“Cinderella" by Anne Sexton

Introduction

The paper will give background information, extended, explication, and will examine the theme of "Cinderella" by Anne Sexton. In this regard, the paper will elaborate on the overall theme or message communicated in the performance/event; and how does this performance/event relate to modern society. The discussion will give significant relevance to the manner in which the poet represented culture in the United States in today's contemporary context. In order to facilitate the elaboration and to ensure the relevance of the discussion, the paper will elaborate on my own personal reaction and what the lines of the poem meant to me.

Discussion

"Cinderella" by Anne Sexton is a folk tale personifying a myth-element of unfair oppression reward. Thousands of variants known throughout the world. The familiar plot revolves around a girl deprived of her rightful station in the family and given the cruel nickname Cinderella by her horrible stepmother and step-sisters.

In this poem, Anna sexton has given different viewpoints of life, narrating it in the four stanzas of the poem. Anne Sexton is the author of some of the first truly feminist poetry. Her poem, "Cinderella," in my opinion, expresses Sexton's frustration with the portrayal of women in relationships. This poem also has a reflection of Sexton's personal life within it. She was the product of two alcoholic parents who were neglectful and verbally abusive. This can be interpreted as a mirror of the stepmother's cruelties to Cinderella. Later in life, Anne also claimed that her father sexually abused her, but it cannot be claimed or disclaimed for certain. Perhaps this is reflected in the poem "Cinderella" by the lack of any action from the father figure within the poem. I was somewhat angered at the fact that the poem sought to take far too much advantage of music. It was ...