In Ena Lucia Portela’s story, there is a simultaneous representation of and divergence from the norms of fairy tale story telling. The deviation from the norms ultimately works to tell a story of female empowerment.  The big division from norms of fairy tales that we see in this telling of Cinderella, is the absence of the fairy godmother character. In this version of the story, Cleis is the one who provides the means for herself to attend the party, by buying her own dress (page 3). The absence of a magical character that solves all the problems of the heroine is a clear choice in displaying the capability of Cleis, and places more responsibility on her choices and actions. Further representing this independence and power in Cleis free will comes her ending. She accomplishes her initial dream of being an actress, and play the role of the villainess (page 2). This too diverges from genre norms, in the desire of the main character to be bad instead of good.
Both of these help to create a new kind of heroine, if we can even call her that. This new kind of character abides by her own free will, apart from the stepmothers control – but even then is still acting in accordance with her own agency, but now walks the line between hero and villain. This transition creates an idea that in order to be an independent woman, you must be a little bit of a villain. All villains work for their own motive and end goal, in order to be a strong willed woman, you too must be just a little bit of a villain inside.