Date of Award
5-2010
Document Type
Honors Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Anthropology
Abstract
Variations of Cinderella tales make use of the device of changes in standing and status to suit different purposes ranging from criticism, teaching, preservation of culture, and many other aims. Cinderella tales are cyclical tales in which heroines are introduced as living in a middle to upper class with a loving father proper to their character, birth, and other traits but which they leave or are forced out of. The heroines must prove themselves and engage in work or adventure to find their way back into the class and environment in which they belong. These tales generally reward the good, clever, and fair and punish the wicked while revealing significant ideas about the gender and class relations prevalent within the societies and time periods the tales come from. These tales have become staples in not only Western but global culture with traditional tales being preserved and repeated while new variations and renditions of the tales are continuously produced and spread.
Recommended Citation
Friedman, Kristen, "Cinderella Tales and Their Significance" (2010). Anthropology. 1.
https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/honorscollege_anthro/1