Pranav Rawat COM 5 Sven-Erik-Rose 3/17/2023 Comparisons Between “Chonguita” and “The Frog King, or Iron Heinrich” Transformation stories are extremely popular in our current culture, with stories such as “Beauty and the Beast” being extremely popular. These stories, however, have their own agenda, portraying gender roles through different symbols and actions. In two such stories, “Chonguita” and “The Frog King, or Iron Heinrich”, the meanings between each story become very apparent through the events that take place with each character. The similarities and differences between “Chonguita” and “The Frog King, or Iron Heinrich” show the relationship between gender roles in the time periods they were made in. The biggest similarity between …show more content…
In “The Frog King, or Iron Heinrich”, the character that transforms is a man, while in “Chonguita”, the character that transforms is a woman. Both stories portray the character getting hurt for completely different reasons. In “Chonguita”, Don Juan is shown to be ashamed of himself for marrying a monkey. This is shown near the beginning, where he does not want to bring her to meet his brothers: “Don Juan was ashamed to bring her because she was a monkey”(81). The symbolism of Chonguita being a ‘monkey’ could be a symbol of race, status, or class. As a result, Don Juan becomes violent when she asks to dance with him because he feels that she is inferior because of her status. In “The Frog King, or Iron Heinrich”, however, the girl looks down on the frog because it is “disgusting” and “clammy” (57). The violence is directed at the man, not because of status, but because of looks and characteristics. In “Chonguita'', the violence is used as commentary for men to not judge by status and racial stratification, whereas in “The Frog King, or Iron Heinrich”, the violence is used as a moral lesson for women to not judge others by physical