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Chapter 34
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Cinderella is Dead, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Sexism and Feminism
Love
Oppression and Control
Coming of Age
Revolution, Solidarity, and Teamwork
Summary
Analysis
Sophia explores Cinderella’s “pretty prison,” the room Manford once trapped her in, and finds Cinderella’s diary. She learns that Manford drained Cinderella slowly over time to punish her for rejecting his advances. Sophia continues exploring and finds the dungeon, where Luke and the other forfeits are starving. Sophia frees them. She sees young girls among the group and realizes this is what happened to the missing girls of Lille. She tells the forfeits to flee. For once, Sophia is glad for the townspeople’s apathy toward suffering, since the cotillion guests ignore the forfeits as they escape the palace.
Though Cinderella married into a life of material luxury and wealth as Prince Charming’s wife, marriage for her ultimately became a prison, as she was trapped in the role of Charming’s wife. Her literal entrapment in her room emphasizes that. Sophia never got a chance to free Cinderella, but she does manage to free Luke and the other forfeits.
Active
Themes
Sophia finds Manford on his throne. He taunts her, claiming that everyone bows to him eventually, even Cinderella. Sophia knows this is a lie. He screams that he deserved Cinderella’s love, and Sophia sees that Manford is driven by the belief that he was entitled to Cinderella’s love. Manford grabs Sophia and holds her tight while he forces her to dance with him, and she thinks of all the girls he has drained. She pulls away from Manford, and he begins to drain her. Sophia feels the life leaving her body, but something stops the process midway.
