Nigah Raja 

Professor Pastore and Professor Voisard 

FIQWS Fairy Tales HA5

17 November 2022

American Dream in Cinderella

         If the shoe fits, you are in luck. Like how Cinderella’s whole life was turned around due to a glass slipper, yours probably could too if you follow Cinderella’s footsteps. Cinderella is a famous fairy tale that has been retold countless times throughout history. One of its well-known versions was written by Charles Perrault and is called “Cinderella”. It was originally written in French in 1697 and then later translated into other languages. To summarize, “Cinderella” is about a girl with a stepmother and two stepsisters. After her father remarries, she’s treated very poorly and like a maid. There is a ball that she’s not allowed to go to but with the help of her fairy godmother, she is able to. At the ball, she catches the prince’s eye but is forced to leave before midnight. In a hurry, she leaves a glass slipper behind. Later on, every woman tries the shoe on but it only fits Cinderella. She marries the prince and forgives her cruel stepsisters. This story is a layout of the American dream, minus the magical elements of a pumpkin turning into a carriage and mice turning into coachmen. The Oxford Languages Dictionary defines the American dream as “the ideal by which equality of opportunity is available to any American, allowing the highest aspirations and goals to be achieved.” Similarly “Cinderella” shows hope of a better life through patience and possibility. It sets an example for many on how to achieve a lavish and luxurious lifestyle from a dull, meager one. The social classes in Charles Perrault’s “Cinderella” represent the American dream through differences in work ethics, social mobility, and relationships.

         Perrault portrays the American Dream in “Cinderella” by displaying the differences in work ethics between social classes. Cinderella has a strong work ethic and she does all of her chores without complaint. She is described as patient and polite. Even though Cinderella would be classified into the middle class along with her stepsisters, she is definitely seen as below them in social ranking. When comparing Cinderella’s work ethic with her stepsisters, she values it more and believes her housework to be morally beneficial. “The worst of the household chores were given to her stepdaughter: it was she who washed the dishes and scrubbed the stairs, she who cleaned out the mistress’s bedroom, and the bedrooms of the young ladies her daughters” (Perrault 130). Even when Cinderella was teased and picked on by her stepsisters, she remained calm and completed her work without seeking a reward. In “Going up in the World: Class in ‘Cinderella.’” Elisabeth Panttaja states “By making Cinderella, who internalizes aristocratic values, so much more preferable to the sisters, who exhibit offensive lower class traits, the tale perpetuates traditional ideas about character and status” (Panttaja 96). She explains how the stepsisters lack a good work ethic, and thus they are seen as part of a lower class status. This plays into the idea of how the lower class is usually viewed as having a poor work ethic and being unorganized which contributes to the struggles of escaping poverty. Meanwhile, people from the upper class are expected to display strong work ethics and professionalism to prove why they’re on top. Additionally, Susan Ohmer in “‘That Rags to Riches Stuff’: Disney’s Cinderella and the Cultural Space of Animation” describes that “Perrault’s fairy tales had an explicit didactic purpose: in his words, they ‘incorporated a useful moral… the light story in which they were enveloped was chosen only to make them enter more agreeably into the imagination, and in a manner which both instructs and entertains’” (Ohmer 234). Perrault constructed this tale in a way that demonstrates how the rich mistreat and overlook the poor. They don’t have the same values because they haven’t struggled with the same experiences. In this case, Cinderella would classify as the poor who is often overworked and underappreciated. She possesses many qualities that are ideal for a path to success. This relates to a major part of the American dream where most people search for financial stability and that only comes through strong work ethics. 

         The American dream in “Cinderella” is demonstrated through social mobility. Even though Cinderella has a low ranking in society, she is able to climb up the social ladder by marrying a prince. “She was taken to the young Prince, dressed as she was in all her fine clothes: he thought that she was more beautiful than ever, and a few days later he married her” (Perrault 139). Although finding a prince charming in real life might be unrealistic, there is a message to unfold in this scene. Cinderella gaining royal status at the end isn’t just a coincidence, but it is something that all of her hard work has led up to. The moral of this story reveals that it is never too hard to move up in class, especially if someone like Cinderella can do it. Panttaja believes that “The real protagonist is not Cinderella at all but the petit-bourgeois reader who, with the help of the story, is able to do in imagination what she is much less likely to do in fact” (Panttaja 100). This story doesn’t represent people who suffer from poverty, instead, it represents someone from the middle class with a tough life. Nevertheless, it symbolizes hope for those who strive to one day acquire a better life. Cinderella goes from being a working maid, abused and uncared for, to someone with power. She becomes a princess and her journey of social mobility acts as motivation for those who might have been brought up to believe that there’s no chance of them moving up. 

         One can argue that a stable family is a necessity to increase your social ranking. Because Cinderella comes from an unloving and unstable family, it could cause issues in social mobility, especially since her stepsisters are against her attending the ball. However, there have been many cases in which people have made it to the top and succeeded, regardless of their family issues. In “Social Mobility in an Era of Family Instability and Complexity” Laura Tach concludes that “Experiences of family instability and complexity during childhood are potential mechanisms in the process of intergenerational mobility—in other words, potential explanations for correlations between origin and destination class positions” (Tach 93). Over time, there has been a change in family dynamics and the upbringing of a child. Still, when people are given the right opportunities, they are likely to succeed. That is what the American dream contains, the ability to socialize and use resources to move up in society. 

         The social classes in “Cinderella” depict the American dream by establishing functional relationships. Even when Cinderella gets her happily ever after, she isn’t satisfied until she’s taken care of her stepsisters. “Cinderella, who was as good-natured as she was beautiful, arranged for her two sisters to live in the palace, and married them on the same day to two great lords at the Court” (Perrault 139). Part of the American dream is to have meaningful relationships, even if your family is dysfunctional because household relationships are the building blocks for a strong society. Cinderella learns to forgive her stepsisters who have treated her terribly because she’s good-hearted and she teaches others to build sympathy. In “‘Cinderella” from The Uses of Enchantment” Bruno Bettelheim remarks “In Perrault’s version it does not make all that much difference whether one is vile or virtuous. In his story the stepsisters are considerably more abusive of Cinderella than in that of the Brothers Grimm; nevertheless, at the end, Cinderella embraces those who have vilified her and tells them that she loves them with all her heart and desires them always to love her” (Bettelheim 252). Cinderella’s characteristics are desirable because she has compassion and never forgets the relationships that molded her into who she is. The stepsisters played a significant role in her life and future outcome and she’s mindful of that. Furthermore, in “Who’s Really Under That Wicked-Stepmother Cape?” Arielle Silver states “One of the common challenges is that the children, already fragile from the breach they’ve experienced in the severance of their first family, can feel displaced by the arrival of a stepmother” (Arielle). This explains why Cinderella’s relationship with her stepmother is so poor. Even though we don’t see much of it, we know that the stepmother is usually portrayed as wicked. However, there are psychological reasons why a child might resent a stepparent and that could set their relationship off to a rough start. But coping with difficult relationships is part of the challenge when trying to attain the American dream. 

         In conclusion, the American dream is about having a good work ethic, significant relationships, and a chance to advance in society. Cinderella portrays all these characteristics and is a model of how one can accomplish the American goal. Charles Perrault incorporates a theme of social class into this fairy tale to illustrate how power and wealth can be common factors of motivation needed to succeed. The glass slipper perfectly fitting Cinderella’s foot is the equivalent of someone winning a major lottery in America. It is the ultimate dream that most people have but the chances of it happening are very low. 

Works Cited 

Bettelheim, Bruno. The Uses of Enchantment. New York: Alfied A. Knopf, 1989

Ohmer, Susan. “‘That Rags to Riches Stuff’: Disney’s Cinderella and the Cultural Space of Animation.” Film History, vol. 5, no. 2, 1993, pp. 231–49. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/27670722. Accessed 21 Oct. 2022.

Oxford Languages Dictionary. https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en/ 

Panttaja, Elisabeth. “Going up in the World: Class in ‘Cinderella.’” Western Folklore, vol. 52, no. 1, 1993, pp. 85–104. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1499495. Accessed 19 Oct. 2022.

Perrault, Charles, and Christopher Betts. “The Complete Fairy Tales.” The Complete Fairy Tales, Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 2010.

Silver, Arielle. “Who’s Really Under That Wicked-Stepmother Cape?” Lilith, vol. 41, no. 2, Summer, 2016, pp. 27-29. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/magazines/whos-really-under-that-wicked-stepmother-cape/docview/1807492827/se-2. Accessed 21 Oct. 2022.

 Tach, Laura. “Social Mobility in an Era of Family Instability and Complexity.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 657, no. 1, 2015, pp. 83–96. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24541793. Accessed 24 Oct. 2022.