Little Red Riding Hood
The story of "Little Red Riding Hood" was first written by Charles Perrault in 1729. He established the story from an oral folktale that originated in France. The origination of the oral folk story has been theorized to come from the witch persecutions that were being performed in France in the 1600s (Perrault web site?). Since the origination of this tale to the present time, there have been many different versions and re-writes. I intend to discuss and explore many of these versions to compare the symbolisms and morals of then and now. One form of symbolism that has not changed at all, during this stories lengthy trip is Little Red Riding Hood representing good and innocents. The version originating from London in 1823 describes her as "so good-natured, so sweet of temper, and so ready to oblige; and, besides, never missed her prayers twice or thrice a day (Marshall)". Little Red Riding Hoods representation of good and innocents is one of the key facts that have kept this story around through the years. The wolf representing evil is another key fact that has remained constant over the passing of time. There have been numerous changes to the way the wolf is presented but the over all symbolism has not altered. Some o
One of the more recent versions removes all the violence inflicted on the "good" side of the story and shifts it over to the wolf. In the 1916 version the "big grey wolf" hides granny in the closet, then when he's about to eat Little Red Riding Hood the front door swings open and one of the woodsman kills him with his axe (Gruelle). I believe this fairytale is efficient enough to teach the youth of any era or society that it is in their best interest to obey their parents or any authority figure. The moral of the story may have changed to fit the current time or place; it has changed from obey your parents, to say your prayers, don't talk to strangers, but the bottom line of all these morals are if you're good, good things will happen to you. The original version may have been a bit uncouth in having the wolf eat both granny and Little Red Riding Hood but even today's version still gets the point across. Another moral in all the versions of Little Red Riding Hood is not to talk to strangers. This ethical lesson plays a very important role in today's society. Everyday you hear on the news of young children being abducted by strangers. In this story, if Little Red Riding Hood had chose not to talk to the wolf, he would never have known where her Grandmother lived thus eliminating his entire plot for having both Litt
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Approximate Word count = 899
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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