Critical Mischief?

When analyzing a work of literature, context and history are absolutely necessary. This basic guideline changes neither from topic to topic nor genre to genre; fairy tales are no different. One such example, wherein context and history are necessary, is the Cinderella type, or, according to Arne Thompson, the AT510 (376). Many cultures have their own Cinderella story; by understanding the history and context of these stories, analysts and critics can better grasp and understand the evolution these stories take.

When observing the AT510 story, the oldest known edition, "Yeh-hsien," written around 850 A.D., contains noticeable differences from the modern, albeit Disney-perverted, renditions. Consider the role of the animals to whom Cinderella relies on? According to the Chinese tale, Yeh-hsien relies on a fish who she personally raises (146). This sharply contrasts to the Brothers Grimm "Cinderella," wherein Cinderella is aided by anonymous birds. The Brothers note that when Cinderella needed aid she simply said, "O tame little doves ... come and help me ... [and then] two white doves came flying in ... followed by turtle doves" (150). Unlike the fish in "Yeh-hsien," the reader is not given any prior knowledge of Cinderella and the birds' relationship. This short section allows for the reader to notice a significant difference that a millennia and continental separation can play within the evolution of a tale. This observation, however, is not possible within a collection of assorted tales such as The Annotated Brothers Grimm. For the literary critic and analyst, the comparisons of topics within shifting works of the same story type allow for the ability to observe literary evolution takes place. If a collection only contains one sample of specific type works, then research, and further literary understanding, cannot take place. This ability to analyze and observe shifts in the overall narrative allow for a greater understanding of the work, even among those uninterested in scholarly criticism.