Dysfunctional Families: The Expectations and Realities Many readers of Cinderella and Snow White have never realized how dysfunctional the families are in these childhood fairytales. Over the years many of these stories have been revised and retold to children. Although these versions are more children appropriate, the originals contain cases of extreme dysfunctional families. Fairytales such as Cinderella and Snow White are prime examples of such. In the original Grimm’s versions of these two tales, one would definitely agree that they contain more gore and violence than the Walt Disney spin offs of the stories. Spin offs such as Ella Enchanted and the three A Cinderella Stories are more common in today’s society. But what most people don’t realize as they read these stories is that they are promoting the idea that all step mothers are evil and will make their step children the slave or maid of the house. These stories are extremely influential to children of young ages and tell children that dysfunctional families are okay in this society. In the Grimm’s tale of Cinderella, her stepmother is extremely verbally abusive towards her. When the stepmother and her two daughters move into Cinderella and her father’s home, she questions him as to why that useless creature (referring to his daughter, Cinderella) has the best room in the house, sends her to the kitchen, and claims her as the maid of the house. (Grimm 1) the stepmother in this story is one of the most common that young children are afraid of when their father remarries. “Many children resent the presence of a new woman in their father’s life. Others display hostility that is felt by their own mother towards this intruder. In many cases, a new stepmother is seen as an obstacle towards any reconciliation of the child/ren’s mother and father, although this reunion is often based on unrealistic dreams.” (Capelli 1) What Capelli is saying here, is that young children who have heard the tales have already assumed that this “stranger” is unwelcome and will get in the way of any further plans the child/ children want for their parents. They are afraid also that this new presence will strain their relationship with their father. They will believe that their father will not love, care, and pay attention to them anymore. The stepmother is not the only ones who were intentionally cruel to poor Cinderella. Her stepsisters paid as much a roll in this as her stepmother. It was because of her stepmother that the sisters thought it was acceptable to treat Cinderella as a slave. They claimed to be ashamed of her if she were to go to the ball with them and have them claim her as their sister. (Grimm 1) It is by her stepsisters’ ignorance and jealousy that they treat her as nothing more than a common peasant, a nothing. To the stepmother and her daughters, Cinderella was nothing more than something to torture and to toy with. Now in the beginning of Little Snow-White’s mother, the Queen, was a kind, gentle, caring, and beautiful soul. It was, again, jealousy and ignorance that clouded her vision. She was the most beautiful in all the land. That was until her daughter Little Snow-White became seven years of age. When she went to ask her magic mirror who the fairest of all the land, it replied that Little Snow-White was. With that she had a change of heart. She resented her daughter with a fierce passion. It got to a point where she could find no peace in her thoughts because of this jealousy and resentment. So she came up with a plan. She told her huntsman to take Little Snow-White and stab her to death in an excluded spot and as proof of her death, she wanted him to bring Little Snow-White’s lungs for her to cook and eat. (Grimm 1) Jealousy helps nothing when it comes to very vain people. They are selfish, just like Little Snow-White’s mother. Her jealousy and resent towards her daughter blinded her from seeing that she should be proud of her daughter. She should have realized that her daughter’s beauty and kindness came from her but she let her vainness get in the way. The huntsman didn’t kill her though. He pitied her because she was so beautiful and decided that the animals would eat her so he let her live if she promised to run away. Instead of Little Snow-White’s lungs, he killed a wild boar and gave the Queen its lungs for her to eat. She then asked her mirror again who was the most beautiful in all the land and was startled with the answer she got. The mirror again replied that it was Little Snow-White and that she was living with the seven dwarfs. She was furious and immediately began to plan on how to kill the girl so that she would once again become the most beautiful woman in the land. The Queen tried to suffocate her by tightening her bodice laces until she couldn’t breathe, but the dwarfs saved her. (Grimm 2) the Queen would stop at nothing until she got what she wanted. She tried to poison hair combs, but the dwarfs interfered again and saved Little Snow-White. (Grimm 3) She was stubborn that she refused to let Little Snow-White, her own flesh and blood, live in happiness. At last she poisoned an apple and she died. (Grimm 3) She was finally satisfied with what she did and when she asked her mirror who was the fairest of all, it replied that the queen was. Her jealousy went away and she was finally able to be at ease. The queen is an incredible example of what girls deal with every day. The queen can be the popular girl at school or just in life in general. Girls bully girls because of jealousy and vainness. Most of those qualities are exhibited in one’s home life and shown that it is acceptable to act as so. Families are a group of people related by a bond. They “are not fair and we don’t choose the one we are born or adopted into.” (Lerner 1) This can easily be translated by common knowledge. Children may hate their parents because they didn’t get what they wanted or think they are being unfair. They have every right to do so. But what many people don’t realize is how much they take that for granted. People can’t choose that because they don’t like their mothers or fathers, stepmothers or stepfather that we don’t get to choose them and that’s life. “Your family is the deck of cards fate has handed you.” (Lerner 2) This loosely means that there are good cards and bad cards but without all the cards a person can’t have the full deck and without everyone in a family, the good people and the bad people, there can’t be a chance at functionality. Dysfunctional families are all around and most people would never realize it.