Little Red Riding Hood

1. Little Red Riding Hood From earthy, sexual melodrama to heavy-handed moral tale

2. Expression of deep antagonism against men and sex? (Erich Fromm) Has the story been passed down primarily from women to women? Does the story portray men as ruthless, cunning animals who change the act of sex into a cannibalistic ritual? Wolf = predator; sexually predatory man.

3. Are women superior? -Is the wolf attempting to play the role of pregnant woman? -Does the girl place stones in the wolf’s belly as a symbol of sterility? (illustration by GustaveDoré; mostlater versions of the tale omit Redgettingintobedwith the wolf))

4. Are women victims of male violence? (Susan Brownmiller) Women are victims of male violence even as they must position themselves as beneficiaries of male protection? Note that male characters are symbols of male sexual desire or male governance; they destroy or rescue. Of course, in oral versions of the story, the girl is able to fend for herself. Is the story a parable of rape? Or rebirth as the girl who allowed herself to be tempted is reborn different girl. Is the wolf the male counterpart to the female witch?

5. Red Modern analysts: Red is the color of blood, passion, sin, sexuality Red Riding Hood is no longer an innocent seduced by the wolf; she is complicit in her own symbolic seduction. Perrault introduced the color red to the story. Is she wearing a cap or a hood? Erich Fromm considered the hood to represent menstruation (coming of age). Early versions had Little Red choosing between the way of needles or the way of pins. She chooses needles. What does this mean?

6. Readings of specific lines • The mother gives her some cakes and a bottle of wine; is this a representation of holy communion which forms a counterpoint to the wolf’s offer of the grandmother’s flesh and blood? • Child’s interest in flowers; Bettelheim suggests that this is her investment in the pleasure principle. • Eating the two females; is this a symbolic double rape? A symbolic death followed by rebirth? A rewrite of biblical stories such as Jonah? Is the girl a sun swallowed by the night only to be reborn in the morning?

7. GustaveDoré Perrault adds the moral admonition at the end to not talk to strangers. The Grimms added that Red not talk to strangers. Tale moves from its sexual and horrific overtones to a moral, cautionary tale.

8. Little Red brings cakes and a bottle of wine for Grandmother. In early versions, the wolf feeds Little Red the flesh and blood of Grandmother. A connection to Christian Communion? (Illustration: Trina Schart Hyman)

9. Little Red is diverted from the path by the beautiful flowers all around. Bettelheim tells us that this is Little Red’s investment in the pleasure principle. Pleasure principle vs. reality principle (Illustration: Walter Crane)

10. Arthur Rackham “What big ears you have!” Etc. Early versions add additional body parts to increase the bawdiness. The versions always end with the teeth, though.