Donkeyskin & Cinderella

I agree with Maria Tatar's argument that Donkeyskin & Cinderella should be studied together because it'll provide different perspectives for more understanding. To be honest, the graphic nature of Donkeyskin surprised me but I feel like it is much more realistic even though it didn't present a socially friendly subject. The cycle of abuse and rape in relation to parents and child would be understood as a private situation but its the responsibility of the community to not let it be so. Studying Donkeyskin & Cinderella together allows for comparisons and differences to be realized for further understanding of the story's morals.

In comparing the story of Cinderella with Conkijgharuna, the Little Rag Girl, I realized some important variations. First in Cinderella, the father dies early on in the story, but in Conkijgharuna, the Little Rag Girl, the father is alive. He is non-existent so metaphorically dead and portrayed as very weak due to the fact that he is unable to provide and protect his child himself. Conkijgharuna is treated badly by her stepmother whom has one child while Cinderella is treated badly by her stepmother who has two children. The "fairy godmother" for Conkijgharuna turns out to be a talking cow that leads her step by step to a better life where her hair becomes golden blonde, she acquires beautiful clothing, and is able to meet her king. Little detail is given about the King. All that is known is that he is a King, not a prince, and finds the glass slipper in a stream instead of at a Ball. Harm comes to the daughter of the stepmother when she becomes as dark as an African and grows a horn on her face. This creates a moral parallel that good comes to those who are good and bad comes to those who act badly because as the harm is done to the stepmother's daughter, the stepmother also experiences the pain.

The stories should be studied together because the censored and glamorized Cinderella illustrates a one sided view of things. If the point of the story is the moral take home message, then it'd be best to show the different possible outcomes of the story just as in those books where you pick your action and see the outcome change relative to each action. Giving the reader two sides of a story allows them to open up their mind and think of a possible third or forth outcome and to realize the reality of certain actions and outcomes. I think an important message that Conkijgharuna, the Little Rag Girl tells is when the cow said, "In one of my horns is honey, and in the other is butter, which you can take if you want to, so why be unhappy?" I feel like that means if you are unhappy where you are then you have the power to change that. Therefore its good to ask yourself why your unhappy where you are and realize what you can do to be happy.