Comparative Analysis of Clock Strikes
Throughout the years many stories have been passed down from generation to generation. One of the stories that has evolved over the years is the fairy tale of "Cinderella." It is one of the most popular fairy tales to date because it has seen in over 700 versions and translated into multiple languages. Tanith Lee, a prolific writer of stories for young adults, took the Cinderella story, and reversed it with her tale "When the Clock Strikes." In her tale, the Cinderella heroine character is a witch. Lee is able to turn the magic and the rest of the tale into a dark revenge story. Madonna Kolbenschlag, a literary scholar and feminist, wrote the article "A Feminist's View of Cinderella". Karol Kelley, a feminist and professor of history at Texas Tech, also wrote an article, "Pretty Woman: A Modern Cinderella," which shares some feminist views of the story. Both Kolbenschlag and Kelley have viewpoints that would explain why Lee's story is more or less feminist. Both Kolbenschlag's and Kelley's viewpoint on feminism would make Lee's story ,"When the Clock Strikes," seem to be feminist because the main character Ashella is active, aggressive, and powerful throughout the entire story, but since revenge i
For generations, Cinderella has been one of the most popular fairy tales. Hundreds of versions have evolved. Many of these Cinderella stories claim to be feminist, but because of flaws they are not. Feminist tales have many different characteristics that are point out in both Kolbenschlag's and Kelley's articles. Tanith Lee's story would be a feminist because the main characters are aggressive, active, and maintain power throughout the story but because the main reason for these actions is revenge, these stories cannot be feminist. Evil, wickedness, and revenge will make any tale non-feminist. s the main goal in Ashella's actions, they would think this contradicts feminist ideas. Cinderella stories, including the Perrault and Grimm versions, all have powerful men controlling women as an outlying theme. Kolbenschlag points out this fact in her quote, "On another level, the slipper is a symbol of power--with all its accompanying restrictions and demands for conformity. When the Prince offers Cinderella the lost slipper, he makes his kingdom hers" (Kolbenschlag 78). Kelley notices this theme when she says that, "In both movies, (Disney's Cinderella and Pretty Woman) males have much more power and are the rescuers of females. In Cinderella the King has the power of life or death" (Kelley 81). In Lee's story, Ashella and her mother are more powerful than all the men in the story, including the Duke and the Prince who are the most influential men in the area. From just this information this seems to be a
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Approximate Word count = 1026
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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