After she drops her shoe, the prince comes and gives the shoe to her. Prince knows that it belongs to her. In reality, the prince does not check out everybody’s foot. As Cinderella does not have self-confidence after her mother dies, she thinks like that. They fall in love and get married. Now, Cinderella, the prince, her father, stepmother and stepmother’s daughters are living in the castle and they have a perfect life.

FROM CINDERELLA’S STEP-MOTHER’S PERSPECTIVE

It was a very cold and snowy winter. My husband died because of the cold weather and the flu epidemic like many other people who lived in our village. We were already poor at the beginning of the winter but at the end of the winter we were much poorer.

Our neighbor, Emily also died just like my husband. We were very close friends, so I had a big sorrow. Her daughter Cinderella was very little when she died. They were very nice neighbors. They were not rich, probably even poorer than we were, but they had a modest life thanks to the money which Emily’s father sent her every month. They also became really poor after Emily had died. Cinderella’s father, Frederick and I decided to get married in order to support each other and raise our children.

After we got married, Cinderella’s attitude changed. She was now constantly mad at me. I could understand her. She was very upset because her mother died. She missed Emily a lot. When Cinderella’s mother died, her grandfather stopped sending money, and Frederick lost his job at the same time. Her standard of life changed all of a sudden. There was no mother, no money, no warm house and most of the time not enough food to eat. Besides, Cinderella was depressed due to loss of her mom, which was also very understandable.

I was trying to help her every time she needed help. During daytime she and I were alone at home as my daughters, who were a couple of years older than she was, went to help the local tailor to earn a few cents. I wanted to teach Cinderella housework to get her away from her sorrow and because she might need the skills in the future. When I said “Let’s mop the floor together”, she always got angry and yelled at me. When I asked her “Could you make your bed my dear?” she answered me “I am not your dear!” or “Nope!” My only purpose was to teach her housework so that she could stand on her own feet when she grew up.

 We had no money to buy coal, so our house was cold all the time. I would collect little pieces of wood from the meadow to burn, and we had to sit next to the fireplace to get warm. All day that was all we could do to spend our time. I loved her so much, but she did not understand me. Somehow, I could not reach her.

 In my opinion, she thought that I was an evil stepmom who was trying to destroy her life. That was why she hated me. She thought that I ruined her life, but I could not do anything to change her mind. On the contrary, for me, she was a very precious gift from my best friend Emily. I had promised her mom, who was also very dear to me, more than my own sister, that I would take good care of her as long as I lived.

My daughters and Cinderella were not getting on well with each other, like all stepsisters. I warned my daughters, Amanda and Linda a lot, but they were insistently jealous of Cinderella because I adored her so much. As she always looked dusty and dirty, they named her Cinderella. When Amanda said something bad to Cinderella, Linda did the same thing to Cinderella. Cinderella could not say anything and started to cry. When I tried to talk and comfort her, she would not even listen to me.

 The years went by and when Cinderella turned eighteen, the royal family held a ball. Everybody was excited. All of us wanted to be gorgeous at the ball, especially Cinderella. I wanted to make her happy and prepare everything as she wished. The most beautiful ball gown, a private cart, and everything else which is necessary for a ball, just for her. All the years, she had been sad, I was sorry for her and really wanted to make her happy.

			The most important thing was her dress. We sewed her dress together with my daughters, who became professional tailors meanwhile. A beautiful blue dress, which had lace and glittering fake diamonds on it. It took us weeks to make it, but the result was fabulous. I hoped she would love it. Amanda and Linda’s dresses were also beautiful, but Cinderella’s dress was really something. We made her a very stylish bun and we did a light make-up. She was gorgeous and ready for the ball.
		I wanted her to go to the ball in a nice cart. My daughters would go with their boyfriends, but Cinderella had nobody to go with, which was very sad. Unfortunately, we did not have enough money to rent a cart, so I decided to sell the pumpkins which I grew in our backyard. I sold them in order to get money to rent a cart. However, I did not have so much money. The cart owner told me to bring the cart precisely at twelve o’clock because rich people would leave the ball after midnight and he could make more money by carrying them.
				Around that time, there was an invasion of mice in our village. I called my nephews to catch the mice in the house. While they were catching and cleaning, I   realized that I had no money for the coachmen for the cart and asked them if they could be the coachmen for Cinderella. They accepted.

My beautiful daughter Cinderella was ready to go to the ball of her life. I warned her to bring the cart at twelve o’clock and then she got on her cart. I felt really happy as I waved and thought how happy my dear Emily would have been, if she had seen her daughter like this.

At the ball she had danced with prince till twelve o’clock. One can understand that they loved each other.  It was a lovely and romantic moment. At twelve o’clock Cinderella brought the cart back. Actually, I was taken aback because I did not expect that she would bring the cart. Unfortunately while she was trying not to be late, she dropped her shoe by mistake.  After then, as the prince fell in love with her and knew her costume really well, he came to our house in order to give her shoe back and marry her.

Next month they had a magnificent wedding. Cinderella was gorgeous in her wedding gown. I could feel that Emily was there, with us, at that moment. Cinderella and the prince danced, had fun and were very happy that day.

After the wedding, Cinderella, my daughters, Frederick and I settled down to the palace. While we were living there, eventually I could get on well with her. We had a spectacular life and lived happily ever after…

DISCUSSION

The classic story of Cinderella is nice, but unrealistic. Also if we look from Cinderella’s step-mother’s perspective, is her step-mother really a bad person? Maybe she only wants Cinderella to be well and happy. She doesn’t treat Cinderella badly. However, Cinderella might be in a bad mood and might hate her.

Cinderella’s mother died when she was young. They were becoming poorer day by day. That might be the reason why her father got married with her step-mother. Also Cinderella may think bad things when she sees her step-mother. Cinderella might think that there is a connection between her step-mother and bad events.

	In my opinion, the story is not realistic like every tale. Fairies do not exist and pumpkins cannot turn into carts. All these might arise from Cinderella’s imagination and from her perspective to the events. Maybe, her step-mother is trying to help her and that is why Cinderella thinks her as a fairy. She might think that her step mother cannot help her because she is evil. So, the person who helps her, must be a different character/person from her step-mother.

From her step-mother’s perspective, we will see the main conflict is not between Cinderella and her step-mother, it is between Cinderella and herself, her feelings, her ideas and her emotions because of the traumatic events in her life.

REFERENCES

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