From very early on in the book I noticed that Dame Olga really seemed to be taken with Sir Peter which made me begin to wonder if they would get married eventually. As time went on I continued to notice this, but felt privy to information as a reader that Sir Peter did not have. Dame Olga seemed to talk about him constantly and have ulterior motives. She saw Sir Peter's desire to send Ella off with her children as his affection for her, but in reality it was just him trying to get rid of Ella and make her into the more sophisticated child he thought she should be. Of course, ultimately Dame Olga did marry Sir Peter, although he chose to ignore her obsession by traveling.
Like Ella my father traveled frequently throughout my childhood. I spent much of my time with my mother and my siblings. However, unlike Ella and Sir Peter, I have always had a fairly good relationship with my father. Even though I would go many days to a week without seeing him, he still seemed to take great interest in my life and my doings. I wonder what it must have felt like to Ella to not have this relationship with her father. Her close relationship with her mother and Mandy seemed to make up for it, but I still wonder if she felt more longing for her father than she let on. She never directly addresses this issue, but seems to foster a lot of resentment towards her father.
To be honest, I did not originally realize that this was supposed to be a Cinderella story. I noticed the similarities with the step-mother and step-sisters, as well as having to become a servant, however the more feminist approach to this book hid some of the other aspects to me. I really appreciated the new spin on this tale, and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. As a Cinderella lover, I never have thought much about the idea of the perpetuation of gender stereotypes, but I was able to see it in a new light. I am not completely rejecting the Disney type story, but I fully appreciate the idea of giving it a more modern gender spin. I wonder why Levine decided to do this story. Whether she was a feminist herself, or was bothered by the stereotypes emitted in very many fairy-tales? I also wonder why she decided to keep the romance at the end, instead of maybe having Ella lead a happy, independent life.
I was a little shocked by the twist to the story. I do not recall ever reading a story in which the fairy godmother did not perform all sorts of magic for the goddaughter. I really enjoyed this twist to the story and felt that while obviously being fantasy, it made it more believable. It also made Ella a more likable character because she was forced to persist and overcome adversity without having someone just do everything for her.
No comments:
Post a Comment