22 comments

Coming of Age Contemporary

Happily ever afters are just bull shit. Happily ever afters cause unrealistic expectations and just generally are unreachable. Take Cinderella for instance sure she gets the prince but why did she need him in the first place? Why is it that every fairytale is centered around the princess getting the prince? Like what if she’s gay? What if she has better things to do with her life besides getting married? There's more to life than throwing a party, putting on a ring, and considering yourself entwined for life. A woman tied to a man. The world has so many beauties. There are things to explore, sunsets to watch adventures to have. Cinderella gets married to this prince and then it's ‘happily ever after what the heck does that even mean? She gets to marry a prince she's just met and suddenly becomes a queen and sits in a stuffy castle all day while her husband takes care of the kingdom. Because sure they're married and technically they both rule the kingdom but not really. The King controls everything about the kingdom while the Queen is some beautiful trophy to show off who does nothing at all and her only accomplishment is that she's married to a King. Is marriage society's view of happily ever after? So they married but why? They met at a ball which Cinderella had been so determined to go to, she was determined to be married and find a prince that she snuck out, sure her family were jerks but of all things to sneak out and do you could have at least done something interesting. And then there's a fairy godmother. Is her only purpose to create dresses and convince girls they need to get married? Fairy Godmothers are supposed to watch over the girls to bring them happiness but all she ever does is send girls off to balls because that's the only way they’ll ever be happy. So after Cinderella sneaks out in her new dress and goes to the castle she finds the prince and they have a dance. And they fell in love at first sight.; Let's talk about that. Love, at first sight, is just judging someone by their appearance, you don't even know them! You just see them and think oh look they have boobs love at first sight. It doesn't matter if they're the sweetest human or an asshole. It doesn't matter who this woman is if she has pretty boobs and a nice ass let's just call this love at first sight shall we? Then Cinderella runs away at midnight because the fairy godmother isn't that powerful. She loses one of her shoes which shows this Fairy godmother needs to work on her sizing better. The prince finds her shoe and goes around like a madman trying to find a woman saying whoever's foot fits in the show he's going to marry and nobody even thinks about the fact that they've just met. The prince finds Cinderella and boom they're married? I mean Cinderella wasn't even with him for a week before thinking I wanna get married! He could be abusive and like who says after the happy ever after they stay married? Like honestly they could have clashing personalities. They could fight a lot and want a divorce. Even if they stayed married, what if there were arguments about children? Whether they wanted any and how many. They have a child but the birth goes wrong and the baby dies. It's not like they include that in fairytales. Even if none of that happens, life is full of arguments, disagreements, and anger. And at any time they could be killed, get sick, or be kidnapped. The point is happily ever after is like if life was put through a filter with all its colors and feelings and when it came out of that filter and it was white, boring white where everything goes perfectly and the prince always gets the princess.

Life is nothing like that. Happily, ever after have you wishing on shooting stars and thinking your perfect prince will come and find you. It convinces you you need a prince and everything will be wonderful.

In reality, there are such things as gay women who don't want princes *OMG THEY EXIST?*

Yeah, they exist. There are romantic people asexual people polyamorous people but its not like they ever get represented.

Reality is full of mistakes, heartbreak, grief, and regret. Happily ever afters makes you think you're going about your life all wrong and if you don't have a prince and need to change yourself to fit society's expectations. You have to be perfect. You have to be bland and popular so people like you. You have to wear clothes that make you feel insecure and naked just because society tells you to. If you're a woman you have to be pretty, because if you're not pretty then really you're nothing, You're a perfect little barbie and society chooses what to do with you. What you look like, how you dress and it's not like anyone ever asks barbie what she wants. Women are supposed to do what they're told they're supposed to go through the excruciating process of having children because ‘that's what women do' and then you're supposed to care for the child bathe clothe and feed the child make sure it doesn't choke make sure it gets the right medications to make sure it's healthy and if that's not painful enough the house must be clean because that's what women do. They clean the clothes, cook the food and wash the dishes. But on top of that, they still need to work because the household still needs money because sometimes the husband doesn't make enough and you're expected to work to pay for the groceries. Everything overwhelms you and life passes you by and when you finally take a minute to look at your life. You wonder what happened? Why is my life like this? I have a prince so where's my happily ever after? And then you finally realize there's no such thing as a happily ever after.

Depressing? Quite. Did you miss the days you believed in happy ever afters? Did you like believing there was a point even if it was just lies?

Hard to miss something you never could have had.


November 14, 2021 03:51

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22 comments

Moon Lion
06:09 Nov 14, 2021

Hilariously funny, completely worth the read. OMG GAY WOMEN WHO DON'T WANT PRINCES EXIST?! was way too funny, and now I have to check out all your other works.

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Echo Sundar
17:19 Nov 14, 2021

Thank you for reading XD I had a fun time writing this :)

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11:02 Dec 12, 2021

This is deep , I’m not gonna lie I kinda though it would stop after one paragraph and lead into another story It was soooo good though !!!

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Echo Sundar
16:23 Dec 13, 2021

Thank you so much :)

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Francis Daisy
12:41 Nov 23, 2021

OMG! WE have got to meet and have coffee! I love this story! I want to meet the person who wrote this story! I rant like this ALL THE TIME about princesses and Disney and re-writing the stories and the whole idea of waiting for a prince. The princess doesn't just have boobs and a nice ass, she also comes with a dowry, land, riches, supplies him with an heir (and benefits on demand), - and nowadays she actually does his cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, and laundry too! ...so totally agree! Obviously, I LOVED this piece. You inspired em...

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Echo Sundar
17:13 Nov 23, 2021

Thank you SO much for reading. This is probably one of the nicest comments I've ever received and I'm glad to know that some people agree with me on the Disney princess nonsense. :)

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Leonard Mills
12:14 Nov 21, 2021

Excellent social commentary on western culture. Thanks.

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Echo Sundar
17:15 Nov 23, 2021

thank you :)

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18:03 Nov 15, 2021

Loved this! So much truth and insight to counteract the Disney princess BS. The fairytales are like cotton candy and melt away in reality. I would break up your paragraphs more, especially in the first half. I look forward to reading more of your stories!

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Echo Sundar
22:40 Nov 15, 2021

Thank you so much for reading :)

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Kat Sencen
06:24 Nov 14, 2021

That was a pretty cool story! It was really funny, with lines like "the fairy godmother needs to work on her sizing better" and "it's not like anyone ever asks Barbie what she wants." There's also a clear message shown throughout the whole thing, and the Cinderella example was funny. However, maybe you could use more of a plot in this? It felt like reading an essay, or a story analysis. But I can see how that would be kinda hard to do.

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Echo Sundar
17:19 Nov 14, 2021

Yeah... I just kinda wanted to show a point and then it became less of a story and more of an essay. Thanks you reading though :)

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Elois 🌻
20:07 Nov 16, 2021

Great story and proves a point

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Echo Sundar
20:07 Nov 16, 2021

Thanks :)

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Belladona Vulpa
13:15 Dec 01, 2022

I loved the ranting about the fairytales, reminds me of when I was small and I was asking too many questions when someone was reading me fairytales, to the point of frustration "But why does it need to be a prince?", "Just because the story says so", haha. Also, good commentary on love at first sight, what if they have clashing personalities and want a divorce, and the unreal expectations. I felt that the narrating voice had teenage/young adult angst vibes. Curious about your other works, will check them out!

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Echo Sundar
18:03 Dec 01, 2022

Thank you so much for reading. Ive always been a little wary of fairytales and the high expectations that are unrealistic. Im glad you enjoyed reading :)

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Lorna JC
10:06 Dec 10, 2021

I love the how you make your point through a non-stop flow of consciousness. Nice work! Just out of curiosity, have you looked up the ´original´ Grimm/Perrault version of Cinderella? There might be some interesting points there too. In that story, I believe, she sorted things out herself and was a bit more in charge of what was going on than in the more modern version.

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Echo Sundar
16:55 Dec 10, 2021

Thank you :) And no I have not looked up the 'original' version maybe I should do some more research next time but I mostly based the story off the modern versions that are showing up everywhere. Thank you for reading :)

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Lorna JC
12:03 Dec 11, 2021

:)

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Lorna JC
12:03 Dec 11, 2021

:)

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Lorna JC
12:03 Dec 11, 2021

:)

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Kylie Wallis
01:12 Mar 05, 2022

Wow. This is some good writing and you make totally valid points. :)

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