There are a lot of people in the world who have a different perspective of others. Some of them hold or regard others in high esteem, while others look down on the disadvantaged and work to oppress them at every chance they get. The story of Cinderella is a classic example of this notion. This paper looks at inequality, unfairness, and injustice in the story in relation to the modern-day practices of this concept.

In the story, we see the poor girl Cinderella being mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters. As a result of her mother’s death, she is left all by herself, and this leaves her feeling neglected.  Her stepmother and stepsisters think that they are more superior to Cinderella and they treat her with scorn and a lot of hate (Grimm and Grimm, Chap, 1- 4). She works while they enjoy the fruits of her labor. They do not feel that Cinderella deserves anything better. When an opportunity arises for Cinderella to have a chance for success, her family denies her the pleasure of meeting the prince. The general thought here is that only one of the stepsisters deserves to be married to the prince and not Cinderella. The fairy tale, however, has a happy ending when the neglected young girl obtains favor on the eyes of the prince and ends up becoming the princess (Grimm and Grimm, Chap. 12). The evil stepsisters and the stepmother are forced to be under her. The fairy tale was a perfect example of things falling in place to bring balance to the earth.

The story of Cinderella can be related to contemporary society i many different ways. However, one that stands out is the level of inequality, unfairness, and injustice. In this modern world, there are cases where children are being mistreated in society and treated differently. There are cases where a stepmother has beaten a stepchild to death in the name of “discipline” (Zipes 6). It is a very wrong way of treating someone regardless of their position in society. There are also numerous cases of the poor being oppressed by people in high authority. If we take an example of some leaders, in particular, we see that the theme of oppression is evident. The rich leaders are only interested in their wealth and continue acquiring more wealth forgetting about the lowly citizens who are languishing in poverty. The rich instead of empathizing with the plight of the poor and choosing to help them improve their lives, they take advantage of them. They employ them, let them labor for long hours, while paying them sub-minimal salaries (Zipes 6). In this modern age, the rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer because of oppression. This well relates to the Cinderella story because we see that the “high and mighty” continue being rich while the poor and noble citizens remain disadvantaged.

In conclusion, the story of Cinderella mirrors the present society marked with inequality, unfairness, and injustice. Just like Cinderella was being mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters, the poor and the disadvantaged are being oppressed and taken advantage of by the rich. The modern society like in the Cinderella period does not consider humanity. The rich do not want to help the poor out of their plight while the poor have little or no resources to improve their situation. However, from the story, a moral lesson exists. This lesson is that some things get better with time. One can learn that with zeal, hard work, and determination, the situation can get better and that in every situation, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.

Works Cited

Grimm, Jacob, and Wilhelm Grimm. The complete Grimm’s fairy tales. Pantheon, 1972.

Zipes, Jack. The Brothers Grimm: From enchanted forests to the modern world. Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.

 
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