The words that most caught my attention in "Ashputtle" were the symbols used by the Grimm brothers throughout this short story. These included things such as the white dove and the hazel bush, which are used to suggest the reincarnation or guidance from her dead mother and represent purity and wisdom. It is the hazel tree that grows on her mother's grave and the dove that brings her opportunity and also truth to both her and to the prince. Other symbols include those the prince encounters with Cinderella, like the pigeon coop, the pear tree and the golden shoe. These show development from a poor social class to a rich one, or from ordinary to extraordinary. For Cinderella, ending in the golden shoe means ending with high social status. Finally, the blindness of the step sisters at the end parallels their blindness of and toward Cinderella's heart and abilities throughout the beginning of the story.
Sexton's version, however is much more contemporary and, while she uses the same symbols, she includes several references I was not familiar with, including a "charwoman," Bonwit Teller, Al Jolson, and Regular Bobbsey Twins. A charwoman, I found, is just a British word meaning a woman who cleans another person's house. Bonwit Teller - "from mops to Bonwit Teller" - was an expensive department store of the early 20th century, that later developed into stores such as Saks, and B. Altman. Al Jolson - "she slept on the sooty hearth each night/ and walked around looking like Al Jolson" - was a famous American singer, comedian, and actor of the early 1900s who typically wore blackface makeup. The Regular Bobbsey Twins - used to describe the step sisters at the end - is a metaphor for living happily ever after, and is based on another fairytale. Sexton takes a very sarcastic approach, and pokes fun at the "happily ever after" part of fairy tales, showing they are unrealistic because of the extravagant examples used throughout her text, which are not relatable to the "typical" person.
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