"Fairy Tale Recreation in a Futuristic Society:
Analyzing the Setting of Cinder"
Foreword:
Because reading on a screen is difficult enough without adding lengthy paragraphs fit for a newspaper, I have broken up the follow analysis into headings, with each body paragraph stuck between a Heading and an image even though it may appear to be two or four paragraphs total. Formatting aside, each analysis-blog will focus on one main element of fiction (setting, plot, characters, imagery, voice, or point of view) and there will be no order for which element I choose. The decision will be based on the current novel.
"Fairy Tale Recreation in a Futuristic Society: Analyzing the Setting of Cinder"
Recreating fairy tales for modern
audiences and transforming the world into a dystopian society is challenging
enough before you focus on maintaining the reliability of the narrator and its
story. Whisking Cinderella into New Beijing following World War IV rattles the
reader’s expectations of a fairy tale by entering the familiar setting of
China. Marissa Meyer creates reliable characters and believable history through
her use of setting in the young adult novel Cinder.
Now a cyborg but still an orphan, Cinder works as a mechanic in New Beijing
for her wicked stepmother where she meets and falls in love with Prince Kaito,
who hopes to have his android repaired before his royal Coronation. Reimagining
China for a dystopian future by blending the old traditions of an Asian market
and government with new customs involving androids and cyborgs illustrates the
importance and reliability a reader places on the story’s setting because he or
she is more likely to believe in the possibility of Cinderella keeping an
android for a best friend rather than a mouse.
Image Courtesy BooksHub |
Old Traditions
The old traditions of the Asian market
place and dynasty illustrate the survival of the Chinese lifestyle and its
culture in a drastically altered world.
While there is no lack of
technological upgrades in Cinder, the
retention of the open market highlights the need for China’s cultural stability
after the war’s destruction. The open market concept continues to exist because
it leads to personal interaction, an action that is dying in the futuristic
world dominated by portscreens and similar objects that erase the need for face-to-face
conversations, which is similar to the current social media obsessed society. Open
markets also create jobs for humans and cyborgs alike, including the cyborg protagonist
Cinder, as many remedial and unwanted jobs have been granted to
non-argumentative and mindless androids. The markets allow the citizens to be
and act human in the age of android servants and employees.
Furthermore, Prince
Kaito and his father, the Emperor, represent the dynasty of China’s past when,
before the rise of Communism in the 1900s, emperors ruled the country through
family lineage for hundreds of years. After World War IV, the Asian countries
merge into what the rest of the globe recognizes as the Eastern Commonwealth. The
idea of dynasties has been associated with Chinese history for generations, and
it creates a sense of security for the reader because he or she will know and
trust the futuristic Beijing based on the familiar
attributes. After the world has been destroyed and rebuilt, China reverts back
to its origins to claim cultural stability to avoid additional changes and
damage.
Technological Dependency
Blending the humans’ trust of androids
and disgust of cyborgs depicts the growing technological dependence that is becoming
evident in the modern world as well as introducing a new occurrence where hate
crimes have changed focus from genders and races to physical deformities.
Trusting
androids instead of humans is an act of security and independence. They provide
security for their personal secrets, important work, and for overall physical
safety as well as offer independence for their masters because they can be
alone but still maintain a communicative companion. While androids are not
present in today’s world, parts of the population rely on their social media
and text message relationships more than their personal ones, which can be seen
in television shows like Catfish,
because of the smaller promises of commitment, fear of the truth, or the ease
of running and leaving the relationship behind.
Within the novel, Cinder relies
on her android, named Iko, because her stepmother and sisters treat her like
property rather than like a ward. Although Iko has a stronger personality chip than
most androids imbedded in her computer, all androids run under the operations
of their master and cannot act on their own accord. For Prince Kaito, his tutor
android contains secret information that could be used against him if a person
knew of the data.
Alternatively, the reliance on androids leads to distrust
amongst humans because the dependency of technology has led to broken
communication and understanding. The cyborgs are the strongest example of
technological dependency. While they are still humans, the metal additions to
their bodies create a divide between them and all others. Individuals view
cyborgs as property, much like Cinder’s stepmother views her, because they
resemble androids. Technology is not simply something to ease their lives, but
something that they control because humans believe themselves to be superior
beings. If race and gender disputes have existed for thousands of years, there
is nothing to stop the current generation from following the path Meyer creates
where they change their focus from color or biological differences to metal
additions. Cyborgs retain their human emotions and free will while
simultaneously expected to live and act like mindless androids.
Believable Future, Real Setting
The Asian lifestyle, China’s political
history, a dependence on technology, and physical differences are ideas that are
common in today’s world, and it is because of these elements that Meyer creates
a believable and even possible future setting that a reader would trust without
hesitation.
Historical context, which represents facts, and cultural norms,
which represent opinion, transform the plot from that of a strange fairy tale setting
to one that a reader can envision for his or her world. This setting for
Cinderella may seem outrageous to the reader, but Meyer justifies the setting by
following up with Asian history and human judgments, topics most readers will
be acquainted with. The reader’s trust of the narrator is dependent on the
author’s ability to write a story with familiar or relatable settings, plots,
and characters. Meyer took physical setting characteristics of our modern
world, adjusted cultural stereotypes, and showed her audience a glimpse into
what life could be like in a few dozen years if they keep their trust in
technology and continue to shun individuals who are different. For this reason,
the idea that this sort of future is possible is what holds the story solidly
together, so while it is exciting to imagine androids it is simultaneously
terrifying to envision two additional world wars and the knowledge that
humanity’s cruelty does not falter.
Within Marissa Meyer’s Cinder, a fairy tale featuring a cyborg
Cinderella is not only believable, but also expected after experiencing the
modern world’s obsession with technology and its constant cling to cultural and
stereotypical normalcy. Setting is not only a backdrop for a story, but a link
to familiar imaginations, safe havens, and coming-of-age scenes. Very rarely
has a writer created a brilliant plot, relatable characters, and witty dialogue
without the support of a solidly constructed setting. People do not live in
empty white spaces; therefore, the setting is the first step in transforming a
story into an adventure.
If you're interested, you can get the novel here.
If you're interested, you can get the novel here.
No comments:
Post a Comment