Analysis of Little Red Riding Hood Essay

Throughout Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, it seems as if Atticus Finch is a failure as both a parent and a lawyer. However, somebody with a good understanding of the novel will realise that Atticus is in fact a terrific lawyer and a superb father. However, like all people, Atticus has his flaws.

Prologues are often an author’s way of introducing important information or topics needed to understand the body of writing on a deeper level or as a way to direct the reader to a certain line of thought or specific interpretation of the writing. Anne Sexton writes a prologue for every single one of her poems in her compilation of fairytale poetry throughout Transformations. She gives the reader so many hints throughout her prologues on what the reader should pay attention to. In “Red Riding Hood”, Sexton draw immense attention to the issues of deception in real life though the importance she places on these issues in her poem. She calls out not only the frequency of deception in life but she calls attention specifically to the deception of a mother’s security.

Cunning. Crafty. Creative. Cruel. “Charles”, written by Shirley Jackson in 1948, is a rather chilling short story about the vulnerability of a young child’s imagination, about the fantasies of the human mind, about the manipulation of humans, and about the insidious dangers of change. Jackson’s horrific tale stealthy kidnaps the oblivious reader from their seat and takes him or her on a non-stop ride that begins in a simple family home and ends in the darkest corner of the human imagination. By manipulating the innocent thoughts as a young boy into those of a grim reality, by employing innocence to camouflage hypocrisy and duplicity and by hiding behind the faultless nature of a young imagination to hide the insidious nature he possesses,

To Kill a Mockingbird is the story of the trial of a black man, Tom Robinson for the raping of a white woman, Mayella Ewell, in racist Alabama in the 1990’s.

In “A Barred Owl” by Richard Wilbur and “The History Teacher” by Billy Collins, the authors both argue that innocence is necessary to cultivate the ideal child via their protective tones, deceptive plot, and contrasting rhyme schemes.

After making fun of her teacher and being racist towards African Americans, Scout learns a tough lesson from her father. He takes her to the porch and sits her down, and shares his firm lesson with his daughter. "You never really understand a person until you really consider things from his point of view... until you climb into his shoes" (Lee 39). Atticus, quite plainly, stresses how important it is to not judge one on their appearance or on their position within the social classes. This makes Scout think more before she acts, and it puts their actions into perspective. A small town’s gossip and the power of assumption can change someone’s life in an awful way in some scenarios. One character in example, is Boo Radley. Everyone assumes he

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it”. Discuss this quote from Atticus in relation to 3 characters from the novel.

There are many different types of symbols in our world today; in English literature as well as all around us on a day-to-day basis. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird we follow a little girl, Scout, as she faces the truth about the world and its injustice. The central and most obvious symbol of this novel, as well as the title of the book, is the mockingbird. It represents the innocence and injustice in this story, represented by Tom Robinson and the events surrounding the trial, but also sets the theme of racial prejudice.

In its most popular iterations, Little Red Riding Hood is less of a fairy tale and more of a cautionary tale, warning young women against transgression lest they fall prey to “wolves,” or men who will consume them. Critic Maria Tartar characterizes the Grimms and Perrault iterations of the tale as “intent on sending a moral message” wherein there is a “frightening punishment for a relatively minor infraction” (6-7). She continues to claim that this these punishments are caused by “a heroine’s…behavioral flaws,” denoting that in this framework, a young woman’s own inability to adhere to a stricture of guidelines is the imminent cause of her suffering (6). In her poem Little Red Riding Hood, Olga Brumas makes use of the didactic, moralizing undertones

Charles Perrault’s, Little Red Cap places emphasis on the contrasting character traits of the protagonist Little Red Riding Hood and the antagonist the Wolf.

Lewis Carroll’s Alice and Frank Baum’s Dorothy are two of the most well-known and well-loved heroines of all time. At first glance, both Alice and Dorothy appear to be rather accurate renditions of actual little girls who embark on their own adventures in strange and fantastical lands. However, closer scrutiny reveals that only one of these characters is a true portrayal of what a little girl is really like, while the other is but a fulfillment of what most girls would only dream of being like.

This charming story reverses the typical roles within a children’s book. With underlying issues of stereotypes, independence and empowerment, it fills children with imagination and teaches them the importance of being strong, smart, and the realization that beauty comes from within.

Perrault did, however, append a short poem with a moral in it. The moral warns young women to beware the treacheries of men. The sources of Perrault's version are a matter of dispute, but his intended audience is not in dispute. His tales were aimed at genteel French society, not children. It is ironic therefore, that Perrault's tales, and especially "Little Red," are now considered fairy tales for children. Perrault's tale has been published both with and without the moralistic poem, but both versions are often considered inappropriate for children. Some people claim that the sudden ending -- with the eating of Red -- terrifies children. Others, of course, point to the inappropriateness of the poem's lesson in virginity for four and five-year-olds.

This shows us that the mother is already aware of Little Red Riding Hood’s curiosity and bad behaviours. She expects her daughter to forget about her sick grandmother and give into her Id, which she does. Little Red Riding Hood has the primitive mind of a baby – all Id -- guided by her needs and feelings. She does not think about the consequences of her actions and follows only one rule: “the pleasure principle”. She does not think about the outcome of her decisions in a world of reality, but instead in her own world ruled by pleasure.

Main point #1: While Perrault presents a cautionary tale on the predators that target little, innocent naive girls; Carter restructures the identities of the wolf and the girl, through using of metaphors that capture the uncertain nature of man’s beastliness and humanity and women’s virginity and sexuality.