Ella Enchanted

Ella Enchanted, a Newberry Honor book written by Gail Carson Levine, is a wonderful adaptation of the traditional Cinderella story. At birth, a fairy named Lucinda bestows the gift of obedience on Ella. She must obey any command she is given. Ella meets Prince Charmont when she is about fifteen years old, at her mother’s funeral. Ella is then sent off to finishing school with Dame Olga’s two awful daughters, Hattie and Olive. She runs away when she hears that her father and the fairy Lucinda will both be at a giant’s wedding. She goes with the hope of having Lucinda break her curse, but she is unsuccessful. Her father tells her that he has lost all of his money, so he will marry Dame Olga for her money. He travels a lot, and Ella is left at home to serve Olga and her daughters. Ella writes to Char, and he confesses his love for her. Because of her curse, she is reluctant to marry him. What if someone was to find out that she has to obey all commands and used it against her and the prince…or even worse, against her country? She goes to a series of three balls thrown by the royal family so that Char can find a bride. She dances with him at all three, masked. When he comes to her house to find her, he sees her in her rags from being forced to work as a servant. When she saves the prince by disobeying a command from Hattie to marry him, her curse is broken. They live happily ever after, of course.

What a great twist on the Cinderella story! I have been reading a lot of different versions of it for this class, but this is the first version I’ve read that isn’t a picture book. First of all, the obedience curse was an interesting development. Lucinda meant it as a gift, but I don’t see how it could ever be thought of as a blessing. What would it be like if you were forced to do everything you were told to do? At the end of the book, when her curse is broken, Ella is so happy to be able to make decisions for herself and to be able to say yes or no to something. I also loved the variations on the traditional names. Instead of being called Prince Charming, he is named Prince Charmont. The variation of the name also makes the prince seem a little more exotic. Instead of being called Cinderella, the main character is Eleanor (Ella for short).

As soon as Dame Olga and her two daughters were introduced, I recognized them as the evil stepmother and stepsisters. There were even glass slippers! I was a little surprised to see that detail in the story. It was a really neat addition. This story had three balls instead of the traditional one. Ella has two fairy godmothers in this story—Lucinda and the cook, Mandy. It seems easier to believe in fairies in this story since it takes place in a mythical kingdom where it is common to trade with the elves and see fairies at weddings. Ella goes to the balls in a pumpkin coach drawn by mouse-horses, a detail not seen in other versions. This Cinderella story is the closest I’ve read to the traditional story I am used to, as depicted by Disney.

The author uses such wonderful words in this book! She paints beautiful pictures with her words. Before Ella leaves for finishing school, she goes to the royal menagerie, where there are parrots who speak all of the world’s languages, a dragon, centaurs, and ogres. I could almost see all of these mythical creatures as they were being described. Ella’s favorite part was the parrots who speak various languages, and I love that idea too! The parrots can speak all of the human languages as well as mythical languages, like Gnomic and Elfian. The description of how Ella feels when Hattie finds out that she will do anything she’s told to do made me really empathize with her. This is something kids need to learn how to do, so I think it’s great that this book teaches them how to do that.

Although I loved the descriptions of the mythical creatures, like elves, giants, ogres, and centaurs, I really wish there had been more description of the humans living in the kingdom. Who exactly do Char and his family rule over?

I found some connections from this book to other non-Cinderella stories. First of all, at the beginning of the book Ella looks at a rug made by fairies. Although I later learned differently, this reminded me of Jonas’ ability to “see beyond” in The Giver. Really, since the rug was made by fairies, it has the ability to tell stories. Secondly, whenever Char and his knights go near ogres, they put wax in their ears so the ogres’ words won’t overpower and persuade them. This is like when Odysseus and his sailors do this whenever they go near the islands in the Odyssey.

This was a wonderful adaptation of the Cinderella story! It shared a lot of the same elements as other versions I’ve read, although it differed some as well. In this version, Ella rescues both Prince Char and herself from her obedience curse instead of him rescuing her.