Maia’s astounding ability to be self reliant and independent in the face of tough challenges defines her as a free thinking young woman, but Cinderella’s meek attitude confines her and drags her down when she is challenged. The ideal of independence is vital to a meaningful life, as illustrated by both young women in similar circumstances. When a baby robin hatches from a pale blue egg, they are completely dependent on their mother for food, water, and protection. Eventually, the baby bird leaps out of the nest, earns independence, and starts their own life. Humans must also leap out of their nest into a scary world filled with the unknown. However perilous it may be, independence is a necessity for an original life. In the novel Journey to …show more content…
In Journey to the River Sea, Maia is constantly harassed and bullied by her malicious step sisters in their Amazonian home. They pull her hair, scratch her body, and set the local children against her. Despite all of this, Maia forgives Beatrice and Gwendolyn, and further proves her benevolence by helping them and not pressing legal charges for the family’s abuse. Maia has just finished a dance lesson in Manaus with her friends and step sisters, but she fears she was not invited to her best friend’s birthday party when she never receives an invitation. While Maia is upset, her governess questions why Maia never got her paper and insinuates that the twins stole it. Maia responds tentatively by saying, “Oh, but they wouldn’t -- surely…”(163). From the passage, and the conversation surrounding it, the reader realizes the twins stole Maia's invitation to the most important party of the year in an attempt to break Maia’s spirit. Despite the circumstances, Maia still finds a way to attend the party, and does not hold the twins’ pettiness against them. In the folk tale Cinderella, the protagonist is verbally abused and forced to complete menial and physically challenging labor on a regular basis. Cinderella submits to the treatment for years before the prince finds her, and once he has she forgives her step family. The French version included Cinderella encouraging her step sisters to marry nobles, an act without resentment. “My father’s wife works me like a serving-girl.” (333) This admission made by Cinderella, a free woman by birth, shows she is worked like a slave in her own home, but she still considers her tormentors family. Her father just watches as she is worked to the bone, but Cinderella still considers him family and forgives