Agency is compromised by the way in which gender is portrayed in the story. Cinderella is portrayed as one of these women who is only allowed to be beautiful when she is portrayed as dumb, ignorant, or vain. She actively chooses to be masculine and not feminine and that choice speaks to the negative connotations that are endured by those women that are labeled as feminine. Even if Cinder Edna chooses to be a “masculine” figure, choosing to be masculine implies that to be masculine is the only way to be taken seriously. She is seen as practical and cool tempered, much like many male characters are seen in stories. All are characteristics usually reserved for males. In this sense, masculine means that she partakes in tasks that are innovative, resourceful, and logical. The problem in this story is not that Cinder Edna is not shown as an active agent in the narrative, but that the only way that she can display her agency is if she is painted as a masculine figure. While the story shows Cinder Edna resisting imposed gender roles, Cinderella is shown as being a passive character. In the story, two neighbors, known as Cinderella and Cinder Edna respectively, endure life with their stepmother and stepsisters, but the outcome of their stories is very different. Cinder Edna attempts to write a feminist retelling of the original Cinderella fairy tale. Feminist retellings of fairy tales often attempt to change the narrative to imagine an alternative outcome to the original story.
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