Analyse af 'Sandy and Her Beautiful Sisters'

The English short story “Sandy and Her Beautiful Sisters – A Modern Fairytale” is written by Antonia Fraser and first published in 2001. The story has a lot of the characteristics, which are known from other traditional fairytales. The sentence “Once upon a time there were three sisters, two of whom were beautiful” is rather important. The first four words are typical for the beginning of a fairytale. The number three is the magic fairytale number and occurs several times in the story. The number three is mentioned in the sentence itself, the sentence is written three times, and there are three sisters. Other typical fairytale characteristics are the fairy godmother and the hero or Prince Charming. The spelling of Mrs. Fairey’s name, the comparison of her with a real fairy godmother, and her general behaviour in the story immediately leads the thoughts to fairies and fairy godmothers. Sam Prince is the modern Prince Charming. His name also indicates that he is not just any man. Sandy is the youngest of three sisters and the one without the beauty. Her sisters are both “longlegged goddesses” and Sandy has given up trying to compete with them. She doesn’t really blame them, her look is simply a result of “the genes getting, as it were, shaken, not stirred”. According to Mrs. Fairey Sandy is a slave to her sisters, but Sandy doesn’t seem to mind her status as the housekeeper. One can imagine that she is aware of her lower status, but perhaps simply feels imitated by her beautiful sisters. Deep down she probably knows, that Mrs. Fairey is right in her presumption, that Helena and Harriet will not care for and look after Sandy when they get their own families. However, when she finally decides to become more like her sisters and wishes for a man, who would go after women like her sisters, it all goes wrong. To practice her seducing skills Sandy uses Danny, who is her sister’s ex-boyfriend. The fact that he has dated her sister makes him perfect, in that way she is certain that he is the right kind of man. Unfortunately she becomes pregnant, and that becomes the end of her career as the third beautiful sister. Danny is not mentioned in the rest of the story, which kind of makes him a reckless idiot, who is not man enough to take responsibility of his actions. Sandy doesn’t want an abortion and it is assumed that the baby will just become a part of the everyday life in the flat in Fulham.