Cinderella is one of the so called “rise tales”, which features a narrative arc of “rags to riches through magic and marriage” (Ruth Bottigheimer). Write a reflection on this motif.
"Rags to Riches" is a story motif that has come to be known as giving a story that "Cinderellaistic" feel. The protagonist's life (although it doesn't always have to have been this way) is a hard one and at the end, they ascend into a place of comfort and wealth.
"Rags to Riches" is a story motif that has come to be known as giving a story that "Cinderellaistic" feel. The protagonist's life (although it doesn't always have to have been this way) is a hard one and at the end, they ascend into a place of comfort and wealth.
This is a very popular motif which finds itself in not only the tales about the poor girl (or boy) who is tormented by his step-mother, but also in many other fairy tales. If the hero or heroine is not already of noble blood, it is rare that they do not achieve a higher rank or a world of greater comforts than when they began.
It is, I feel, the author's sense of justice. The characters have gone through an especially displeasing circumstance and yet they remain humble and exemplary, even though their lives are the furthest thing from enviable. It seems only right that they should have a better life ahead of them. Stories like these give their viewers hope and anyone who is going through a particularly hard time, may just be able to hold on in hopes of those better times that must be ahead.
The rags to riches motif is used in many films and books that are not categorized as "fairy tales", stories such as Sense & Sensibility, Annie, and My Fair Lady.
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