The Twelve Months Analysis

The Twelve Months, a Slovak fairy tale, reveals a lot about the country’s rich culture and the values of the Slovak people with its thematic plot. From an American perspective, much is not known about the Slavic nation, which declared independence from the former Czechoslovakia in 1993. Surprisingly, the Twelve Nights is quite similar to the popular American tale, Cinderella, which suggests that the belief system of the Slovak people is no different from the American belief that good triumphs over evil.
The main protagonist, Maruska, is similar to Cinderella in that she is the slave of the household. Her evil stepmother and stepsister, Holena constantly bombard Maruska with untimely requests because they are jealous of her evolving beauty. Without lashing back or complaining, Maruska’s beauty grows, while the stepsister and mother only grow uglier by the day. The stark contrast of personalities of Maruska and her stepfamily is illustrated in their physical appearances. With Maruska’s selflessness and humility, she is rewarded with beauty while her stepmother and Holena are punished with ugliness. The story simply implies that acts of kindness are attractive and good whereas jealousy and cruelty are unattractive and ugly.
In an evil scheme to kill Maruska, Holena and her stepmother send her into the dead of winter to complete impossible tasks. Repetitiously, they send her out to find violets, strawberries and apples—items that purposely grow during the other seasons. On her way to the forest, Maruska encounters gnome-like men who each represent the three other seasons. With great kindness, Maruska politely pleads for help in executing these tasks and is instantly rewarded when each gnome changes the season to accommodate for the growth of each item. When she arrives home each time, her stepmother and Holena are unsatisfied and therefore send her out into the cold demanding for more things. Once she retrieves their last request of apples, they order her to inform them about how to get more apples in such harsh conditions. Dissatisfied with Maruska’s answer, Holena and her stepmother hunt to uncover the apple tree in the forest. After stumbling upon the gnomes, Holena and her stepmother insist they give them more fruit. Flabbergasted and offended, the gnome of winter cast harsh downfalls of snow that drowns Holena and her stepmother in the end. All while this was occurring, Maruska sat at home worried and praying for their safe return. In the last paragraph, like Cinderella, Maruska is swept away by her handsome prince and lived happily ever after. This story condemns the rude behavior of Holena and her stepmother and continues to highlight patience and humility by rewarding Maruska a happy and successful life. The gnome-like men of the seasons act as gods who hold the destinies of the three main characters. By deciding the fate of each, they convey a strong message to the reader by forbidding rude and opportunistic behavior of Holena and Maruska’s stepmother who are driven by greed. Greed and selfishness drives Holena and the evil stepmother to their terrible end, which suggests that nothing good can come from acting in a certain way. Both Cinderella and the Twelve Nights convey the message that good triumphs over evil. Having similar values imply that the cultures of Slovakia and America share similar views of what is right and wrong. The story conveys two extremes of behavior illustrated in the main characters, which is meant to teach the reader specific values and morals.
My partner Martina and I share this view that most fairy tales in America and Slovakia repeat this theme of good vs. evil and agree that unfortunately the value of good over evil isn’t applied all the time in real life. In fact, nowadays the idea of opportunism is encouraged in competitive situations such as the work environment. Never settling for average motivates those to seek more. To work their way up to a high-position, people tend to manipulate power in order to get what they want even at the expense of others. Though the exaggerated death of Holena and her stepmother symbolize that negative effects of greed and evil, most times people aren’t punished for opportunistic behavior. Even those who do only well, on some occasions, aren’t guaranteed rewards for doing the right thing, especially to the extreme of Maruska’s fate. Nonetheless, the timeless stories of Cinderella and the Twelve Nights impart important messages that encourage those at a younger age to be positive characters like Maruska or Cinderella, which is especially needed in today’s world.