Gender Stereotypes In Fairy Tales

Fairy tales are a way for literature to uphold the patriarchal conventions of society. These “harmless” stories are presented to children at a young age, which then establish the normality of the domination of men in their minds. Social conventions are instituted to children through fairy tale characters that they can relate to in order to embed the “proper” gender behaviors in their brains. “American literature is male. To read the canon of what is currently considered classic American literature is perforce to identify as male” (Fetterley), but fairy tales come before school years, therefore it is necessary to have main female characters. Little girls must learn their place in society before they start their education, because then they will be less
If girls identify with characters like Cinderella, then they will not need female literature in canon, since they already have their gender identification set up. Cinderella is the perfect example of a beautiful, quiet, nurturing, and subordinate woman that little girls relate to.
Cinderella is the image of the ideal angelic female, while the stepmother and stepsisters represent the opposite “monster” images (Gilbert and Gubar 812). Starting with the physical appearance, Cinderella is beautiful and the others are dark and unattractive. Cinderella has a magical connection with the animals, which reinforces the deep connection to nature that a proper woman should have. That quality also reveals her nurturing nature, because she clothes, feeds, and defends the living creatures she has such a close bond to. Those actions mirror what kind of mother, wife, and caretaker she would make in the future. The stepmother is the scheming, outspoken, dominant, and essentially evil character that forces Cinderella into servitude in her own house. The evil