61 pages 2 hours read

Kalynn Bayron

Cinderella is Dead

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2020

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Important Quotes

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“There will be no going back once the ball has taken place. I feel a sadness, almost grief-like in its depth, threatening to consume me.”


(Chapter 3, Page 28)

Before the ball, Sophia compares the sadness she feels to loss, creating a metaphor of death for forced marriage. To Sophia, marrying a man would mean denying everything she is (a spirited lesbian woman), which is a sort of death. To her, living a lie is not living, making attending the ball a spiritual death.

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“‘I know you’re different, and that this will be hard for you, but you have no choice.’

Different.

That’s how she sees me, and every time she uses that word, a distinct air of disapproval accompanies it. Lille has left its stain on her, too…

I was twelve when I told my parents that I would much rather find a princess than a prince. They had gone into a state of panic, from which they emerged with a renewed sense of determination. They told me that in order to survive I would have to hide how I felt. I was never very good at it, and the weight of the mask grows heavier with each passing year. I want nothing more than to cast it aside.”


(Chapter 4, Pages 35-36)

Sophia’s mother’s usage of the word “different” to describe her daughter’s romantic interest in women demonstrates how heteronormative their society is. They do not even have a word such as “gay” to describe people like Sophia; she is simply called “different,” and her mother says it with disapproval. Sophia also uses the metaphor of a heavy mask to describe the exhaustion and pain that comes with being forced to hide one’s identity.

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“My path has been chosen for me since birth. My future is already written, and I don’t have a say in any of it.”


(Chapter 4, Page 36)

Throughout the novel, Sophia uses the metaphor of a story or text for her life, explaining that it’s already been “written” by King Manford and the palace-approved version of “Cinderella.” Simply because of her gender, there is only one “story” she’s allowed to live out, and it was assigned at birth; she is to marry a man who claims her.

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By Kalynn Bayron