Cinderella- The story of abuse, but with a happy ending.
By: Evelyn Alva Hidalgo
Tags: Cinderella, Fairy Tale, Abuse

Cinderella- The story of abuse, but with a happy ending.

The story of abuse, but with a happy ending. Cinderella is the story of an abused female figure who actually gets her happy ending by enduring through a lot of pain, solitude and hoping that things will change. However, not many people actually get out of abusive situations with a happy ending. Not many people get out of abuse at all.

This story that has been told and retold in many ways, many times and with many deviations, but ultimately is a story of abuse, perseverance, resistance, and hope.

The many versions of Cinderella usually have an orphan girl who ends up with stepfamily or some relatives who dislike her. There are usually two other girls who torment her and the mother figure who really loathes her. There is one paternal figure, mom, or dad, in the beginning of the story but only for a small amount of time and then Cinderella ends up separated from any true family.

In most of the older stories, she does not even have other relatives or friends, making her completely isolated and thus the better target for abuse without care for consequences. In later stories there is one or two friends, but they have little power in the story. Usually, the friends help to ease the burden of life, but not of abuse. Either they are the same age and do not really know abuse or they are older but do not know the steps to take when that kind of abuse is going. The story, however told, ends up being of abuse. Different types of abuse, it might not be the one when you hit someone, but you are not treating them with respect and kindness, and usually the main character is always been treated inhumanely, or as inferior. Cinderella goes from being a loved child, to being a young person abused physically (extreme work), psychologically (treated as inferior), and emotionally (feeling isolated and unloved).

There are different types of abuse:

Physical -The most common I guess, Hitting, or punching.

Sexual- Using sex (or withholding it) to control others.

Emotional- using words and manipulating emotions in negative way.

Mental- controlling the mental well-being and health of another

Financial- maintaining control over finances of another person, making them dependent.

Cultural or identity- when the abuser uses the identity or culture of the victim to inflict pain or keep them under control.

If you know any Cinderella story you know there is always financial abuse. Cinderella works for others and she never sees a penny or even gratitude for it. Because she is usually very young in the story there is really not much can do about it. Also, this has been going on for some time and she is most likely accepted it as her life or does not even realized she is being abused. Later adaptations of the story also show emotional or mental abuse, some even go as far as identity abuse, because the evil figure hides or controls the true identity of Cinderella.

Something to be noted, though, is that the time when Cinderella was originated, women would most likely be the property of the male figure of the house. That being the case, it is a little understandable that in the older versions of Cinderella she is basically the maid without paid because there will not be a place where she could go alone and have a nice life as a young single woman without family. She was an orphan, female, without name, or money or relatives to help her, or any other skills to succeed on her own. If she would have left, her best bet was to be a maid in someone else’s house, but she already was one, what were the chances of any improvement? Better the devil you know than the devil you do not, right?

In most stories, Cinderella is usually only looking to survive day by day, she does not know any better than completing her chores in time and not being yell at.

However, there always comes a break in status quo and that is when Cinderella breaks the rules and goes to the ball or does something she really wants. Different stories tell of different objectives, a ball or a dance are usually included but the reason for going is different. Another one is about baking, after all, the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.

In the Disney story, the ball is the reason. In others the ball is a means to an end. She goes because it is her opportunity to show someone something (a song, a dance) or to prevent something from happening (stepmother getting a new husband, or evil character getting the prince charming). The point is, she breaks from the status quo and finally realizes how bad she has it.

Most of the time she has the help of her fairy godmother, but other versions have substituted the fairy part for that one true BFF.

Then we have prince charming, who is usually useless as many fairy tales would tell you. At least in the Disney’s Cinderella animated story he does nothing, not even look for her, the whole idea was the king’s and the one to execute it was the duke. I want to give him a chance and think that maybe the story followed one of the older versions when he gets so sick of heartache that he cannot even get out of bed but doubt it.

Thankfully, later versions improve the idea of prince charming and that character is more involved in the story, going as far as actually helping Cinderella out of her mini hell.

One of the things to get out of any Cinderella story is to look out for the signs of abuse and break it. Not everyone is a story with a happy ending, and Cinderella had to endure a lot of pain and abuse before getting her happily ever-after.

People do not have to endure and hope for the best. Not everyone has a fairy godmother or BFF who helps us in bad situations till our prince charming comes to the rescue. Everyone should be more aware of what abuse entails. Some people do not even know they are being abused; they just think that’s life.

Sometimes they will have someone to help them out, but sometimes the break does not come, and we know about it too late.

Look for Cinderellas and help them out. You do not need to be a fairy god mother taking her to a ball, actually it could even be a guy and not a girl who needs help. Just be there, listen, and given them a hand. Cinderella’s might seem fragile, but they have endured so much alone, with a little help they can do way more.