"Bonwit Teller"
This references a high quality women's clothing store that was founded in 1895, New York City. In Sexton's story, after the charwoman suffers an accident on a bus, she trades in her cleaning supplies for this classy apparel. Is it a coincidence that Anne Sexton situates material/physical wealth/beauty as the "dream come true?" Highly improbable.
"Al Jolson"I decided to Google image Al Jolson in hopes of being able to put a face with a name when I went on to look up what significant role he played in American history. I got a face alright. Jolson was a singer, comedian, and actor who--wait for it-- enjoyed performing in black face! Cinderella was a stepdaughter, stepsister, and essentially a maid who--wait for it--was made dirty by cinders of the fireplace. Interesting. Perhaps this draws attention to the perception of blackness as "dirty" and, thus, inferior to whiteness.
Recap: Cinderella = dark = ugly = Other
Those who aren't white = dark = ugly = Other
"Bobbsey Twins"Well, well, well. More perfection as manifested by whiteness! Sexton concludes her story with the depiction of Cinderella and her prince as eternally-smiling, infinitely happy plastic dolls. Since I had already heard of the Bobbsey Twins, I decided to (again) Google image this fine family! So white. So perfect. So what everyone should be.
By way of defending the honor of my late cousin, Al Jolson, performing in blackface (however politically incorrect today) was a popular tradition not associated in anyone's minds with "ugliness" or "dirtiness". And a look at (just for example) the comic strips of around the same time will show that every ethnic group -- from the Irish, in "Happy Hooligan" and "Bringing Up Father", to Germans in "The Captain and the Kids", to Jews, in "Abie the Agent" and indeed Anglo/WASPS, in "The Gumps", "The Bungle Family" and countless other strips, came in for caricature and a certain amount of rough handling. People were expected to have thicker skins then, and it appears that they did. P.Truster
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