Jasdeep Singh
Professors: Kylee Pastore and Anna Voisard
FIQWS Literature
17 November 2022
The Cinderella Effect
Fairy Tales have been around for ages. Children and adults have grown up listening or even watching the Walt Disney versions of the tales. These tales have influenced the way people not only interact with others but also how they see the world around them. However, these tales also make children interact in life quite negatively than those who have not experienced fairy tales. Cinderella is stuck in a stepfamily that doesn’t value or adore her. Cinderella, is held captive by her evil stepmother and stepsisters, fantasizes about attending the ball and meeting the Prince. Cinderella’s wish is fulfilled thanks to a few mice companions and her fairy Godmother. Ultimately, fairy tales such as Cinderella depict a person who is not only being controlled but is also mistreated by her stepmother, which causes psychological effects in children as they are able to relate to these incidents of abuse and mistreatment.
Primarily like many fairy tales, Cinderella is one of the many tales in which there is child mistreatment and factors of abuse. When talking about mistreatment in fairy tales, it is when a character is made to be worthless and downgraded, as shown in Cinderella. Charles Perrault version of Cinderella is one of the versions in which it shows the mistreatment of a young girl. Cinderella was the daughter of the first marriage, however the second marriage between the king and the second wife made Cinderella the stepchild. “She could not endure the child’s good nature, which made her own daughters appear even more detestable. The worst of the household chores were given to her stepdaughter.”(Perrault). The introduction of Cinderella becoming the stepchild changed the way she was treated. The stepmother made sure that her daughters were treated better than the step-daughter. Mistreatment is shown because Cinderella is treated as a maid, she is to do the household chores and is not given respect. “Thus, the abuse of stepchildren by stepparents should be more likely than abuse of biological offspring by parents”(Drias, Burgess). Studies have shown that the maltreatment of children is far greater by step parents rather than biological. However, these studies have shown that abuse and mistreatment come upon a child based on how the parent is. Parental traits are a major contribution, events taking place within the family cause development changes and eventually lead to creating social behavior. This relates to Cinderella because her stepmother was not only cruel because there was no biological relation but also the fact that Cinderella was significantly much more beautiful than her stepsisters. Mistreatment causes a psychological effect on children because as a child grows, they are faced with a constant stream of abuse which is much greater when the child is at a younger age. These reformations alter the developmental stage of the child causing the child to not only become secluded but to also have a drastic change in their social behavior. If a child is constantly abused and degraded, it will change how he looks at society. Cinderella was mocked by her step family and was called “cinderbum” to acknowledge that she was ugly and just a made.
Not only was Cinderella abused, she was abused by someone who she thought would give her a generous amount of love. This being the stepmother. Fairy tales have described the role of stepparents to be evil and cruel. “What’s this terrible and useless thing doing in our rooms?” the step-mother said. “Off with you into the kitchen. Whoever wants to eat bread must first earn it. She can be our maid”(Grimm). In Cinderella the evil stepmother plays a significant role in justifying the “Cinderella effect”. Because she is not related to the new mother by birth, Cinderella, a good-hearted youngster, is mistreated and abused. In “Bettelheim: The Uses of Enchantment”, it talks about the fantasy of the wicked stepmother. One of the scenarios talked about is a girl who felt that her mother had completely changed since she was angry with her. This ultimately correlates with the evil stepmother figure because just like in Cinderella, there is mistreatment done by the stepmother. Reality is the same thing, since a child may feel as if even their biological mother has changed. The child could feel abandoned or distraught since the person they believed to be their family is actually turning against them. No matter if a child has a stepmother or biological mother, when the child feels as if it’s being attacked it will make the child reminisce about the “Cinderella effect”. This shows how fairy tales affect the way children interact with reality. This is because they are able to relate themselves to scenarios taking place in many tales.
Fairy tales have greatly influenced the psychological effects they have on children. Children’s literature may seem simple to read and apprehend; however, a child may understand differently what the meaning of a fairy tale is. Although fairy tales may have such positive morals being taught such as to never lie or to always be hesitant on who you trust. These same fairy tales also allow children to relate themselves to what may be going on in their lives. In the Grimm Brothers version of Cinderella, a young Cinderella longs to go to the ball but she is restricted and is basically told that she is worthless. This caused a psychological effect on Cinderella because even though she is better looking than her step-family, they gaslighted her on a constant basis into thinking she’s ugly. Children are also impacted by this since they can identify with being branded ugly or even treated poorly. This is a negative psychological effect that fairy tales have on children. Ari Sherfield was a child who faced the factors of abuse at a young age. Ari’s experiences have been a first person point of view in the signs of step-parental abuse. “At seven, she was put in charge of housework and taking care of her younger siblings. She was also the only one in her family who was physically abused, at times for inane things like “breathing too hard”(Ryu). Although we see child mistreatment in Cinderella, this carries on to reality. We can say it was the “Cinderella effect” since Ari was treated differently from her family. Ari was also forced to not only do household work but she was also mistreated and abused. These incidents of abuse from fairy tales to reality make people relate to fairy tales because it causes a psychological effect since they are waiting for the prince to come and save the day.
Despite the fact that there is a lot of abuse both in Cinderella and in the contemporary world of step parents. It is clear that not all children deal with the issue of stepparent abuse. A kid’s social behavior may change as a result of the psychological impacts of child abuse and other issues that have been mentioned. Studies have shown that a family will succeed if it can adjust to stress-inducing conditions.“Thus in stepfamily contexts, children in families that maintain positive relationships may experience a greater sense of stability and support”(Todd). According to Todd Jensen’s analysis of the literature, it is impossible to compare stepfamilies and biological families because they each experience unique stresses that have an impact on their relations. Todd claims that if a family can get along, they will succeed, however this is completely untrue. According to studies, stepparent abuse is much more common. “Studies showed that out of 930 women, almost seventeen percent of women were abused by their step father” (Rusell). It can be concluded that although stepparents may make accommodations to get along, it is more likely that a stepchild would experience more abuse. This ties back to the fact that the parent and child are not related biologically, which makes a stepparent more prone to neglect the child.
Cinderella was greatly influenced and affected by the abuse of her wicked stepmother. Even though the stepmother was a factor of the abuse, the sibling rivalry taking place was even more intense. Cinderella’s stepsisters treated cinderellas as if she was nothing but a maid. They sisters gave her the nickname of “Cinderbum”. “The stepsisters took away her clothes and dressed her in an old gray smock. “You look good in that!” they said, while mocking her and leading her to the kitchen”(Grimm). The stepsisters were seen as being evil-hearted because just like their mother, the sisters made Cinderella feel unworthy and made her hierarchy as a princess to downfall. In the article “Was Cinderella just a fairy tale? Survival differences between stepchildren and their half-siblings” by Ryan Schacht. Schact primarily introduces the idea and talks about leading factors of stepchild mistreatment. Abuse was increased on stepchildren based on factors of poverty and parietal investment. However, Schact also highlighted about the half-sibling being at a greater advantage than stepchildren. This relates to Cinderella because her half siblings are more likely to endure less abuse and mistreatment than Cinderella. Sibling rivalry is caused not only by parental investment but also the factors of social behavior. Furthermore, if a child is shown how one sibling is always being abused and ranked lower than others, the child will pick up on this and do the same as others in their families.
Cinderella encountered numerous challenges and was under the influence of her stepmother. Being under control, experiencing maltreatment frequently, and experiencing sibling rivalry have all had a significant psychological impact on Cinderella and kids. Children who are controlled experience negative repercussions because their social conduct changes. Despite the possibility that some stepchildren may not experience stepparent maltreatment, research has shown a rise in stepchild maltreatment. Children who are not connected to step-parents biologically suffer a considerable deal of maltreatment as a result. children shouldn’t be constrained by abusive or overbearing stepparents. One must be able to overcome obstacles and defend themselves.
Works Cited
Bettelheim, Bruno. The Uses of Enchantment : the Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. Vintage books ed., Vintage Books, 1989.
Burgess, R. L., and A. A. Drais. “Beyond the ‘Cinderella Effect’ : Life History Theory and Child Maltreatment.” Human Nature (Hawthorne, N.Y.), vol. 10, no. 4, 1999, pp. 373–98, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-999-1008-7.
Grimm, Jacob, et al. Cinderella. Translated by Anne Rogers, Illustrated by Svend Otto S. (Svend Otto Sørensen), Larousse & Co., 1978.
Jensen, Todd M et al. “Stepfamily Relationship Quality and Children’s Internalizing and Externalizing Problems.” Family process vol. 57,2 (2018): 477-495. doi:10.1111/famp.12284
Perrault, Charles, and Diane Goode.
Cinderella. Illustrated by Diane Goode, Knopf, 1988.
Ryu, Jenna. “Child abuse: What is ‘Cinderella phenomenon’?” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 31 January 2022, https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/health-wellness/2022/01/31/child-abuse-what-cinderella-phenomenon/9174296002/. Accessed 6 November 2022.
Russell, D E. “The prevalence and seriousness of incestuous abuse: stepfathers vs. biological fathers.” Child abuse & neglect vol. 8,1 (1984): 15-22. doi:10.1016/0145-2134(84)90045-0
Schacht, Ryan, et al. “Was Cinderella Just a Fairy Tale? Survival Differences Between Stepchildren and Their Half-Siblings.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological Sciences, vol. 376, no. 1827, 2021, pp. 20200032–20200032, https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2020.0032.
