IN THE WILDS OF THE INTERNET, RESURRECT THE FAIRYTALE HEROINES

Seemingly innocent narratives, fairy tales are used as a mechanism that expresses and enforces the relations of power in society. These ‘simple' stories perpetuate socially acceptable ideologies and behavioral patterns for both sexes. Fairy tales project beauty, meekness, passivity, obedience, and submissiveness as the ideal qualities of women. Fairy tales never encourage girls to be outspoken persons, independent thinkers, and agents of action. Instead, these stories tell only about girls who are sweet and kind. The construction of gender roles using fairy tales has been criticized by feminists across the globe. Nikita Gill, a British Indian writer with a huge online following, in her poetry collection wild embers, rewrites many of the fairy tales. The feminine mode of writing takes new dimensions in the relatively new field of digital poetry especially the Instagram poetry. This paper aims at exploring the huge feminine potential in the rewritten fairytale heroines of The Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, The Beauty and the Beast and Alice in Wonderland.