The story of Cinderella is one of the most well-known fairy tales ever written and if you ask anyone, they could probably sum up the plot of the story. But how did the Brothers Grimm originally write it? Click on the link below to hear a reading of the original version of Cinderella.
Due to the story's immense popularity, it has been rewritten several times as well as made into a number of different film versions. With each different version of the original text that is created, the setting, characters, and overall plot differ slightly. Please choose two of the alternative texts and create a graphic organizer which gives examples of how the story elements are the same or different from the original version.
TEXTS:
- The Rough Face Girl by Rafe Martin (*also known as The Hidden One- Native American)
- Tattercoats (English)
- The Egyptian Cinderella (Egyptian)
After you have completed your graphic organizer. Consider the following questions:
- How does each element that varies (i.e.- setting, characters, etc.) affect the overall message presented by the text?
- Which one of the three versions of the story did you feel displayed the author's tone the best?
- Which version do you think is the most drastically different from one another? Provide examples.
- What is one thing that all three versions of the story had in common?
- Why might an author stray from the original version of a text?
- What role does culture play in the different versions of Cinderella?
I read through Tattercoats and the Egyptian Cinderella. I prefered Tattercoats because there was a more mature story plot. The Egyptian Cinderella was very straight to the point and didn't elaborate on the characters. These two stories were drastically different. I could vision Tattercoats easily because of all the detail whereas Egyptian was rather frank and unintersting. In each story, the general plot remained the same: poor girl, prince, they fall in love, and they married. The author would stray from the original based on culture (Egyptian- slavery) or religion views (Egyptian- their god is in the story), to make a point, or to offer an alternative viewpoint.
ReplyDelete1) The Egyptian one with the lack of sisters and family lacks the message of how cruel family can be and instead that even when alone, a family can be found. All of them reveal that being good and kind has rewards, especially the Native American and Egyptian one. With the sisters being punished in the Grimm one it further conveys a message that those who are cruel will be punished.
ReplyDelete2)I think the Native American one and Grimm brothers one had the tone conveyed the best. There was a lot of detail and we got to see what the princess was thinking.
3)The Egyptian from the Grimm one is most different. The Egyptian Cinderella had no family and was a slave vs. Grimm Cinderella was also a "slave" but to her own cruel family. No one was punished in the Egyptian Cinderella while the stepsisters were in the Grimm one.
4)The one thing all had in common was that Cinderella was rewarded and married the sought after man/prince/king because of her goodness.
5)An author may stray from the original version to make the story more meaningful and easier to connect to/understand for his own culture.
6)Each story had elements specific to the culture, whether it was the names used, the clothing worn, or the setting.