Tag Archives: Ena Lucia Portela

11/4/21

No More Fairy Godmother

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.

11/2/21

Regan: A Night Predator (“Cinderella’s Secret Dream” )

Is it obvious that “Cinderella’s Secret Dream” is a story about four women, each in pain, and each trying to cope with this pain. However, the way in which each woman is referred to reflects the perceptions of the narrator herself. Regan, the narrator, often demonstrates her opinions and thoughts with her keen observations. But since she is narrating the story, one cannot trust the accuracy of her words. For example, she portrays Cleis in a beautiful light, often praising her beauty and attributing her behaviours as virtues. Meanwhile, she compares her own family members with the worst vices and attributes. Her hatred for her family could be a projection of the hatred she feels for herself. Throughout the story, she barely refers to herself, and when she does, she often does it in a dark light. I believe she uses her family as a means to outwardly express her own self-hatred instead of directly hating herself. Her low self-esteem is softly noted by the audience when it is revealed that it was her that used the worst description to portray herself. Interestingly, Regan compares herself to an owl multiple times, however, it is important to note that owls are predators. Similarly, Regan is a predator; she uses negative mental thoughts to “harm” her family and herself. In addition, Regan is similar to an owl because owls use the dark to prey. Likewise, the reason for Regan’s hatred is because she keeps her thoughts in the dark by not letting anyone know them. Thus, not letting anyone return feedback on the correctness of her thoughts. She is only able to prey on herself and her family because it is located in the dark (a place where no one knows; her mind).