Reference For Or Monopoly Of Telling?

The issue and methodology:Cinderella is perhaps the best-known and most popular fairy tale with more than 3000 versions around the world. Although folklorists and researchers are not in agreement on the origin of the story, it's undeniable that the story contains significant values in literary, anthropological and sociological fields. While most versions adopted the similar motifs, sibling rivalry is the most common one among them. The reasons why sibling rivalry is such a focused motif in Cinderella arouse extensive discussions among fairy tale studiers. Meanwhile, respective studies on the early versions and the modern versions of Cinderella indicate that the later ones are hugely influenced by the early ones in plot, motifs and framework. Some of the motifs did not even originate from the early versions of Cinderella, but from The Bible and the Greek Mythos. Thus, are The Bible, The Greek Mythos and the first versions of Cinderella the meta-narratives of the motifs in question? If so, do they have referential function? And is it legitimate? Meta-narrative is such an interdisciplinary issue that involves not only literary sphere but also sociological sphere. Therefore, this thesis intends to explore the possibilities of meta-narrative and the profound meaning of sibling rivalry.Organization and major contents:This thesis consists of six chapters. The first chapter gives an introduction to the issues, including sibling rivalry in Cinderella stories and meta-narrative, and the rationale of this thesis. Chapter two is going to discuss fairy tales as a whole and offers a specific view of Cinderella stories. In terms of fairy tale, this chapter will give a rough definition and display the common motifs found in fairy tales, thus revealing the conception of meta-narrative. As for Cinderella specifically, I will firstly investigate the origin and first versions in the west and around the world, and then present the similar motifs I collected in some popular variants. A conclusion is drawn on the reasons why Cinderella stories are popular through investigation from psychological, sociological and religious perspectives. Chapter three is intended to probe into the possibilities of sibling rivalry in Cinderella stories and sibling rivalry as a stand-alone human relation. This chapter will study this issue on an empirical and conceptual basis. Firstly, research on sibling rivalry in Cinderella and other literary works will be done, thus revealing the reasons of sibling rivalry through multidimensional perspectives. Examples will be given to show that sibling rivalry not only has negative influence but also turns out to be positive if been diplomatically dealt with. Chapter Four discusses meta-narrative in terms of literary and sociological experiences and beyond. Besides, an introduction of proto-narrative, which is often confused with meta-narrative will be given to help us compare and differentiate the two. Lastly, the chapter will investigate the referential function from a cognitive view, providing examples and discuss the restrictive function of meta-narrative. Chapter five will test the soundness of legitimacy of meta-narrative through presenting Lyotard's and Jameson's opinions. Both of them have strong arguments. Lyotard held that meta-narrative restrict forms and ideas, and we should manage to deconstruct. However, Jameson's claim that nowadays human still resort to meta-narrative for reference. Both standpoints are tenable under theoretical and empirical tests under certain circumstances. At last, Chapter six will offer a brief summary of the findings and present a few thoughts for further study.Conclusion:Researches done on sibling rivalry in Cinderella and in a bigger context indicate that this basic human relation has experienced the entire human history. It appears frequently in literary works and in historical records with both positive expressions and negative expressions. It's found that a few early documents have served as references for the later works. Some ideas and values are considered as meta-narrative that influence and dominate the other co-existing and latter ones. Lyotard and other post-modern theorists believed that the truth lies in that there are numerous different, incompatible values and social principles as well as discrepancies and inhomogeneities. Meta-narrative can't not lead human to rationalism but only brings oppression and persecution to humanity. On the contrary, Jameson claims that terms had been added "post" will eventually bring people into a historical successional discourse. Any theory that acknowledges post-modern existence must face the former ones. The "post" and "pre" narratives selves presupposed historical phases divided by a certain meta-narrative and presupposed the idea of historical succession. Through the comparison and study of both standpoints, it's not difficult to see that despite referential and restrictive functions meta-narrative bears, it should be regarded as an organic unity between contradictions, in which stability and development should coexist.