NowadaysThe Sleeping Beauty in the Wood. Perrault's original story does not include a happy ending like the revised version of the Disney movie (Perrault 296). "There Was Once" is an excerpt from Good Bone, and itthe stereotypical opening of fairy tales. These two texts were written by different authors different time period. tories written  period reflect similar social issues time period to point out the problems. However, by looking at the similarities and differences in these two texts, the two social problems, the people's dissatisfaction with government and the gender discrimination, appear in a tale even though the two literary pieces are from different time periods.

 "The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood" is one of the typical French fairy tales. According to Zipes, French fairy tales highlighted the aristocratic elite of seventeenth century. French tales about class struggle. Also they were the outcome of violent civilized struggles, and aristocrats' struggles for hegemony. In France, fairy tales were entertainment and education for ruling class. They were written in standard high language which made very difficult for to read it (Zipes 17). "There Was Once" is one of the story collections of Margaret Atwood. It is a very short story which unfolds in dialogue form between two people. The author points out that the world of today is very different and not as fictional as the opening of fairy tales that a character in this story talks about. Unlike the story of "The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood", the author selects very concise and direct word choices to convey the meaning clearly within a short story. For example, according to the story, "I don't think it's nice to make fun of people's appearances. Plus you're encouraging anorexia" (Atwood 305). The main character uses very direct speech in a dialogue in this sentence. Despite the fact that the each of the two stories are written for different classes of people, they have a common goal of criticizing the same type of social issues by using the concept of fairy tales. 

The authors are trying to talk about two main things that each of the stories has in common. The first thing is the unfair treatment of women and the other thing is an insecure society by a corrupt government. The time period of "The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood" was the time before the French enlightenment due to the spread of commoners' dissatisfaction. There was the advent of the bourgeoisie and they had all wealth of France (Furet 1-4). According to "The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood", it says, they saw a very old fairy come into the hall, whom they had not invited, because it was above fifty years since she had been out of a certain tower, and she was believed to be either dead or enchanted (Perrault 296). The old fairy symbolizes useless and powerless people in society. The author wants to show how a powerless character could change the situation by challenging the power. This is a Perrault's way of showing a criticism on government.At the time that "There Was Once" was written, dissatisfaction of the Canadian people against the government was prevalent (Outshoorn 1). The protagonist of "There Was Once" says, "What's this was, once? Enough of the dead past. Tell me about now" (Atwood 306). It reflects people's expectation of the need for progressive change in Canadian government. 

Also the creepy and thickly wooded forest in the story of "The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood" symbolizes corrupted and unorganized society. According to this story, "There grew up all round about the park such a vast number of trees, great and small, bushes and brambles, twining one within another, that neither man nor beast could pass through" (Perrault 298). According to the story of "There Was Once", "Forest? Forest is passe, I mean, I've had it with all this wilderness stuff. It's not a right image of our society, today. Let's have some urban for a change" (Atwood 305). In the story of "There Was Once", the term forest is described as old fashioned which symbolizes the old way of governing unlike the figure of developed urban areas and society.

The second thing that both authors point out is the gender discrimination issue. Bad figures described in both texts are all women. In "The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood", the king's mother, an Ogress says, "I will eat the Queen with the same sauce I had with her children" (Perrault 301). The author applies a bad image to a woman character who is an Ogress in this story. In this way, the author expresses his criticism for gender discrimination.  Also in "The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood", the author also use important characters to symbolize the gender discrimination. Day was the youngest son and Morning was eldest daughter. King gives him the name of Day because he is handsomer and more beautiful than his sister Morning (300). This is a way to show unfair social status of men and women by applying the concept to the kids who really do not have any bias or power to influence gender discrimination yet. 

The story "There Was Once" criticizes a negative female image in a direct way. The protagonist of this story says, "But I am so tired of negative female images! And stepmothers  --  they always get it in the neck! Change it to stepfather, why don't you?" (Atwood 306). Unlike "The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood", the author's purpose is to show discrimination more clearly than in "There Was Once". The discrimination in this story was shortly and directly expressed by the intense conversation between two people. Hence, they need to use direct terms like stepfather, and forest to give a message to the readers.

 Both stories have a negative trend which is further evidence to support the fact that both have the same social issues. In conclusion, the comparison between "The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood" and "There Was Once" shows that the authors of different time periods could talk about the same social issues which are the people's dissatisfactions with government and the gender discrimination. The author of "The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood" uses curse of old fairy and creepy forest scene to to symbolize corrupt government of France. The author of "There Was Once" describes the words 'There Was Once' and 'Forest' as dead and old-fashioned government.  Also the author of "The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood" uses bad woman character and the naming of the king's children to show the gender discrimination. "There Was Once" uses the term stepmother for the gender discrimination. Even though the two authors are from different time period and used their own methods, the comparison shows that the final goal of giving the same type of social messages to the readers coincides. Also it was very successful for both of the stories.
