Beyond the Slipper: A Textual and Intercultural Analysis of Folk Justice and Moral Closure in Tấm Cám and Grimm’s “Cinderella” / Aschenputtel

This article offers a textual and intercultural analysis of Tấm Cám and Grimm’s “Cinderella” / Aschenputtel, with particular attention to folk justice, punishment, moral closure, and critical cultural awareness. While both tales are commonly situated within the Cinderella-type tradition, motif-based comparison alone cannot fully explain how they produce different moral effects. Drawing on Byram’s notions of interpreting and relating and critical cultural awareness, the study reads the two tales as culturally situated moral narratives rather than as simple variants of a universal plot. Through close textual reading and ICC-informed interpretation, the article shows that both narratives begin with a persecuted heroine whose suffering is located within the household and whose virtue is supported by supernatural assistance. However, Aschenputtel moves toward justice through recognition, exposure, and symbolic punishment, whereas Tấm Cám imagines justice through repeated loss, transformation, return, and retributive closure. The analysis argues that the two tales share a Cinderella-type grammar but construct different models of moral imagination. By extending ICC-informed reading into comparative folklore analysis, the article contributes to intercultural literary studies and shows how folktales can become sites for interpreting culturally different understandings of justice, virtue, punishment, and ethical discomfort.