Of course to counter all the good and beautiful people there are the antagonists, namely the "mean old- (ibid) step mother and the "mean- (ibid) stepsisters, all described as ugly physically as well as in deeds. This description as the good as beautiful and the bad as ugly create a tale with one-dimensional characters that help make the story into a clear case of good triumphing over evil, a take that paints the battle of good and evil in strictly binary terms, an oversimplification at best. Given Grant's milieu and audience, he kept it in such simple terms as to provide a succinct and understandable story for his presumably young audience, as well as keeping the moral of the story in line with the pleasant atmosphere of the 1950's. .
In Lee's "When the Clock Strikes-, the line between good and evil is blurred and it is difficult to ascertain which groups of characters are good and which are evil. Unlike in "Walt Disney's Cinderella'-, the protagonist of this tale is a witch, a class of people traditionally associated with evil. However, again contrasting with the overly-simplistic "Walt Disney's Cinderella'-, the main character, Ashella, is "astonishingly beautiful- (Lee 609), an odd occurrence indeed because Ashella is conspiring and scrupulous, personality traits usually not seen in the protagonists of fairy tales. Also, again conflicting with Grant's tale, the step sisters and step mother are "sweet cheery and pretty- (Lee 611) who actually try to befriend Ashella and to lighten her emotional burdens, yet they are considered antagonists because they are bothersome to the heroine of the story. Lee's tale makes clear distinctions between physical beauty and its stereotypes, unlike in "Walt Disney's Cinderella'-, where beauty, and the alignment with good or evil, ran skin deep. In fact, beauty provides a fazade for the wicked to exact their vengeance.
The relationships between the characters also are indicative of the good versus evil overtones in Grant's "Walt Disney's Cinderella'-.
