Finding Cinderella
60 pages • 2-hour read
Colleen HooverFinding Cinderella
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Symbols & Motifs
Maintenance Closet
The maintenance closet is a symbol of anonymity and intimacy within the text that provides the space in which Daniel and Six’s relationship begins. The anonymity that the closet provides enables Daniel and Six (then referred to as Cinderella) to be more intimate and vulnerable with one another than they would allow themselves to be otherwise. Although they are strangers to each other, in the dark of the maintenance closet, Six and Daniel become quickly intimate both emotionally and physically.
From their first interaction after Six falls on top of him, Daniel feels an innate sense of connection to her: “I feel her whole body sigh on top of me. Even though I have no idea who she is or what she looks like, I can feel the sadness in her and it makes me a little sad in return” (3). Daniel can feel the emotional weight that Six carries around with her, and because of their burgeoning connection, Daniel takes on some of that emotion as well. She continues to have this effect on him as their connection progresses: “The sound of her laughter actually makes my heart hurt. It hurts because I really want to know who this chick is, but I know once I find out, I more than likely won’t want her like I want her right now” (8). The anonymity that the maintenance closet provides fosters the conditions in which Daniel and Six can feel connected to each other. If the lights were on and they saw each other, Daniel fears that their connection would be broken because they would be forced to face the reality of each other rather than the anonymous fantasy they are co-constructing.
The intimacy of their experience breeds a rare opportunity to be completely vulnerable, which Six takes advantage of. At first, she is somewhat brazen about her sexual past: “I’ve got quite a reputation, you know” (7). Six tries to pass off her “promiscuous” reputation as something that she does not care about, making it a joke. However, as they spend more time in the anonymity of the closet, Six becomes more vulnerable:
What if I leave here in forty-five minutes and never hold another guy’s hand again? What if I go through life like I am right now? What if guys continue to take me for granted and I do nothing to change it and I’ll have lots of sex, but never know what it’s like to make love? (10).
Six finds it easier to admit her true feelings in the darkness of the closet where Daniel cannot see her, and yet she can reveal her true self to him.
She admits that her deepest fear is that she will never have sex with someone she is in love with, which Daniel tries to remedy by suggesting that they pretend to be in love and have sex. Six agrees, and their fantasy quickly begins to feel more real as they tell each other they love each other. Daniel thinks, “A huge part of me wishes I could mean it and a small part of me thinks I probably could” (13). When Daniel and Six realize that they cannot just stay in the safety of the maintenance closet forever, the teenagers become closed-off once more, their easy vulnerability no longer a possibility as the real world seeps in. Six declines Daniel’s suggestion that they turn on the light to see each other, stating, “It’ll ruin everything […] Let’s not ruin it. Once we find out who the other is, we’ll find something we don’t like. Maybe lots of things we don’t like. Right now it’s perfect. We can always have this perfect memory of that one time we loved somebody” (14). Their secrecy and shared anonymity are exactly what made their vulnerability possible. Neither of them trusts in relationships enough to believe that if they were to show each other their whole selves, they could still be together, a condition that the closet provides them. They choose to hold onto the closet instead, allowing the memory to remain pure and untainted.
It is significant that the scene of Six and Daniel’s reconciliation in Chapter 9 takes place in the maintenance closet. Both still reeling from the revelation about their son’s birth and adoption, Six and Daniel meet once more in the place where their relationship began and reaffirm their love for each other: “[K]nowing what we shared last year and now knowing what you had to go through and how it’s made you exactly who you are right now…it just blows my mind. It blows my mind that I get to love you” (110). This meeting in the closet brings them full circle: Whereas, in their earlier encounters, they shared their anxieties about the possibility that they may never fall in love, they now see how far they have come and choose to be together.
Fate and Unexpected Love
Fate and unexpected love are central motifs in the romantic journey that Daniel and Six embark on in Finding Cinderella. Neither Daniel nor Six plan to find lasting love when they happen to meet in the maintenance closet. The strength of their connection, however, drives them together, and though they decide to remain anonymous to each other even after having sex, the moment has a strong impact on Daniel’s desire to fall for the mystery girl: “A huge part of me wishes I could mean it and a small part of me thinks I probably could […] I wish it could be real” (13-14). Their tryst in the Prologue of the text sets off a series of events that lead Daniel and Six back to each other, implying that the two are fated to be together even though their beginning was unexpected.
When they meet again a year later, even though Daniel has never seen Six in the light of day, there is an innate attraction between them: “She looks vaguely familiar, but I can’t place her. Which is odd because she’s cute as hell and I feel like I should probably know her name or remember where I’ve seen her, but I don’t” (20). Their fated connection is so strong that Daniel feels as if he should know this person standing before him already, and in fact he does, but does not realize it.
There are a few moments like this in the text, where the strength of their connection catches Daniel by surprise, further emphasizing that fate has a hand in their romance. When they kiss on their first date, for example, “[their] mouths meld together like they used to be in love and they’re just now seeing each other for the first time in years” (39). The dramatic irony of this line that readers understand is that Daniel and Six’s mouths are meeting again after a year of being apart, but the familiarity between them is tangible when their lips meet once again.
Their connection surprises both of them, and its immediate intensity causes both Daniel and Six to question whether it could possibly be real: “What if the only reason we like each other so much is that it’s forbidden? What if the second they all find out the truth, we can’t stand each other?” (76). The unexpected nature of their attraction and feelings for each other instills anxiety in them both, but when Six admits these anxieties to Daniel, it only affirms for him that they are meant to be together, and he divulges to their friends that he and Six are in a relationship.
When Six brings up the possibility that their connection may not be real, it solidifies for him that it is:
Whatever this is between us, neither one of us was searching for it. Neither one of us knew it even existed. Neither one of us is even remotely prepared for it, but I know we both want it. I’ve never believed in anything like I believe in the possibility of the two of us (86).
This quote indicates a shift in Daniel’s feelings and insecurities about the immediate strength of his connection with Six. He views it instead for what it is: a romance fated to be despite its rapid progression. Its unexpected nature and the fact that neither of them was looking for love only further prove that they are meant to be together.
The revelation that Six and Daniel have been previously intimate in the maintenance closet, a tryst that produced a child, also proves that their love, while unexpected, was meant to be. Though they grapple with the emotional turmoil of Six having given birth to their child and then putting it up for adoption, the child is nonetheless a living symbol of the love that has existed between them from the first moment they met. One of the final quotes in the text is illuminating of Daniel’s perspective on fate’s role in love: “I lean forward and kiss the smile that just spread across her lips as I silently thank the universe for sending her back to me” (114). Daniel, and the text, believe that the universe is responsible for bringing him and Six back together once more, now ready for a relationship with each other after their unexpected beginning. The pain that they endured in learning each other’s identities, the pregnancy, and the adoption only bring them closer together, solidifying the fated nature of their relationship rather than tearing them apart.
Fairy Tales
Finding Cinderella draws its name and some plot elements from fairy tales, the most obvious being its titular allusion to the fairy tale “Cinderella.” Fairy tales are an important motif throughout the text, as Daniel and Six’s love story follows a somewhat fairy-tale trajectory, complete with a happy ending. While their story ends with an implied happily ever after, Hoover does not give this up lightly, inserting conflict and challenges for the characters to overcome.
Daniel first compares his feelings for Six to a fairy tale when they meet in the anonymity of the maintenance closet at school: “It feels like of euphoric, like we’re in some sort of fairy tale […] Maybe she can be like Cinderella, and I’ll be her Prince Charming” (3). Without knowing each other’s appearance or identities, their connection is so intense and instantaneous that Daniel describes it as being fairy-tale-like, acknowledging the near-magical quality of their bond. This is also where the “Cinderella” trope appears, as Daniel will hold tight to the memory of his mystery girl for the rest of the text until he realizes who she is. He elevates the memory to fairy-tale status, a moment so perfect and pure that he struggles to believe it was real.
There is even a “glass slipper” moment in the text, an homage to the fairy-tale moment in which the glass slipper that Cinderella left behind fits her foot perfectly, leading to her and Prince Charming’s happily ever after. Hoover, however, chooses to invert the “glass slipper” moment and use it as a catalyst for Daniel and Six’s greatest conflict. Daniel is overjoyed to learn that Six is the same girl from the closet a year before: “‘I know exactly what you mean. I hate everybody, too.’ […] I hate everybody too, Cinderella. The words I said that day in the closet are screaming loudly inside my head” (91). The repetition of the phrase that they first bonded over a year earlier alerts Daniel to Six’s identity as Cinderella, and in his mind, this should signify their happily ever after. Instead, the revelation causes Six to run away from the dinner table, sobbing and exclaiming, “This was a mistake. This was a huge mistake” (94). Six’s negative reaction to this revelation brings their fairy-tale relationship to a halt. They are further brought down from the realm of fantasy into harsh reality when Six reveals her pregnancy and subsequent choice to put their child up for adoption.
Instead of breaking their relationship apart, Daniel and Six are able, through communication and commitment, to address the conflict and come out stronger for it. Daniel takes a mature approach once he has begun processing the news, telling her, “I’m just sad, okay? That’s all this is. I’m allowed to be sad about this and I need you to let me be sad because this is a whole hell of a lot to process in a day” (109). He admits that he will need more time to process but that they will work through this together, ultimately becoming stronger for it. Their relationship is not, in fact, a fairy tale; however, it is something with more substance and weight. He tells her, “I think we might really be in love this time. No more pretending” (113). Through working through conflict when it arises, Daniel and Six reaffirm their love for one another and thus achieve their happy ending. Their love is not won without tribulation, but the struggles they overcome together give their love that much more depth, something far more real than a fairy tale.
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