he rescuing prince). She is the quintessential victim, not only passive, but stupid in her failure to heed the dwarves' warnings not to have anything to do with anybody coming to their house. Males, on the other hand, from the huntsman to the dwarves to the prince, actively work to save this helpless, pretty, stupid, little girl. Even her tombstone identifies her not as an individual woman with her own life (and apparent death), but as the daughter of a king (Grimm 45).
The two primary females in Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huck Finn are identified almost exclusively by their relationship with Tom. Becky exists essentially as a love interest for Tom, while Aunt Polly exists solely as an obstacle to Tom's need to be free. Tom, conversely, does whatever he wants to do whenever he wants to do it, and it is up to Becky and Aunt Polly to adjust to him.
At the same time, Aunt Polly and Becky represent a giant step forward for females from their stupid and passive portrayal by the Grimm Brothers in the characters of the evil egoistic Queen and Snow White. Becky, defined by her relationship with Tom, is a veritable feminist compared to the passive cipher of Snow White, and Aunt polly, as controlling and bad-tempered as she is in her treatment of the rascally Tom, is a loving mother-figure compared to the monstrous Queen in "Snow White."
Although her role in the novel is primarily that of the moralistic gate-keeper, the overbearing parent-figure trying to keep Tom from mischief, Aunt Polly's character is softened by moments of humor and self-awareness. On the very first page of the book, in fact, the reader is allowed to see the human side of Aunt Polly when Tom plays a trick on her to avoid punishment. Aunt Polly "broke into a gentle laugh. 'Hang the boy, can't I ever learn anything? Ain't be played me tricks enough like that for me to be looking out for him by this time? But old fools is the biggest fools there is'" (Twain 390)...