| Subject Areas |
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Art and Culture
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Folklore |
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Literature and Language Arts
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Fiction |
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World |
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| Time Required |
| | Two class periods, plus additional time as needed to prepare and view performances of tales |
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| Skills |
| | Creative writing
Literary analysis
Collaboration
Performance skills |
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| Additional Data |
| | Date Created: 08/20/02 |
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| Date Posted |
| | 8/20/2002 |
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Cinderella Folk Tales: Variations in Character
IntroductionPerhaps it's because each of us
feels like the poor, downtrodden sibling at times. But whatever the reason, something
about the Cinderella story resonates with its audience. Five hundred versions
of the tale have been found in Europe alone; related tales are told in cultures
all over the globe. In America as well, the classic tale, re-envisioned in print
and other media, continues to be popular. What changes does the Cinderella story
undergo when it's translated from one culture to another? What remains the same?
Why do we love the character of Cinderella so much more than her own stepmother
does? NOTE: This lesson may be taught
either as a stand-alone lesson or as a sequel to the complementary EDSITEment
lesson Cinderella
Folk Tales: Variations in Plot and Setting, which concentrates on variability
of plot and setting among Cinderella tales. Guiding Question:How
does a folk tale change when translated to another culture? Learning
Objectives After completing the lessons in this
plan, students will be able to: - Discuss differences in the
characteristics of the heroine (e.g., meek, assertive) in a variety of Cinderella
tales
- Explain and compare common characteristics of character, plot,
and conflict resolution among variations of the Cinderella story
- Name
countries in which Cinderella variations are found
- Define the essential
qualities of a Cinderella tale and cite specific examples for support from at
least two variations
Preparing to Teach this
Lesson- Review the lesson plan. Locate and
bookmark suggested materials and other useful websites. Download and print out
documents you will use and duplicate copies as necessary for student viewing.
- Download the blackline
masters "Chart for Characters in Cinderella", and "Characters in Cinderella Stories from Around the World" for this lesson, available here as a PDF file. Print out and make
an appropriate number of copies of any handouts you plan to use in class.
- Prepare
as a handout—or for computer viewing—the illustrations Cinderella
Fitting the Slipper and Putting
the Slipper to Her Foot so as to obscure any mention of Cinderella. Both images
are available on Cinderella
Bibliography, a link from the EDSITEment
resource The History
of Education and Childhood.
- The Cinderella story can be found in
many countries and in many cultures. Students will see dramatic evidence of that
in this lesson; however, rather than concentrating on cultural differences between
the stories, this lesson concentrates on identifying commonalities and differences
in character. Help students understand the universal appeal of the Cinderella
story.
- The reading level of each of the stories suggested throughout
this lesson is about the same, with a standard fairy tale vocabulary and perhaps--depending
on the country of origin--a few unique words relating to that country (such as
"lassie" replacing "girl" and other Scottish touches in Rashin-Coatie,
which contains the most idioms related to its country of origin). Check to see
if the reading level is appropriate for your class.
- Some classes would
benefit from hearing in advance the stories to be assigned in Activity
2 . Consider reading them aloud during your usual story time in the days before
you begin this lesson. The central activity is analysis, so it's fine for students
to hear the story ahead of time.
- The following
background information on Cinderella tales comes from an essay by Mary Northruop
entitled Multicultural
Cinderella Stories, available on the website of the American
Library Association, a link from the EDSITEment resource Internet
Public Library.
The story of Cinderella, perhaps the best-known
fairy tale, is told or read to children of very young ages. But Cinderella is
not just one story; more than 500 versions have been found-just in Europe! The
tale's origins appear to date back to a Chinese story from the ninth century,
"Yeh-Shen." Almost every culture seems to have its own version, and every storyteller
his or her tale. Charles Perrault is believed to be the author, in the 1690s,
of our "modern" 300-year-old Cinderella, the French Cendrillon.
Famous
children's writers and illustrators have interpreted Cinderella, including Arthur
Rackham, Marcia Brown (her version won the Caldecott Medal in 1955), Nonny Hogrogian,
Paul Galdone, and Amy Ehrlich. Most renderings of the story include an evil stepmother
and stepsister(s), a dead mother, a dead or ineffective father, some sort of gathering
such as a ball or festival, mutual attraction with a person of high status, a
lost article, and a search that ends with success.
Male Cinderellas do
appear, and not just in parodies, such as Helen Ketteman's "Bubba the Cowboy Prince"
and Sandi Takayama's "Sumorella" ... "Billy Beg" of Ireland is just one of many
of these versions of the story.
Cinderella, despite her popularity, has
developed a reputation as a simpering, whimpering girl who is helpless until the
right magic comes along. But this is the Cinderella of the later twentieth century.
The earlier Cinderella, in many of her original forms, was not a wishing-only
kind of person. She was self-reliant, devoted to family and ancestors, and willing
to make her own future. - Experts categorize fairy tales according
to a system named after two scholars, Aarne and Thompson. Cinderella's variations
are so abundant that the tale received its own category—folktale type 510,
related stories of persecuted heroines. Here are notes on some of the specific
variations from the Cinderella
Bibliography, a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed website The
History of Education and Childhood.
Types most frequently in Cinderella
stories are 510: Cinderella and Cap o' Rushes, which includes such functions
as the persecuted heroine, magic help, meeting the prince, overstaying at the
ball, proof of identity such as the slipper test, a ring, or unique abilities
such as that of plucking the gold apple, marriage to the prince, and the value
of salt. 510A: Cinderella, the stepsisters, the missing mother who helps
by means of animals. 510B: The Dress of Gold, of Silver, and of the Stars, where
the father would marry his daughter; three fold visit to the church, identifying
footwear. - Reader's Theater, used to dramatize texts of many
kinds, is a staged reading with a minimum of the trappings of theater. Scripts
are used during the performance; familiarity with the script rather than memorization
is all that is required. Costumes are not used. Movement is minimal or non-existent.
Roles are assigned, including one or more narrators. Narration, especially useful
with texts not written for the theater, bridges gaps in the dialogue.
Because students generally enjoy such low-pressure performance, Reader's Theater
stimulates interest in the text under consideration. Here, performance is suggested
to enhance understanding and to emphasize the changes in character from the familiar
Cinderella. - No Cinderella stories, except the Perrault version, are repeated
in both of the companion EDSITEment lessons Cinderella
Folk Tales: Variations in Character and Cinderella
Folk Tales: Variations in Plot and Setting. Any of the stories could be used
in either lesson; feel free to interchange them as desired.
Suggested
Activities
1. Cinderella's
Character Traits 2. Cinderella
Variations 3. Cinderella Reader's
Theater 1. Cinderella's
Character Traits If you did not use the
companion EDSITEment lesson Cinderella
Folk Tales: Variations in Plot and Setting as a prequel, begin by showing
the class Cinderella
Fitting the Slipper, a Cinderella illustration from Cinderella
Bibliography, a link from the EDSITEment resource The
History of Education and Childhood. Ask students if they can identify the
story from the picture. Most will know immediately. How is it that virtually everyone
can identify that this illustration is from Cinderella? Ask students, "What about
this illustration makes the story identifiable?" What's happening at this point
in the plot of the story? (Define the term "plot" for students, if necessary.)
Again, everyone probably knows. If you previously
used the companion EDSITEment lesson Cinderella
Folk Tales: Variations in Plot and Setting, refresh students' memory of Cinderella
Fitting the Slipper, a Cinderella illustration from Cinderella
Bibliography, a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed website The
History of Education and Childhood and then continue the lesson from here.
Show the class Putting
the Slipper to Her Foot, another illustration from a different version of
the story, also available on Cinderella
Bibliography. Do students recognize the story from this picture once again?
Challenge students to look closely and compare
both pictures. There are distinctions in character traits between them. For example,
in Putting
the Slipper to Her Foot, the Prince looks more subservient to Cinderella.
What might have happened differently in this version of the story? Let students
hypothesize. There are many versions of Cinderella from all over the world (some
of which students will read as part of this lesson) and differences in the nature
of the characters within those various tales. And, because the characters are
somewhat different, the stories tend to be a little (or a lot) different. What
characters and respective character traits from the Cinderella tale with which
they are familiar can students list? Brainstorm as a class and write down what
students say. Do they recall where the character elements they've listed come
from? Ask students, "What did you read or see that makes you connect this character
trait with this character?" (For them, perhaps the Disney animated feature or
read-alouds from earlier grades.) Read aloud
to the class the text-only Perrault
version of the Cinderella tale on Folklore
and Mythology, a link from the EDSITEment resource Learner.org,
or, even better, any of the many illustrated print versions, one of which you
probably have in your school library. While you are there, check in your library
for other variants used in this lesson. The Perrault version is the source of
the most familiar Cinderella tale. Which character
elements that the students mentioned previously were in this version? As shown
by what in the story? Which were not? Using
input from the class, fill in the "Chart
for Characters in Cinderella," on page 1 of the PDF file (see Preparing
to Teach This Lesson, above, for download instructions), to model what students
will eventually be doing on their own. If
you are going to adapt it, prepare the chart "Characters
in Cinderella Stories from Around the World," (see Preparing
to Teach This Lesson, above, for download instructions), for use in the next
activity based on student input collected during this activity. 2.
Cinderella Variations For this activity,
students will read stories that experts have categorized as Cinderella variants.
The goal is to help students see that there will be variability in the character
traits of the main characters, though many of the same plot elements will be present
in the narrative. For example, in the Italian
Cinderella, available via a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed website Learner.org,
the heroine is very demanding and sure of herself, yet we still recognize her
as a Cinderella. Begin by modeling this process
with the class, using the Italian
Cinderella (Italy, 5 1/2 pages). Before you share the story, remind students
of the characters and character traits in the familiar Cinderella, as you listed
in Activity 1. Ask students, "In what way do you predict
that the character traits of Cinderella, for example, could change?" Read
aloud the Italian Cinderella.
Using the chart "Characters
in Cinderella Stories from Around the World," available in PDF format (see
Preparing to Teach This Lesson, above, for download instructions)
or your own adaptation, help students identify character variations in the Italian
version. Ask students, "What essential elements of the plot are accomplished—though
differently—due to differences in character?" (for example, the Italian Cinderella
does have a magical helper—like a fairy godmother—in the form of the
bird, Verdelio, but she secures the bird herself.) Now,
small groups should be ready to analyze a Cinderella tale on their own. As you
prepare to assign the stories, let students know that in some of these stories,
the characters will be closer to the original than in others. Point out to students
the different countries of origin for these variants, though that is not the focus
of the assignment. Interested students are encouraged to do research on a country
as desired (see the fourth bullet point under Extending the
Lesson, below). Stories for Group Assignment:
Each
group should present to the class a plot summary and a brief explanation of the
character changes and commonalities. Create a class list of the variety of character
traits in the various heroines. 3.
Cinderella Reader's Theater Because the
class has focused on character traits in this lesson, dramatizing the stories
will help students experience the differences as fellow students bring the traits
to life. Student groups should work up staged readings of their assigned tale
using the Reader's Theater technique or through a dramatic reenactment. Extending
the Lesson- Students can search for other
Cinderella tales through links from the EDSITEment resource Internet
Public Library. Sur La Lune Fairy Tales' Cinderella Page provides a history of the story, as well as illustrations from various interpretations, and an annotated
bibliography of current Cinderella picture books is available from the American
Library Association.
- Students can explore other fairy tales and their
variants, starting with projects about Little
Red Riding Hood and Jack
and the Beanstalk, also on Sur La Lune.
- Citing concerns about alcohol use, an illustrated
edition of "Little Red Riding Hood" was banned in two California school districts
in 1989 because it depicted our heroine taking food and wine to her grandmother.
Such banning occurs with surprising frequency. Debates over the appropriateness
of fairy tales—for a variety of reasons—are nothing new. The EDSITEment
resource The History
of Education and Childhood features Dr. Karl Oppel's 1903 essay, Should
children be told fairy tales?, which might interest (and even infuriate) some
students. Here are a few excerpts:
…are they recommendable for youth?
I know, that I with my opinion will contradict thousands of fathers and educators,
but yet I for myself answer this question with a very decided No. Many
fairy tales fill the imagination with horrible images, with terrifying figures
and by this they lay the foundation of scare and fear… Is it a wonder, if the
child does not want to stay alone in the dark? …I am of the opinion, that one
should never tell children any extranatural (or, as many would have it)
supernatural thing, no miracle stories, no fairy tales, nothing of fairies and
ghosts; most of all one should not think, that a child, when told it is just a
fairy tale, would not believe it for that reason. Far from it. Little children
believe everything, because they do not think yet, and it does not matter much,
whether one says with it: "It's true," or "It's not true". Discuss
Dr. Oppel's opinions in class. Do students agree or disagree? Why? - Students
can complete research on any of the countries represented by Cinderella variations
in this lesson. Our World,
available on the EDSITEment-reviewed website Internet
Public Library, is a good place to start online research on countries. Can
students make connections between the information they find about a country's
culture and that country's particular version of the Cinderella story?
- Students can locate online versions of Cinderella
stories in their original language, including the Norwegian original of Katie
Woodencloak—Kari
Trestakk—available via a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed website Learner.org,
and the German original of Aschenputtel,
available through the EDSITEment resource Internet
Public Library.
Selected EDSITEment
Websites
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