Short Story 1

Little Red Riding Hood
Brandon Picone
Ashford University Introduction to Literature
Loretta Crosson
April 8, 2013

Short Story 2 Because she dares to defy societal norms of acceptable female behavior, Little Red Riding Hood faces death at the hands of the Big Bad Wolf, who embodies patriarchy. Every short story has an overall theme which is the identified representation of the idea behind the story. In the story “Little Red Riding Hood” documented by Catherine Orenstein, the long cherished theme of not talking to strangers carries a different lesson in the original version of the story. The main characters and plot remained the same however it is not only talking to strangers that Red Riding Hood should have avoided. The two literary elements of plot and symbolism, contribute to the overall theme of not losing your virginity. The plot begins when Little Red Riding Hood’s mother tells her to take some food to her Granny who is sick. Little Red Riding Hood meets the wolf and she tells him where she is going. Along the way she runs into the “wolf” and breaks one of the cardinal rules we teach our children today,” Don’t talk to strangers”. During their conversation she ignorantly gives him the location of her grandmother’s house and various other details that open the door for the wolf to play his tricks. The wolf ran as fast as he could, taking the shortest path, and the little girl took a roundabout way, entertaining herself by gathering nuts, running after butterflies, and gathering bouquets of little flowers. It was not long before the wolf arrived at the old woman's house. He knocked at the door: tap, tap. The wolf ate the grandmother before Little Red Riding Hood got there. According to the plot, when Little Red Riding Hood entered the house, she… stripped out of her clothes, and crawled into bed. Little Red Riding Hood took off her clothes and got into bed. She was greatly amazed to see how her grandmother looked in her nightclothes, and said to her, "Grandmother, what big arms you have!"( Orenstein 2004) A moment later was brought to her death by the wolf. That is a grand alteration from the sweet fairy tale we tell our young children today. The plot supports the theme by providing the needed illustrations and inferences
Short Story 3 needed to convey the idea that the wolf is the villain of the story and Little Red Riding Hood is the “innocent” and ignorant little girl. When she meets the wolf in the forest, it is natural for him to ask her name. There are a few symbols in the story that are very relevant to ones point of view. The Red Hood symbolizes Little Red Riding Hood as being all "grown up". She is at the point of entering adult hood. She was grown up enough to go out on her own to her grandmother's house. Little Red Riding Hood set out immediately to go to her grandmother, who lived in another village (Orenstein 2004). Red is often used to symbolize love, maturity, source of life, and passion. Because she is cloaked in it from her head, she is covered in the color of maturity. She is ready to enter womanhood. The forest symbolizes the “unknown.” It can also stand for the world, or society in which Little Red Riding Hood must go to begin her new life as a woman. The forest is a place of mystery and danger. As for Little Red Riding Hood, straying from the path and into the woods is similarly dangerous and filled with treachery. Symbolically, those who lose their way in the uncharted forest are losing their way in life, losing touch with their conscious selves and voyaging into the realms of the subconscious She must face the unknown and face its perils to get to her mentor (Granny) who will give her advice on how to go about setting on the road of life. I have never really read into this story like they have here. I never would have thought about the sexuality part of the story. I suppose that at a young age, you do not think about those
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Short Story 4

things. I have not read this story in some time, but can now see the inferences in the story and how they relate to the whole theme.

Short Story 5 References:
Catherine Orenstein (2004)