Symbolism in the Stories
Little Red Riding Hood
Psychological/Sexual Innuendos
- The disarming ability of nakedness, vulnerability
- "Huge, Ah Huge" pg1090 p50
- "All the better to hug you with" -- Cuddling
- Unbroken egg
- sealed vessel
- magical space
- plug of membrane
- "The fall"
- "nobody's meat" pg1092 p82
The "Red"
Portrayal of Woman/Girls
- Perrault:
- Helpless
- Naive
- Lack of experience
- Grimm Brothers:
- Socialable
- Sweet Young Thing
- Naive
- Capability of deciding, but dumb
- Carter
- "youngest of her family"
- fair
- afraid of nothing
- independent
- Wise Child
- All things intense and passionate
- Blushing
- Coming of age
- Virginity / sexual development-- "Spilling Blood" pg1091 p64
- Good Red:
- "Cheeks are an emblematic scarlet" pg1088 p24
- Bad Red:
- "...her scarlet shawl....the color of sacrifices..." pg1091 p69
Significance of the wolves being men
- Animalistic Abilities (stereotyped towards men)
- Dominance
- Wild
- Untamed
- Carnivore
- Relatable: sociable, prideful, adaptable, cunning, smart
Making the Familiar...Unfamiliar
- little red riding hood is a childhood story
- Children take everything to be literal, for example the wolf
- But when you're older, you understand symbolism, the story means much more psychologically and sexually
Similarities
The Importance of Symbolism
Differences
English 102
- Main Messages:
- All lessons for adolescent girls/women to learn
- Stereotype of men being aggressive
- The girl/woman in all the versions is beautiful, innocent, and unafraid
- The girl/woman in all the versions veers off the "path"
- To understand meaning of otherwise simple ideas to complex ideas.
- To make things that are normally unacceptable seem acceptable.
- Adds more depth to relevant concepts.
- Can make ideas a "physical" property
- Main Messages:
- Perrault: Warns us not to trust strangers
- Grimm Brothers: Emphasize how important it is to stay on trails
- Carter: Everything you do is your own choice
- Veering off "path":
- 1st: accident (naive)
- 2nd: tricked by the wolf
- 3rd: dawdles on purpose
- Use of symbols
Perspective
Thesis
- Character Perspective Change:
- Perrault: Good --> Bad
- Grimm Brothers: Good --> Bad --> Good
- Carter: Bad --> Good
- Our Perspective Change:
- first time read:
- Don't talk to strangers
- people aren't always who they seem to be
- Now:
- sexually charged
- coming of age: individual choices
- the wolf (as a concept) is dynamic
- Symbolism is a way of expressing things that are considered unacceptable in society an acceptable way
- Specific to this story: Symbolism is used to express human capabilities/raw human instincts