Wednesday, September 9, 2009

A little thought about "Little Red Ridding Hood"


The first time I heard about a fairy tale “Little Red Riding Hood” when I was five. I have been told the story by my grandmother, the story pretty much similar to Charles Perrault’s version. A little girl called little red riding hood because she wears a red hood all the time. One day, her mother tells her to take some food to her grandmother who is sick. On the way, Little Red Riding Hood encounters a wolf who pretends to be a gentle man and talks to her friendly. Then, Little Red Riding Hood tells him where she is going. So, the crafty wolf goes ahead of her and eats her grandmother, and await for her. In the end, Little Red Riding Hood discovers her grandmother is not her real grandmother due to the wolf’s big features. Luckily, she has been survived by the woodcutter when the wolf pounces on her as well as the poor grandmother.

This is the only version of Little Red Riding Hood I have grown up with until I read Tatar’s “The Classic Fairy Tales”. Through our discussion, I realize that there are varieties of version of “Little Red Riding Hood” from different countries. In addition, those fairy tale are not only the story for entertaining people, they also leave a moral for their audiences. Now, I am going to simply examine the moral of those two typical versions of Little Red Riding Hood: Charles Perrault’s and The Brothers Grimm’s.

In 1697, the “Little Red Riding Hood” has been adapted for the late 17th century French salon culture by Charles Perrault. It warns young women to be aware of those advanced gentlemen. However, the Brothers Gimme’s version, which has been written in 19th century, attempts to teach children the importance of listening to their elders. Although the two writers have different intended audiences, they all teach their readers a principle of life. Therefore, the fairy tales have been changed much in its history, and been subjected to a lot of modern adoptions and reading, but the eventual goal of those tales are always same – to teach their audiences a moral of their life.

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