Mariam Zihiri, Period 2, 11/16/22

One of the first assignments that we had this year was reading the various different versions of the Cinderella story told and passed down from many different regions and cultures. I have always loved reading different types of fiction that come from different cultures because it shows the clear distinctions between many different cultural rules and norms that they have that differ from others. I’ve always struggled with following along with nonfiction stories, but when I am given a fiction story that was as detailed as the different cinderellas stories, I find myself better able to follow along. One of my favorites of the different versions was Yeh-Hsein. I noticed a common theme of animal skin and bones being very involved in the transition of all of our protagonists, but the way it was used in Yeh-Hsein was different than in the other stories, because it was the burial of the sacred bones of the fish that granted her what she wanted, while in the other stories the animals were used as ugly coverings (except for in the Black Cow.)

There were many themes that I learned in English class that allowed me to view all pieces of fiction that I read in a whole different way. One of the main themes that has always stuck with me since the beginning of the year was the idea of balance being in all parts of our lives. It was something that I have connected to my own life as well as all pieces of literature that I have read shine then. Its shown greatly in all the Cinderella stories when we show a protagonist that we are made to sympathize with who was raised in unfortunate circumstances who grew to live very fornature with much wealth, whether it be wealthy in love, money or both. Another common theme that I noticed as I read different stories were the Axes of Transformation throughout them. Previously, it was never apparent to me that all characters in any type of genre, all go through a process of transformation. Using the example of the different Cinderella stories, we notice the main transformation present in all of the stories was a change in power and setting. We notice almost all the protagonists in the Cinderella stories all believe they have no power and then they suddenly are given all the power in the story. They are also given a change in setting when they change their physical setting they are in that was giving them the unfortunate circumstances.

The things that I have learned in my English Class have been very beneficial to my other classes and in the outside world as well. These themes of balance and as well as noticing these transformations are things that can be connected to my real life because they allow me to notice more about my surroundings and notice the contrast between so many aspects of life. It allows me to be more aware of the things that I read and my surroundings to notice the true balance that is present and the ways that the balance occurs in the transformations.