Denai Adams Feminism (Blog #2)

Cinderella by Anne Sexton


  I feel that a Feminist would most likely disagree with this poem because the beginning provides both men and women being powerful and successful. I would think that if she were going to demonstrate Feminism, using both males and females, she would provide examples which show the woman being dominant on her own, not by using a man to achieve a higher status. To me, this suggests that the man already is higher than the woman, and that she is simply "riding his tailcoat" to gain a higher status. The author, being a female, seems to focus mainly on the "get rich quick", and "happily ever after" type of relationships. However the "happily ever after" doesn't come until there is a monetary, or social gain. The Feminist section states that, "men and women are not equal." It is clear, even in this poem, that they are not. However, the man takes a seemingly more superior stance in this fairytale. The poem states, "the wife of a rich man was on her deathbed" implying that the woman is property of the man. After this woman's death, she is replaced by another woman shortly after. Simone de Beauvoir believed that the woman than became, "the Other, an object whose existence is defined and interpreted by the dominant male." In this poem, that belief seems to be accepted by the author, not questioned.