Maybe there were no glass slippers or a robust matronly “fairy godmother” singing about bibbity-bobbity-boo in a pumpkin carriage, but as I progressed farther through Ruiz de Burton’s Who Would Have Thought It? , I started drawing more and more parallels between this lovely pink novel and the beloved tale of Cinderella.

Mrs. Norval is, for myself personally, Cinderella’s stepmother, who as seen throughout the novel, becomes progressively vile after her husband mysteriously disappears, leaving their “adopted” daughter Lola to a constantly chaperoned life, void of all the treasures she and her “father” acquired. Norval orders Lola around, sends her to a convent, and disapproves of Lola’s relationship with the prince (Julian), who seems to be, in Mrs. Norval’s eyes, of a better social standing and breeding than Lola.

Ruth and Maddie, Mrs. Norval’s biological daughters are the stepsisters. Just as in our favourite Disney movie, they are spoiled, fashionable, and will do anything for their mother or for a step up the social ladder. I wouldn’t go so far as saying Ruth and Maddie are “evil stepsisters”, but more that they were raised in an environment where social standing and making impressions upon the high-class society of New England were important. Even in the beginning of the novel we can see them moaning and groaning about how they have to wear the same dress all the time and only have one item of jewellery, ect, ect. There are actions and words of these Sisters I disagree with (for example when one of the sisters stated that she hated poor people), but generally speaking, I think these girls were more ignorant and, well stupid, than actually vicious. I have the feeling they never had the intention to hurt or offend, just to impress others and tell them what they wanted to hear. I feel these “stepsisters” Ruth and Maddie were more victims of their society than victimizers.

There was no person I could peg as the “fairy godmother” in Who Would Have Thought It? , but the concept of race could have been a replacement for this role. When thinking of Cinderella, I think of a transformation from a dirty, hardworking housemaid to a humble, envied, and beautiful maiden, who becomes the belle of the ball. The fairy godmother in the well known version of Cinderella basically wipes the ashes off poor Cindy’s face and gives her a new dress and thus, an opportunity to go to the ball and be respected. The fairy godmother in Ruiz de Burton’s novel is again the changing of race, wiping the coal (in this case dye) off Lola’s face, and transforming her into a white girl who is now able to “go to the ball” or into a New Englander’s society and be treated with more respect—thus giving Lola/Cinderella the opportunities usually only her sisters received. I find it peculiar that in both versions, the ingénue stays pure and modest, and that in both versions, the Prince/Julian love Cinderella/Lola regardless of what they were “transformed into.”

The underlying theme of Cinderella is oppression without a valid or logical reason, as is, I concur, the theme of this novel.