The notion of rags to riches is a dominant theme in American Literature. However, fairy tales demonstrate a different theme. The idea of a character going from rags to riches show characters rising from the low class to high class in society due to hard work and determination. In fairy tales, characters indeed go from rags to riches, but it is due to a magical or chance occurrence-- it is the notion of happily ever after. Anne Sexton explores the notion of happily ever after in her version of the famous fairy tail, "Cinderella."
She sets up an introduction to her story of "Cinderella" with four stanzas each revealing different happily ever after scenarios. The examples consist of a plumber with a large family that goes from "toilets to riches," a nursemaid that goes from "diapers to Dior," a milkman that goes from "homogenized to martinis," and a charwoman
I think that the author's tone in this poem is detached because she is telling a story. Sexton's personal feelings about the fairy tale are not reflected. Another stylistic element to the poem is that there are an abundance of caesuras and short sentences throughout the poem. I think that she does this to make reading the story more interesting and place emphasis on the certain elements of the story. I also think Sexton incorporates a lot of beautiful metaphors. One that I especially like is, "This time Cinderella fit into the shoe like a love letter into its envelope." The last stanza of the poem serves as an effective conclusion because it relates back to the happily ever after motif in the introductory stanzas. Sexton sets up a nice metaphor saying, "Cinderella and the prince lived, they say, happily ever after, like two dolls in a museum case..." Sexton then goes on to desc
All papers and essays are for research and reference purposes only!
Copyright 2002-2009
Direct Essays , LLC. All Rights Reserved. DMCA Webmasters make $$$$