Little Red Riding Hood can no longer be considered a frail child without any control over what becomes of herself. Instead, Angela Carter makes the moral of this traditional fairytale into a modern day lesson: you can do anything. With great detail does Carter present her setting, which adds to the fearfulness the reader feels for Red as she encounters the wolf. As a result, we begin to fear the wolves as well, because in this small village wolves are more than mere beasts, they are were-wolves. Carter sets the scene for our pre-adult heroine who is afraid of nothing even though the whole town is ripe with fear. Women and children are taught to stay indoors at night while the men fear for their own humanity. Despite all of this Little Red Riding Hood has no qualms about setting off into the woods to get to grandma’s house. Why does she not fear what all girls do? Based off the feministic elements, the act of sacrifice and applying our own abilities to a situation we understand much more about Red than before.
“It is a tale of girl becoming . . . more than just meat or nourishment for the quest.” states Wendy Swyt about Carters version of Little Red. The idea that Little Red knew what she was giving up in order to gain her life gives a chilling realism to difficult decisions we must face in our own lives. Swyt gives the understanding that Little Red has something to teach us yes, but maybe for Carter that lesson surely is not ‘don’t talk to strangers’. In fact, I argue Carter wants us to, because only in this way can we prove ourselves.
In Girard’s “Violence and the Sacred”, violence and the act of sacrifice is a way for society to be kept in balance. Not only is Little Red a victim, so are the were-wolves in this story. Specifi...
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...d the ability to manipulate, the situation one can turn a bad situation into one that need not be feared.
Works Cited
Carter, Angela. “The Company of Wolves.” The Bloody Chamber. Penguin Books. New York: 1979. Pages 110 – 118
Girard Rene. Violence and the Sacred. Excerpt from Chapter One: “Sacrifice”. The Johns Hopkins University Press. Baltimore Maryland 1977. Pages 2-16
Swyt, Wendy. "'Wolfings': Angela Carter's becoming-narrative." Studies in Short Fiction 33.3 (1996): 315+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 30 Nov. 2010.
Zipes, Jack. "The Trials and Tribulations of Little Red Riding Hood." The Trials and Tribulations of Little Red Riding Hood. Routledge, 1993. 17-88. Rpt. in Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800. Ed. Lawrence J. Trudeau. Vol. 56. Detroit: Gale Group, 2000. Literature Resource Center. Web. 29 NOV. 2010.
Cormac McCarthy’s “Blood Meridian” does a marvelous job of highlighting the violent nature of mankind. The underlying cause of this violent nature can be analyzed from three perspectives, the first being where the occurrence of violence takes place, the second man’s need to be led and the way their leader leads them, and lastly whether violence is truly an innate and inherent characteristic in man.
Power is an entity that is not given to a person, but is inalienable in all people. One must realize that it is not a matter of finding and achieving power, but instead, not letting it get taken away. Angela Carter’s The Company of Wolves and Marie de France’s The Lay of the Werewolf ventures into this idea of power, but specifically, into the role of control in a male-dominated society. Carter prologues her main story with several short stories about the nature of werewolves and relationships between mutating men and the women whom are expected to submit to them. Moreover, in both Carter and Marie De France’s stories, the werewolf acts as a shocking catalyst to urge the reader to consider why the beast of the tale is no longer just animal, but also part human. Above all, the werewolf serves as a symbol of the quintessential alpha male, and what contributes to his dominance and possible success or downfall.
With a heart-full of advice and wisdom, Dinah maturates from a simple- minded young girl to a valiant independent individual. “For a moment I weighed the idea of keeping my secret and remaining a girl, the thought passes quickly. I could only be what I was. And that was a woman” (170). This act of puberty is not only her initiation into womanhood but the red tent as well. She is no longer just an observer of stories, she is one of them, part of their community now. On account of this event, Dinah’s sensuality begins to blossom and she is able to conceive the notion of true love.
of the wolves and finds that they are more than the savage and merciless hunters
“What?!” shouted Little Red. Her mother, who was in shock at her tone, replied, “ Little
Dubus, Andre. "Killings." Meyer, Michael. In The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 107 - 120.
The fairytale Little Red Riding Hood by Charles Perrault is a story that recounts the adventure of the protagonist Little Red Riding Hood as she fulfills her mother’s wishes to bring a package to her ill grandmother. Perrault’s short story conveys influential life themes on the idea of male predation on adolescent women who fall victim to male deception. Perrault successfully portrays these themes through his use of rhetorical devices such as personifying the actions of the antagonist Wolf predator as he preys on the protagonist Little Red. Perrault illuminates the central theme of upholding sexual purity and being aware of eminent threats in society in his work. Roald Dahl’s poem, Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, is an adaptation to
“I've told her and I've told her: daughter, you have to teach that child the facts of life before it's too late” (Hopkinson 1). These are the first three lines of Nalo Hopkinson's short story “Riding the Red”, a modern adaptation of Charles Perrault's “Little Red Riding Hood”. In his fairy tale Perrault prevents girls from men's nature. In Hopkinson's adaptation, the goal remains the same: through the grandmother biographic narration, the author elaborates a slightly revisited plot without altering the moral: young girls should beware of men; especially when they seem innocent.
“I've told her and I've told her: daughter, you have to teach that child the facts of life before it's too late” (Hopkinson 1). These are the first three lines of Nalo Hopkinson's fairy tale “Riding the Red”, a modern adaptation of Charles Perrault's “Little Red Riding Hood”. Perrault provided a moral to his fairy tales, the one from this one is to prevent girls from men's nature. In Hopkinson's adaptation, the goal remains the same: through the grandmother biographic narration, the author advances a revisited but still effective moral: beware of wolfs even though they seem innocent.
“The Company of Wolves” by Angela Carter is a feminist and gruesome retelling of the fairy tale “Little Red Riding-Hood”. The story involves a werewolf, who represents a sexual predator. The werewolf is used as a symbol for both danger and desire. It also involves a young girl who does not fall victim to the fear of the wolf that she is surrounded by. She embraces her newfound sexual power and serves as symbol of sexual desire/power and female strength.
Perrault, B. (2003). Little red riding hood. In Schilb, J. and Clifford, J. (Ed.) Making literature matter (pp. 667-669). NY: Bedford/St. Martin?s.
In her transformation of the well-known fable "Little Red Riding Hood," Angela Carter plays upon the reader's familiarity. By echoing elements of the allegory intended to scare and thus caution young girls, she evokes preconceptions and stereotypes about gender roles. In the traditional tale, Red sticks to "the path," but needs to be rescued from the threatening wolf by a hunter or "woodsman." Carter retells the story with a modern perspective on women. By using fantasy metaphorically and hyperbolically, she can poignantly convey her unorthodox and underlying messages.
Folktales are a way to represent situations analyzing different prospects about gender, through the stories that contribute with the reality of the culture in which they develop while these provide ideas about the behavior and roles of a specific sex building a culture of womanhood, manhood and childhood. This is what the stories of Little Red Riding Hood of Charles Perrault (1697) and Little Red-Cap of the Grimm Brothers (1812) show. This essay will describe some ideas about gender in different ways. First, the use of symbolic characters allows getting general ideas about the environment in the society rather than individuals. Second, it is possible to identify ideas about gender from the plot from the applied vocabulary providing a better understanding of the actions. Finally, the narrative perspective of the tales analyzes deeply the status of the characters referring to the thoughts among the society.
“Little Red Cap” quickly became a household tale among children and adults, due to the imperative lessons that it directs to children and their parents'. Behind the initial story lies a message which, ”Cautions young girls to mind their mothers and not stray from the path to wander in the forbidden woods” (Rholetter). The forest represents any unfamiliar place that children can easily become lost within, while the path to grandmother’s house can represent a place the child is accustomed to. As soon as Little Red Cap begins her journey, she is confronted by a wolf. When they first meet, the wolf acts as a polite gentleman would towards any young lady which earns Little Red Cap’s trust instantly, "Little Red Cap, just where does your grandmother live? said the Wolf. Little Red Cap eagerly replied, Her house is a good quarter hour from here in the woods, under the three large oak trees. There's a hedge of hazel bushes there. You must know the place”(Grimm). This portrays children being subjected to the danger of strangers acting as friends to others for their own personal gains. The Brothers Grimm version of “
In the classical tale of Little Red Riding Hood, Little Red Riding Hood leaves her mother to visit her grandmother, and both the women possess the feminine roles in the society. The story commences in the kitchen with the mother baking. In many cultures, the communities assume that the women should cook, clean, and tend to impositions inside the household. As the grandmother appears in the plotline, the author illustrates her to be ailing and feeble. By describing this elderly female in the manner of weakness, the author subconsciously implies the faintness and vulnerability of women brought on by the ideas and practices of an earlier time period. The grandmother becomes vulnerable and naïve as she expresses her susceptibility to the wolf when she tells him she is “too weak to get out of bed” (Hyman 12). By admitting to her helplessness, she acknowledges the weakness of her gender to the more superior male wolf.