Most people are familiar with the story of Little Red Riding Hood. There are many different adaptations of the tale, all with different interpretations. As times changed, so did the story. Two adaptations that demonstrate the changing perspectives over time are “Little Red Cap” by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm and “Company of Wolves” by Angela Carter. Although both stories have similar characters and themes, the plot contrasts and different character descriptions demonstrate how society’s views have evolved. “Little Red Cap” reflects traditional views on gender roles and women’s sexuality, while “Company of Wolves” offers a modern perspective on women’s independence and sexual curiosity. For the most part, “Little Red Cap” and “Company of Wolves” have similar characters. The grandmother, wolf, and Little Red are present in both stories and overall play the same role. The descriptions of the characters, however, vary greatly. The main difference is how Little Red is described in the two stories. In “Little Red Cap”, …show more content…
Both stories have a theme of sexuality and womanhood, though it is more obvious in “Company of Wolves.” In “Little Red Cap,” the sexual themes are used subtly. For example, the red cap can be argued to represent menstruation blood. The act of Little Red entering the forest in both stories could represent that she is entering into womanhood. Meanwhile, the wolf could represent the threat to young girl’s virginity. Although the wolf does not do any sexual acts in “Little Red Cap,” the way he is described to devour both Little Red Cap and the grandmother could be symbolic of sex or even rape. In “Company of Wolves,” readers explicitly see the sexual themes present in the story. In this story, however, Little Red is not saved and instead allows herself to be taken over by the wolf. The way the sexual themes are delivered in the stories changes the overall
Consequences, however, need not be always negative. Angela Carter’s short story ‘The Company of Wolves’ explores belonging and consequences of belonging through the reinterpretation of the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale. In Carter’s version, the Red Riding Hood character has agency unparalleled in any other telling of the tale. In the climax and resolution of the short story, the text is obviously heavily influenced by second-wave feminism (the text was written in 1979, over a decade since Germaine Greer’s groundbreaking ‘The Female Eunuch’).
Throughout the story, A River Runs Through it we see a reoccurring theme of help between the characters in the book. While the book promotes independence, it additionally addresses its probability, recommending that characters are constantly interrelated regardless of the circumstances. Norman and his family are constantly trying to help Paul with his alcohol problem but he is constantly resisting. The role he takes is insurmountable and it's quite sad to watch as his family crumbles apart around him because he won't take the help.
The society during the 14th-16th century viewed women as unimportant compared to men, which led to the belief that women were witches.
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
I would be an exceptional candidate for secretary of NHS due to my communication and organization skills. Furthermore, from my prior experience, I am very keen on communicating with every member in Junior Class Council, where I am an exec board position. Within the club, I help organize events, keep track of attendance, and organize the points in our club. The points are a way for exec board members to tally who is able to stay within the club or needs to catch up on their points. I believe this correlates to secretary because if a member is low on hours, I will send out an email to remind them of what is upcoming and to volunteer more for their hours.
“The Company of Wolves” by Angela Carter is very similar to “Little Red Riding Hood”, the little girl heading out with a basket full of liquor and goodies for her grandmother. The wolf stopping her on her way to the grandmother’s house; the wolf races to the house, eats the grandma, pretends to be the grandma and makes “Little Red Riding Hood” believe that he is her grandma. He pounces on her and tries to eat her but a hunter comes and kills the wolf and saves the grandma. The story reveals an extensive imagination by elaborating on different ideas and points of view of gender roles. Carter’s characters portray these roles very similar to the way we view gender roles today.
There are many versions of the classic story of Little Red Riding Hood and they all come with different names, details and ideas. A detail in the stories that one can see is that intelligence can end up being the saving factor in a bad situation. These stories such as, “Little Red Riding Hood” by Charles Perrault, and “Little Red Cap” by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm are all different in their own ways yet very much similar to one another in the ideas and thoughts that they produce from us as the readers. One main ideal that one might believe the authors of these stories try to convey to us might be the importance of intelligence in these stories when it comes to listening to our parents, talking to strangers, and
Perrault’s version warns against wandering away from the safety formed by civilized society. A scholar, Eric Fromm considers the red riding hood to be a “symbol for menstruation” (1), symbolizing that Little Red Riding Hood is entering puberty and therefore womanhood and in turn moving away from the guidance of her mother and grandmother. This is also understood when she forgets her mother’s warning to stay on the path, and goes off picking flowers and chasing butterflies with childlike innocence. The sexual undertones were obvious in a culture that would outcast a young woman who lost her virginity. Perrault’s story gained popularity in a time when high society parents were concerned with their children ruining their family names. This is illustrated in the end of the story where the wolf kills and eats the girl and her
Folktales has created men as the most powerful character in most stories but that does not mean always as there’s a difference in Grandmother’s tale and Little Red Riding hood. Different genders have different expectations according to their characteristics. The Red Riding Hood and Grandmother’s tale has produced ideas such as how a girl’s life is looked upon in the past and how the male has the upper hand in most situations according to the stories. This essay will argue about how the girl’s gender played a major role in the context of the story and how the wolf is represented by a male character and why the male is not always the most powerful character in all stories and the comparison
In the Grimms' version, both Red and her grandmother are eaten by the wolf, but miraculously saved by a huntsman who, instead of shooting the wolf, cuts open its belly, apparently while the wolf is still alive, in order to release first Little Red, and then her grandmother. Red then fills the wolf's belly with stones, and as a result, justice is served and the wolf dies. The moral of the Grimm's version also differs from that of Perrault. The Grimms emphasize obedience. Before she sets out, Red is given strict and fairly detailed instructions by her mother, not to stray from the path. The wolf tempts her from the path, she sins, and thus her being eaten by the wolf is often considered by critics as the punishment for her
The stories ?Little Red Riding Hood,? by Charles Perrault, and ?Little Red Cap,? by the Brothers Grimm, are similar and different. Moreover, both stories differ from the American version. The stories have a similar moral at the end, each with a slight twist. This story, in each of its translations, is representative of a girl?s loss of innocence, her move from childhood or adolescence into adulthood. The way women are treated within each story is different. Little Red in the French version was eaten; whereas in the German version, she is rescued by the woodsman, and this further emphasizes the cultural differences.
Of all the different versions of the Little Red Riding Hood, they have one common factor, which is the wolf. In the versions I have mentioned above, the wolf stays the same throughout the stories; he is very malicious and calculated. He waits for the little girl, or girls in the story of "The Chinese Red Riding Hoods," as there are three sisters whose mother left to go visit the grandmother. While the wolf was outside and overheard the mother asking for the oldest daughter to watch for her younger sisters. When it was dark, he disguised himself as an elderly woman and knocked at the door of the three girls' house (Chang 1). In the other two versions, the wolf comes upon Little Red Riding Hood as she enters the forest and asks her where she is traveling to. In the version of The Brothers Grimm, he comes right on out and asks her where her grandmother lives. On the way to the cottage, the wolf distracts the girl by asking her why she doesn't look
Red Riding Hood by the Grimm Brothers may be a bedtime story for little children, but I have always known that there was more to this story than it lets on. It seems too dark to just be a lesson about listening to your parents. Upon reading it again at the age of seventeen, however, I can finally see other possible meanings to the classic tale. The one that screamed out at me the most: rape.
This is no lapse in consistency by Carter; the carnivorous wolf may be a man that has even worse intentions for the flesh. The narrator warns, "If you spy a naked man among the pines, you must run as if the Devil were after you" (2234). Since the man is naked, his true nature, which is more frightening than a wolf, is revealed. Carter metaphorically emphasizes the danger of women being deceived by the false appearance men present in action and personality. Red Riding Hood is deceived by the friendly, handsome hunter: letting her guard down, she allows him to accompany her through the woods while "laughing and joking like old friends" (2235).
In Carol Ann Duffy’s “Little Red Cap,” taken from her collection The Worlds Wife, Duffy incorporates her feminist views on life to help develop Red-Cap’s character into an independent woman. In her work, Duffy intends to illuminate for the audience that woman are more powerful than they are perceived by society. In the poem, she writes about a young girl at the peak of her childhood, who is about to enter into the next phase of her life. The young, inexperienced girl describes the beginning of her transformation into adulthood after losing her innocence to “The Wolf.” The loss of her innocence contributes to the realization that she no longer needs an old, no good wolf. She gains the courage and reflects on how her life changes dramatically after her departure from the wolf. The poem “Little Red-Cap," written in The World’s Wife, closely relates to certain aspects of the original fairy tales written by The Grimm Brother and Charles Perrault. Duffy’s version of “Little Red Cap” is a rewrite of the original fairy tale “Little Red Riding Hood.” Duffy incorporates her strong feminist views by allowing Red-Cap to initiate her encounter with the wolf and to use him for gaining knowledge for her career and sexual desires. These aspects contribute to the development of Red-Cap’s character into a more independent woman to contradict the oppression of women in the past and present generations, and allowing her to offer suggestions for women in the future.