Cultural Differences In 'Ashenputtel'

While reading and watching films of different cultural Fairy Tales, you notice that in every Cinderella Tale there is a girl who is tired of living a life where they just want to be better. Also from all the different versions of Cinderella stories, all of them are surrounded by jealousy, hate, and negative vibes. However, there are cultural differences that are expressed in each of the different versions of these Fairy Tales. In my paper I am going to express these differences, the two versions that I’ll be talking about is “Aschenputtel” which is the Germany version, and a modern version “Maid in Manhattan”. My goal in this essay is to compare the historical context between the two, and also the cultural differences that is shown while reading

This allows “Aschenputtel” to be so intriguing during this time, servants/maids where seen as the lowest social structure. They were given the jobs of cooking, cleaning and sewing. They were look down upon, and people did not care for them. Also in “Aschenputtel” in this time in history or century it allowed and condemned this type of behavior. In “Maid in Manhattan” she is also a servant/ maid. But the difference between the two is that it’s a totally different time in which servants/maids are not forced long hours, they don 't have to wear ugly clothes like “Ashenputtel” did, like her step sisters made her wear, and what was seen as normal in “Aschenputtel”, such as not giving her a bed to sleep, making her work all day, and not feeding her, is now abuse in today’s

Her father didn’t care about her well-being, and the law didn’t intervene. She had no one to go to and no one to cry to except her mother who was dead. I guess she was weak, and it allowed herself to be mistreated. In “Maid in Manhattan” there was no abuse except maybe morally. I said morally because instead of a prince it was a senator, and even in this day or history in time just like in “Aschenputtel” maids or people of lower classes and jobs is seen with a high CEO or someone of an upper class it seems to bother certain people or it seems to not fit or look right due to their social status. In both stories there seems to have some cultural context “Aschenputtel” lived her life how her mother wanted her to “be good and pious, and then the good God will always protect you, and I will look down on you from heaven and be near you”, as stated in the folktale. In the end being good rewarded Cinderella, she was married to a prince and helped by the many birds because of her good will and heart. In “Maid in Manhattan” she was also rewarded because of her perseverance, optimism and set goals. In the end she became the manager she always wanted to be, and married the senator which she was happily married