Little Red Riding Hood: The Classic Fairy Tales

Paper #1 – Little Red Riding Hood In The Classic Fairy Tales, Bruno Bettelheim states that Little Red Riding Hood’s failure to fight back or to resist in any way led him to declare “that the girl must be stupid or she wants to be seduced” (4). Similar statements have been used to describe rape victims for many years, regardless of their actions and appearances. In many versions of “Little Red Riding Hood”, Little Red has been described by authors as “a pretty village girl” and “a dear little girl” (3). However, she has also been described by Zack Zipes as “forthright, brave, and shrewd” (4). The describes of Little Red vary between stories, but nearly every time the outcome is the same; the grandma is eaten, the wolf replaces her, Little Red is tricked, and the wolf eats her. On rare occasions, Little Red out wits the wolf or a hunter saves both the grandma and Little Red; much like how on rare occasions a potential rape victim can escape on her own or how a passerby can help rescue her. According to Bruno Bettelheim, in the original “Little Red Riding Hood” stories, Little Red is depicted as “a naïve, young girl, who is induced to neglect her Mother’s warnings and enjoy herself in what she consciously believes to be innocent ways” (4-5). This statement shows that society strongly believes that if a woman follows the “guidelines” that …show more content…
Examples of this are perfectly depicted in Roald Dahl’s and James Thurber’s versions of “Little Red Riding Hood”. In Roald Dahl’s version “Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf”, Little Red does not succumb to the wolf, instead saying, “But Grandma, what a lovely great big furry coat you have on” (22). Because of Little Red’s statement, the wolf angrily reveals himself and attempts to eat her, however Little Red pulls out a pistol and shoots the wolf in the