Jacob Berger, Period 7, 9/18/2023

Jacob Berger
Period 7
Literacy and Learning
9/18/2023

The contrast between the different versions of Cinderella from different cultures has influenced my perception of fairy tales. A factor like culture makes a big difference in the way a fairy tale is told. We can see this in the different tellings of Cinderella. Each story has something different about it that was influenced by the culture, such as the themes and character identities and traits.

For example, in Yeh-Hsien, a Chinese Cinderella story, Yeh-Hsien’s father was a cave chief of Southern China, in Cinderella by the Grimm Brothers he was a rich man, and in Donkey Skin by Charles Perault he was the king. Seeing how each story has different ways of telling the same moral has helped me learn more about fairy tales and what they represent. Some cultural differences found in the different versions of Cinderella are the darker themes in Cinderella by the Grimm brothers, and the themes of family and respect for ancestors representing Confucian values in Yeh-Hsien. Another cultural factor in these stories is the character's motivation. In some stories, Cinderella takes charge of the situation and changes her destiny, while in others she is helped by some magical figure such as the fairy godmother. The type of magical item is another representation of culture in these stories. Most stories have some form of shoe that is the equivalent of the glass slipper in the Western Cinderella stories. Some examples are the Golden Shoe which is found most commonly in Middle Eastern Cinderella stories, while a Russian telling has a Fur Slipper, reflecting the cold environment, since fur is an effective clothing against the cold.

From all these differences, we can see that culture has a significant impact on how fairy tales are told, the unique elements and cultural diversity shown through the writing of these stories.