Meaninglessness of Womens Life in Sextons Cinderella - Essay Example

12 June Meaninglessness of Women’s Life in Sexton’s “Cinderella” Some girls grow up wanting to be Cinderella, a beautifulmaiden whose fate is changed because of their marriage to a handsome, wealthy prince, but this is nothing but ash to Anne Sexton. Sexton’s “Cinderella” is a poem of burnt dreams. She might have once believed that she is Cinderella too, but she is disappointed with real life, so she burns these fairy tales that promised her everlasting bliss. The poem argues that a woman’s life is as meaningless as fairy tales because both produce and perpetuate gender stereotypes that create artificial notions of happiness and success. Cinderella does not exist, and yet many women are socially conditioned to think and to act like her- submissive, gentle, and man-centered. The poem’s main purpose is to re-educate women about their social reality, so that they can challenge and change it. It accomplishes this purpose through the use of form, imagery, characters, satire, and irony that describe and attack the pursuit of traditional definitions of womanhood, success, and happiness. Before “Cinderella” is analyzed, it will be helpful to know the life of its writer because her life experiences shape her identity, and in the case of her poems, her identity significantly shapes their tone, themes, and voice. Anne Sexton has lived a tumultuous life because of her mental illness, its causes people can only surmise. She was born on November 9, 1928, the youngest of the three daughters of Ralph Harvey and Mary Gray Staples Harvey, both from prosperous backgrounds. Anne was “never close” to her older sisters, while her parents did not pay her enough attention and love. Anne’s spinster great aunt, Anna Dingley, became a central source of affection for her (“Anne Sexton” 3395). When Anne became a teenager, she “bloomed,” but her mother thought she was too “boy-crazy” and sent her to Rogers Hall, a boarding school in Massachusetts (“Anne Sexton” 3395). Instead of getting married with her fiance, she eloped with Alfred Muller Sexton II. They had two daughters, Linda and Joyce. Housewife and mother roles and responsibilities may have reinforced underlying psychological problems for Anne. She suffered from terror and exhibited rage. She attempted suicide several times. After reading her works, her psychiatrist, Martin Orne, encouraged her to write poetry. Sexton made friends with several successful poets, Maxine Kumin, who became one of her closest friends, and Sylvia Plath (“Anne Sexton” 3395). Sexton published in respectable magazines, such as Harper’s and The New Yorker, where she became known for her “confessional poems,” or poems that deal with “unpoetic themes” of domestic struggle, mental illness, and personal failure (“Anne Sexton” 3395). The first book that Sexton published was To Bedlam and Part Way Back. Transformations is a book of poems that retells several popular fairy tales. Her books became famous for her openness about her mental illness and her witty way of writing on the themes of “mental illness, sexual love, and personal anguish” (“Anne Sexton” 3396). Aside from writing, Anne taught at Boston University and Colgate University. Despite her writing success, Anne continued to suffer from mental illness. On October 4, 1974, Anne committed suicide. Returning to “Cinderella,” Sexton shows the meaningless of women’s life through free-verse form and imagery. Without rhymes, Sexton uses a conversational tone, as if readers are sitting right beside her, listening to her stories. The form is important because it establishes intimacy with readers; it sends the message: “I know you, you know me, and this is our story.” Instead of using pastoral images, Sexton focuses on modern-day images through conventional stories. The first line underscores the role of media in telling these stories that are real and unreal at the same time: “You always read about it/ the plumber with the twelve children/who wins the Irish Sweepstakes/From toilets to riches./That story” (Sexton 1-5). The first story in her poem is incredible because what are the odds of being a plumber and a millionaire? But Sexton reminds readers that it is “always” in the papers, and being on the news provides a wrong sense of reality, as if winning the lottery is the norm. Moreover, the image of “toilets to riches” indicates the sharp connection between wealth and poverty of the soul. People might be rich, like Sexton was in real life, but it does not mean they are also happy. For Sexton’s second story, the nursemaid is described as “some luscious sweet” (Sexton 7). She is turned into something that people consume because society is fond of commodifying women too. The phrase “from diapers to Dior” (Sexton 9) is not only humorous but indicates women’s typical roles and responsibilities. When poor, they take care of their families. When rich, they buy material things to make themselves more attractive, while leaving childcare to their nannies. Essentially, being married is the utmost goal of women of any social class. These two stories alone stress that women are living worthless lives, if all they can think of is getting married and being pretty and rich. Aside from tone and imagery, Sexton uses characters to describe and to criticize gender stereotypes. The most significant character is Cinderella. As a protagonist, however, she lacks autonomy in her life. She inherits her submissiveness from her mother, who is also a product of social norms. Her mother tells her: “Be devout. Be good. Then I will smile/down from heaven in the seam of a cloud” (Sexton 25-26). Her instructions focus on being compliant to society through adjectives of “devout” and “good.” Followed by her complete submission, she will be blessed with her mother’s happiness and approval. Furthermore, her family treats her badly, but she does not complain. Even her father forgets about her when he gives her a “twig of a tree” (Sexton 35). Instead of being angry, Cinderella accepts it wholeheartedly and plants it on her mother’s grave. The message is that women must never complain what life gives them and suck it up until death. One more gender stereotype of women is that they desire wealth and marriage most of all, particularly wealth through marriage. The “marriage market” (Sexton 42) shows that women’s stereotyped lifelong dream is to get married. Cinderella’s stepsisters cut pieces of their feet to get married. To marry a rich man is the measure of women’s success: “All but Cinderella were preparing/and gussying up for the event” (Sexton 44-45). Every woman wants to get married to a rich man. Even Cinderella, who once is docile, opposes her stepmother’s wishes because of her dream of marriage. Her real mother, the dove, helps her too. When it comes to getting married, no woman can be stopped. These gender stereotypes turn women’s life into worthless endeavors. Satire and irony are rich in the poem too. The whole poem is a satire on fairy tales because Sexton turns it into an ordinary story that is meaningless. She starts the poem with incredible stories of people being rich. Their luck is improbable, but their wealth is the benchmark of many people’s happiness. Sexton keeps on saying “That story” to undermine fairy tales, as well as the real-life wishes of some people. “That story” shows stories about real life that are rare, and yet most coveted. Moreover, Sexton uses irony to criticize traditional definitions of womanhood, success, and happiness. Happiness is based on material success. This is why stories of instant millionaires and rags-to-riches are popular to people. In her poem, Sexton shows that people are preoccupied with symbols of wealth, such as Dior, martini, and pile of money. The irony is that these things do nothing to the soul. The words “toilets” and “ambulance” are images of situational irony. Sexton suggests that these people are richer, but not truly happier because their stories do not include anything deeper. Their materialistic dreams do not provide meaning to their lives. Dramatic irony is present in the poem too because of the twist in the end. Sexton does not believe in happy endings because they are not real for women who live by stereotyped roles and goals. She describes the happy ending of Cinderella as “like two dolls in a museum case” (Sexton 102) and “Regular Bobbsey Twins” (Sexton 108), whose “darling smiles pasted on for eternity” (Sexton 107). The dolls are symbols of artificial happiness, the museum for a past that does not have practical relevance to people, and “Regular Bobbsey Twins” who are perfectly unreal. Instead of a real happy ending, the prince and Cinderella live happily, only as an illusion. The poem shows that fairy tales are as unreal as real life, where women are ironically living a life they do not own and control. Sexton accomplishes her purpose of criticizing fairy tales for perpetuating gender stereotypes by satirizing a fairy tale’s promise of everlasting happiness to women. Her characters are real and unreal, an irony of the artificial lives that real women are constrained to follow. The imagery and irony are clear in showing that women are in a web of lies and illusion. They think that wealth and marriage can make them happy. Indeed it can, if only they are dolls in a museum. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. This is what these stereotyped dreams should be- something to be burned before it consumes women forever. Works Cited “Anne Sexton.” The 20th Century O-Z: Dictionary of World Biography. Vol. 9. New York: Routledge, 1999. 3395-3398. Print. Sexton, Anne. “Cinderella.” 1970. Web. 5 June 2012. Read More