Bows and slippers

A parallel between the Odyssey and Cinderella: Odysseus' bow and the glass slipper. Both are symbols that appear at the story's climax, the point where the characters triumph, finally abandoning disguises and fulfilling their destiny. Cinderella changes from scullery maid to princess; Odysseus changes from haggard beggar to king.

In both stories, the item in question is a personal belonging of the protagonist, something from the past, from a period when they were their true selves, that has since been lost to them. Cinderella's slipper comes from her night as a princess at the ball. Odysseus' bow was one he used for hunting before he sailed off to fight the Trojans.

These archetypal symbols play a number of important roles. They build anticipation -- the reader waits for the moment when the totem of the character's true self is returned. They serve as an corporeal signs of inner truths.

They play on irony: the people who claim to be the real princesses (the stepsisters) and kings (the suiters), who chide the true hero and heroine for being impostors and lowlifes, are themselves the true impostors and lowlifes. The reader disdains the impostors for their hypocrisy and their lack of a sense of propriety. Injustices are set right when Odysseus strings the bow, when Cinderella fits the slipper.

These items represent the core imbalance of the situation -- which a broad way of thinking of complications in narrative. At the climax, we discover that balance will be restored, the complication resolved.