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the modern cinderella
Everyone has heard all the stories of Cinderella with her evil stepsisters
and stepmother, etc. Theyıve even made several movies and television
versions of the classic story, and todayıs modern children grow up listening
to the fairy tale told over and over again. However like every fairy tale,
it isnıt even slightly real in todayıs standards. So, I would like to
introduce you to a slightly different version of the Cinderella story.
The story begins with a young girl whose mother dies. Like all widowers,
the young girlıs father meets a woman who he decides to marry. This woman
has already had two children and is a widow. After the wedding, the home
becomes normal. Cinderella doesnıt have any siblings and she barely
remembers her mother, so she welcomes the family. When Cinderella is about
12, her father develops cancer. Cinderellaıs stepmother is distraught and
finds she is having to pay the enormous medical bills, take care of her ill
husband and children, and work a job. Cinderellaıs father fights the cancer
for a while but eventually dies. The stepmother is now given full custody
to the young Cinderella as well as bares the responsibility of her own two
daughters. Cinderella has to move to a different place and try to take on
some of the household responsibilities since her stepmother has to work
three jobs to support their family.
When Cinderella is in high school, she gets a job working as a maid for a
hotel to help bring in money for the family. After school, she cleans
peopleıs hotel rooms. She dreams of one day getting out of the situation
that her family has gotten into. Cinderellaıs stepsisters have a trust fund
set up by their father so they can go to college. However, Cinderellaıs
father didnıt have such a luxury so Cinderella continues to work at saving
some money for education. Towards the end of high school, Cinderella is
still slaving away at the hotel. Her stepmother has already sent her own
two daughters to school a year ago, and now Cinderella is a senior. The
stepmother tells Cinderella that she canıt afford to send Cinderella to
college and that Cinderella may end up having to work at the hotel for a
long time. Cinderella somewhat dismayed but determined goes to see her high
school counselor for advice. The counselor tells Cinderella that since she
scored well on the ACT and SAT and that her GPA is high, she can probably
receive some amount of scholarships to help the cost. She convinces
Cinderella that by applying for the scholarships and financial aid, she can
easily find a way to go college. Excited that she can go, Cinderella
applies and gets accepted to the college of her dreams and manages to scrape
a way at finding money to go there. Her stepsisters attend school there
also so Cinderella lives with them off-campus.
Cinderellaıs dreams are starting to come true. While at college, Cinderella
and several other girls including her stepsisters get invitations to attend
a party thrown by one of the local fraternities. Cinderella is excited
because she heard that the president of the fraternity just broke up with
his girlfriend. Although she is a freshman, she quickly steals the heart of
the president without even knowing that it was he that she was dancing with.
They step outside for some fresh air, and Cinderella suddenly realizes
that she has a major test tomorrow. She leaves him her name and excuses
herself around midnight to try to crunch for the test.
After the party, the president decides that Cinderella is the only girl to
ask out, so he gets his fraternity brothers to find out information about
her. He manages to catch up with Cinderella in the computer lab and asks
her out. Flattered, Cinderella accepts. As the relationship progresses,
Cinderella gets the feeling that the president is pushing for marriage while
Cinderella is more interested in finishing college. The president also
wants to have a stay-at-home wife who takes care of the kids. Cinderella
wants a career. The president wonıt make a compromise, and Cinderella finds
herself deciding whether to give up her career and school or dump prince
charming. Again Cinderella finds herself marching up to the counselor's
office. The counselor advises that Cinderella decide which one is more
important, the guy or the career. Cinderella weighs the issues and settles
for dumping the guy.
Angry, prince charming calls Cinderella a pushy feminist. Cinderella just
smiles back. She wonıt lower her standards for a guy who is only trying to
rescue her when she really doesnıt need it.
And she lives happily ever after.
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