I taught a writing workshop for YDC, the Youth Dreams Center. As a part of RiseMalawi, the program teaches entrepreneurial skills to young adults who are hoping to enter college or are aspiring to start a small-scale business such as selling crops.
We discussed story structure to help them write out their own personal stories. I used Cinderella as a model since the structure is easy to follow. She’s also one of my favorite princesses. A simple story, but with so much depth. I wanted to share some of my thoughts about Cinderella and work through a topic that has deep relevancy in the area we are staying. We’ve been made aware of how common abuse is in the smaller villages filled with poverty and I’ve been working on humanizing the issue in my mind.
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Cinderella has always been a model of kindness and courage for me.
She lived in a house with no love. She was abused by her step-mother and step-sisters, treated lower than a servant. She had to sleep by the remains of the fire for heat, the cinders smudging her face.
She’s been described as passive, that she let her step-mother treat her like she’s worth less than the cinders of a burnt-out fire. There is no grace to understand why she doesn’t leave the harsh situation.
As if it’s that simple to walk away, to start a new life that doesn’t hold the scars of past abuse. And if she did walk out of it, where could she walk toward. It’s true, kindness could be found amongst her neighbors, I’m sure. But how could she ask for that much help.
The person left in her life after her father passed away, the one who should have loved her the most, her step-mother, abused her love. If she couldn’t be loved by her, how could Cinderella believe that anyone else could. How could she reach out her hand for help without the fear that someone would burn that hand.
It’s asking too much from a girl who has too little.
I love Cinderella because she could have turned cold and hard. She could have fallen into the cycle of hatred set by her step-mother.
Instead she responds with kindness. She completes her daily tasks as she sings along to the blue birds. When someone is in an abusive relationship, the blame seems to fall on the victim. It’s easy to look at them and say they know better and how foolish it is for them to love someone who doesn’t deserve it. Get out of that relationship, don’t be stupid. But it is never stupid to love, it’s stupid that the other person cannot love back. It’s never wrong to be kind, it’s wrong that there are others who abuse that kindness.
She’s been described as a woman waiting to be rescued. She wasn’t waiting, she was enduring.
Her fairy godmother wouldn’t have aided her if it weren’t for Cinderella’s character. If her kindness didn’t shine through the cinders, the magic wouldn’t have worked. And she was only given magic that would last until midnight. Instead of a response that was in want of more, Cinderella was grateful for the time she was given.
The prince wouldn’t have fallen in love with her if it weren’t for Cinderella’s character. There were enough beautiful women at the ball, with clearer reputations. But he saw a beauty in her beyond the gown, he saw someone worth pursuing through the whole kingdom. When he saw where she came from, an orphan girl treated like a servant, it wasn’t enough to change his heart.
It’s easy to say that her marriage to the prince was the happily ever after. But it’s more than the marriage. The greater miracle beyond the glass slipper, is that Cinderella was able to accept love. She could have distrusted him. She could have let shame overwhelm her from the thought of being a princess. How hard is it for someone in her situation to believe she was capable of being loved. But she had the courage to believe that she was worth it.
