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Cinderella
Human culture is filled with fairy tales. These fairies start out as simple but entertaining stories but as they get handed down from one generation to the next, they gradually become more than simply fairy tales. They grow and become bedtime stories for growing children as such play an important role in the children’s perception of the world and society in which they live in. One such popular fairy tale is (Cinderella, Cary & Anita, 52). It demonstrates that modern day fairy tales play a role in our society as subtle instructions for behaviors and morals that Children are supposed to follow. On the surface, it may come across as a very simple story on a young woman whose wishes eventually come true. However, the fairy tale also reflects cultural expectations of the behaviors and goals of women. It also defines the expectations of a woman’s goodness.
Cinderella shows its audience that women are expected to be passive. For example, the main character patiently suffers under all kinds of mistreatments by her stepsisters and stepmother without voicing any complaint. She is always busy with cleaning, sweeping, washing as well as dusting but does nothing else to respond to the abuse that she is being subjected to other than sing about her dreams of happiness that she wished would come to pass. She is relegated to merely wishing for things to change as opposed to taking action for herself and driving the change that she wishes (Orenstein, 35). Therefore, Cinderella’s behavior in the narrative teaches women in society to be prepared to suffer in silence. It normalizes the fact that women should be prepared to take in whatever society throws at them and let fate take its course They are, therefore, labeled as passive creatures compared to their male companions.
It is not only women’s behavior but their goals themselves that get dictated by this fairy tale. The women in the narrative are portrayed as striving not to be independent but to be beautiful and wait for their prince charming to provide to them the life they wish to lead. Her step sisters spent countless hours dressing up for the ball since they knew that their only value lay in their outward appearance. Even Cinderella, the narrative’s heroine is thrilled by the gift her fairy godmother gives her exclaiming that it was indeed beautiful and more than she had ever hoped for (Bartholomew, 63). In fact, as narrated, Prince Charming falls in love with her at first sight not necessarily because of her personality but due to the beauty that her new clothes gave her. This was evidenced in his bored reaction to the bevy of women that were paraded before him and his sudden interest in Cinderella prior to uttering a single word to her. Way before their first real interaction with one another, both are described to have found true love in one another. The message being passed across in at this stage a lady's worth is based on the manner in which she dresses and the way she looks, therefore, young impressionable girls who grow up listening and watching Cinderella may grow up obsessing over their outward appearance and how men will perceive them.
Marriage is another goal that women are conditioned to believe in. Cinderella holds up marriage as every single woman's dream regardless of the fact that the potential partner and husband is a complete stranger. Each of the step sisters was so excited, and they were already fantasizing about the prince falling in love with them and asking one of them to be his wife. Even Cinderella craves to meet the prince so badly that she is ready to finish the large number of chores that her stepmother gives her as a condition for gracing the ball. However, it is not only Cinderella and her sisters who want to attend the ball; the whole population of single ladies in the kingdom wants to attend as well for a chance to marry the prince whom they have yet to meet in person. There is never any doubt of any woman wanting to get married to the rich and equally powerful prince. The storyline implies that her only way to escape the abuse and cruelty in her life is to marry someone she only gets to know for a few minutes or hours. For the wider world, the implication is that marriage ought to be the only valid choice a woman has to improve her lifestyle. The unfortunate result of this is that education and a rewarding career and relegated to secondary role in the life of a woman (Otnes & Elizabeth, 78).
One underlying narrative of the entire story is that in order for one to be a good girl, one should ascribe to the rigidly defined gender goals and behaviors. From the onset of the movie, the narrator states that once upon a time there lived a sweet and beautiful girl who went by the name of Cinderella and was loved by everyone. The narrator goes on to describe Cinderella as sweet, gentle and kind. This description implies that she is loved for these qualities that are largely gendered feminine by the society i.e. kindness, sweetness, and gentleness. The audience sees this message reinforced through the juxtaposition of how these stepsisters are rendered. The audience is informed that Anastasia and Drizella could have been very pretty, but their selfish or cruel ways have contributed to making them look. In this scene, the audience is shown the consequences of stepping out of the society-prescribed gender roles; the consequences are so dire that they get physically manifested in the outer appearance of the woman. Although cruel and selfish behaviors are not positive characters, their extreme portrayal in the evil stepsisters seemed to be a way of reinforcing Cinderella’s goodness. These provide a dichotomous vision of evil and good that serves as a warning for young girls to try their best to be good if they want to avoid the fate that befell Cinderella's sisters who were doomed to be ugly and, therefore, unloved (Orenstein, 87).
It is very tempting to view Cinderella as only a fairy tale nevertheless, a standard of womanhood does exist in our society, and that standard is often constructed from the messages that we receive as children. If this message is that women ought to be beautiful, passive and desirous only of marriage, it is no wonder women have been pressured to be and mimic these expectations as adults in their societies. It is quite problematic that only a single vision of goodness when referring to women is perpetuated by fairy tales like Cinderella and even further that the definition of goodness in the case of women is limited to a small range of feminine behaviors for women.

Work Cited
Bartholomew, Cheryl G. Gender-sensitive Therapy: Principles and Practices. Prospect Heights,
Ill: Waveland Press, 2003. Print.
Broussard, Cary J, and Anita Bell. From Cinderella to Ceo: How to Master the 10 Lessons of
Fairy Tales to Transform Your Work Life. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley, 2005. Internet resource.
Orenstein, Peggy. Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New
Girlie-Girl Culture. New York, NY: Harper, 2012. Print.
Otnes, Cele, and Elizabeth H. Pleck. Cinderella Dreams: The Allure of the Lavish Wedding.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. Internet resource.