Fairy tales are causing havoc on modern day relationships, making girls believe they can wait around for their prince and then having unrealistic expectations for them to uphold. In Forget Prince Charming by June Callwood, she preaches to her granddaughters that they should have sensible expectations and stresses the point of not demanding too much of their companion because “no human relationship is friction free.” Alice Major uses satire to criticize the expectations men have of women due to these fairy tales in Puce Fairy Book. She exposes the flaws society has created by looking to these "[ladies] sleeping in a garden," and "waiting in [towers]," as role models and idealistic wives and partners. In both of these passages the authors attempt to break down the barrier of expectations and high demands these fairy tales have established.
The “oceanic feeling,” of love people experience as they start dating, while still an astounding sensation, is just “the temporary insanity,” of feelings like you have found the perfect mate. This is what June Callwood attempts to explain to her granddaughters in Forget Prince Charming. She advises them to have expectations, but not superficial and unrealistic ones that no one can live up to and to realize that no relationship is 50-50. She attempts to steer their thinking towards relationships as “a mutual ability to compromise.” She also advise them to look past their looks and first appearances and try find admirable characteristic traits such as trust, loyalty and honor in a potential partner. Another key aspect Callwood believes that helps contribute to a well bonded relationship is a sense of humor that “springs from awareness of life’s absurdities.” While she encourages her granddaughters to search for this mate with their head she admits that the "pounding heart is not always an idiot," and they also need to go on instinct sometimes to help lead them to the right decision and find their "inner wisdom," as well.
“You wanted Rapunzel waiting in a tower braids of hair like ropes," this sums up how fairytales have created a unrealistic outlook that men should look for in women. Alice Major the author of Puce Fairy Book tries to break through the barrier of these expectations by saying how modern day women don’t expect to be brought a “crystal slipper on a heart-shaped pillow,” and sometimes “[forget] to water the roses round the door.” Women don’t want the pressure of living up to these expectations laid out for them by a story book character. They have had other "princes through...[their] forest," and not just been lounging around waiting and praying for their perfect mate to come rescue them. Even if the man was her "one true prince," and he had exceedingly high expectations that she couldn't possibly live up to, she would in fact turn him down out of self respect for herself.
Alice Major would agree with June Callwood in the case of modern day relationship expectations as both authors pointed out the unrealistic expectations both males and females have on each other . Major would concur with Callwood’s statement that “Prince Charming… is a narcissistic dope," because in her poem she criticizes how the men expects ladies to meet these absurd standards. Callwood would agree with Major's statement of no women should “[cut] off [her] toe,” just because of a man would want her to. Both authors are aware that while "some matters are not negotiable," couples need to be able to compromise while having realistic expectations of one another, in order to make a long term relationship last.
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