Your Name___Soma Karim____ Date ___10/19/14____ Genre: __Traditional Literature__

Literary Analysis

Bibliographic I nformation:
Galdone, P. (20131978). Cinderella.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Plot:
Is the plot original and fresh?
The original Cinderella as we all know, is not a fresh and original story. The plot is very
common, and there have been many adaptations and spin offs this story. Also it has been made
into a motion picture and Disney animations. The plot is about the Cinderella and she is
mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters and prevented from going to a ball. Her fairy
godmother shows up and makes it possible for her to attend through temporary magic.
Afterwards, the prince goes on a hunt to find her through the fitting of the glass slipper, when it
fits her he goes on to marry her and live happily ever after. Even this version is an adaptation of
the original, where it is much more sinister. Some killing and mutilation occurs in those versions.
Will children enjoy it? Is there action?
Children have always enjoyed this story and it is a classic tale to tell every generation. It contains
all the elements for it to be enjoyable like the interesting plot, the characters like the mice and the
outcome of the story. There is action involved in the story and in some scenes it gets pretty
intense. An example of this was when the mice turned Cinderellas plain dress into a beautiful
ball gown. Also the very fact there is a happy ending makes this appealing to all age groups.
Animated versions even contain many songs and musical breaks throughout the movie.

Setting:
Where does the story take place?
For a setting of this place it is never exactly mentioned where it is or which country. But we can
tell from the illustrations that it is a country that has a kingdom and it is mostly a Caucasian
population. It is also a very beautiful place and seems very peaceful and quiet. On the same note,
it is most likely an imaginary place. The majority of the scenes and duration occurs at the house
she is staying at where she serves her family and the climax occurs at the castle during the ball.
These act as grounds for rising action and the resolution. She gets her dress ready and the fairy
godmother uses the setting to make her items.

How does the setting affect the action, characters, and theme?
The setting makes it possible for imaginary and fantastical things to occur. In any other
environment it would make no sense for the actions of the story to take place. There would be no
going to balls in fancy dresses and riding in a horse drawn carriage. The characters would have
also developed differently. In some cultures stepmothers are very kind and compassionate
towards their kids and if not, they are bound by the law to treat them humanely. The theme
however would probably have stayed the same even in another location or under different
circumstances. Also the idea of a prince existing changes some themes if it were not the case.
Since he is royalty the idea of marrying him is lucrative to the sisters so they try even harder to
prevent Cinderella from trying anything. The mother also would probably not have prevented her
if he were just some regular guy.

Theme:
Does the story have a theme?
The story does have a theme and actually more than one. However I feel they are flimsy and are
very superficial ideas that can be seen as something clich. One of these said themes is good
versus evil. This is Cinderella forced to overcome the mistreatment that was put on her by her
stepmother and stepsisters. Another theme that can be taken from it is love finds a way. Despite
her running out of the ball, he pursued the beautiful girl he saw the glass slipper fit and the got
married.
Does this theme emerge naturally or is it stated too obviously?
The themes for this story are not stated too obviously but the writing style and story itself makes
it obvious. It starts showing immediately from the beginning of the book when we see her in the
abusive family she lives in. Afterwards, the other themes also become apparent. It gives the
perfect opportunity for the readers to see through the plot and relate to the themes.

Characterization:
How does the author reveal characters? Through narration? In conversation? By thoughts
of others?
The author revealed characters through two methods, by narration and in conversation with
Cinderella. The major characters are introduced by simply stating them and who they are
followed by a little bit of information about them. The secondary characters or minor ones are
introduced in conversation with each other, like the mice, or in conversation with Cinderella
where she mentions their names.
Do we see their strengths and weaknesses?

I think the whole story is based on strengths and weaknesses and focuses greatly on how
someone should strive to be a strong person and overcome obstacles when presented with them.
The physical strength of Cinderella is shown through the labor that she does around the house.
This includes hours of chores like scrubbing, sweeping and cooking. Weaknesses she shows are
emotional ones like when her wicked sisters tore her dress apart that her friends worked so hard
on; she started sobbing.

Style:
Is the dialogue natural and suited to the characters?
The dialogue is natural and suited to Cinderella. She is soft spoken and always friendly, while
never getting rude or saying wrong things. The steps are also fitted to the language because they
are loud and always mean so they express this constantly. Talking mice and chirping birds are
included in the story and this is the least natural aspect. Even the fairy godmother is given her
own style of speech, one of wisdom and compassion.
Is the style of writing appropriate to the subject?
The style of writing is written like a typical fairytale by starting with a long time ago and ending
with happily ever after. This is appropriate because all the stories of this nature are written with
this style in mind. The sentence structure, context and the way events unfold are all appropriate
to the subject.
Is the style straightforward or figurative?
The style is straightforward and has minor instances where it is figurative. It is in a narrative
style that describes the series of events chronologically.

Point of View:
Does the point of view limit the readers horizon, or enlarge it?
The point of view for this story is in third person. This enlarges our horizon because it talks
about every character and goes into the details including how they are acting and feeling. Like all
other narratives this is needed to fully encompass all the characters and the story be told fully.
Especially in a long story a wide point of view is needed to understand the details and actions.
Why did the author choose this particular point of view?
This particular point of view suits the story the best. Second person view is not practical and first
person would not give us the deeper understanding of the story since it will only focus on
Cinderella. There are details that we would have to be familiar that we would not see out of a
narrow point of view.


Describe Characteristics of this text specific to the genre:
Is the plot simple and direct?
The plot of this story is pretty direct. It tells a story how it is and goes through the events
chronologically. In this way we get the characters and what they are involved with at that time.
Though it has been formatted from its original version and made simpler. There are still details
that are complex enough to require explanation.
Does a theme emerge from the telling of the tale? If so, what is the storys message or
moral?
From all of these classical tales there is always a moral at the end of the story. The message in
Cinderella is to always be optimistic and believing things will turn around for you. This is an
important aspect because the story sounds simple and almost materialistic, but it has deeper
meaning than that. She was forced to live in harsh conditions for many years with the odds
completely against her. She also had one opportunity and she made the most of it.
Does the story represent cultural norms, or is it rewritten to conform to Western mores?
This story has undoubtedly been rewritten like many other stories with famous adaptations. The
original ones are usually not very accepted amongst westerners because of the violence or some
concepts that cant be taken well by the younger population. Even after all this there are still
elements that are not cultural norms, like marrying someone you hardly know. I think this would
be one of the issues that most people wouldnt agree with. Also, they just met at a wedding and
hardly had any time to connect on common interests other than looks. This generally isnt very
accepted these days and someone might even go as far as to criticize this type of behavior. There
arent many cultural norms that are represented here.


Reflections: (What are your impressions? Connections to past or future plans? Insights?, etc.)
Reading this book brought back many memories of my childhood. I absolutely love the classical folktale
of Cinderella because of the movies. Every time I hear Cinderella of course what runs in my head is the
Disney movie of Cinderella. Also, I actually saw this movie back home couple years ago and it was not
the same since it was Kurdish dubbed and not in English. So, whenever I saw them playing all the
classical Disney movies in Kurdish dubbed I would scream no since I believe it just wasnt right and
you cant just change a beautiful classical childhood movie like that.
This book would be good to read to the students in the class and later on watch the movie to see if they
see slight difference to them or if its the same. Plus, usually students have watched the movie and never
knew that there are books to them and that would be a great time to bring in copies and have them read
the book since its such an easy read. In addition, this can teach children about good and evil. Another
good lesson would be that bullying, and hurting others is wrong as we can see from the way the step-
sisters act towards Cinderella. With this book you can have students create a book to their imagination
like Cinderella and the other classical books or movies.