Fairy tales grow from the life experience and the imagination of a particular group of people. They meet four basic human needs; explain mysteries, articulate fears and dreams, impose order and also entertain. Each tale consists of a theme that goes beyond the scope of the story while using the story as a foundation and a motifs or subject matter. Within the Little Red Riding Hood tales the motif of naivety or the loss of naivety prevails. In three different versions of the tale, the Little Red Riding Hood characters naivety is developed in three very different ways. In the Perrault version, the protagonist exhibits naivety from start to finish with no middle ground. The Delarue tale presents a protagonist that loses her naivety through the
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The epitome of naivety is portrayed in Charles Perrault 's “Little Red Riding Hood”. Little Red Riding Hood is described as a “pretty little girl whose mother adored her, and her grandmother adored her even more” (Perrault). This description has a syrupy sweet quality that depicts a fragile, coddled child who was raised naive to the happenings of the world outside her home. Confirmation of this occurs when she meets the wolf as “The poor child did not know how dangerous it is to chatter away to wolves” (Perrault). The protagonist blindly answers all the wolf 's prying questions and relays all the information he needs to outsmart her, which really was not that hard to do. In her world everyone is nice to her, no one wanted to harm her. This naivety runs so deep she even allowed this stranger to dictate the path she would take to her grandmothers house, “I will take this road and and you shall take that road and let 's see who can get there first” (Perrault). Upon arrival, though seeing things are amiss Little Red Riding Hood innocently continues to comply and in the end, “the wicked wolf threw himself upon Little Red Riding Hood and gobbled her up...” (Perrault). The protagonist 's protected upbringing left her unprepared for the dangerous world outside. However, not all Red Riding Hood characters are so effortlessly lead to their …show more content…
In Patricia McKissack 's version of the Little Red Riding Hood tale entitled “Flossie and the Fox”, the reader is introduced to Flossie a young ill-educated little girl who is sent by her grandmother to deliver eggs to “Miz Viola” (McKissack). Early in the tale it is easily assumed that Flossie is a naive little girl as she asks her grandmother “How do a fox look? I disremember ever seeing one” (McKissack). Unsure what a fox actually looked like, when the protagonist encounters an unknown critter she faced him head on, “ nodding a greeting the way she had been taught to do” (McKissack). In this tale the critter is forthcoming that he was indeed a fox expecting to invoke fear in the mere child as he is accustom. “I aine never seen a fox before. So, why should I be scared of you...” (McKissack). Through her language, Flossie showed that though young and seeming naïve she was street smart and did not give him the conditioned response that fed the foxes over inflated confidence. Despite his adamant attempts to prove to her that he is truly a fox, Flossie denies him comparing him to small insignificant animals such as a rabbit, rat and Squirrel. By causing the foxes confidence to falter, Flossie successfully has the fox so discombobulated that he did not realize he was actually the one in danger. Instilled with the knowledge that there is dangers in the world, Flossie unlike
The epitome of naivety is portrayed in Charles Perrault 's “Little Red Riding Hood”. Little Red Riding Hood is described as a “pretty little girl whose mother adored her, and her grandmother adored her even more” (Perrault). This description has a syrupy sweet quality that depicts a fragile, coddled child who was raised naive to the happenings of the world outside her home. Confirmation of this occurs when she meets the wolf as “The poor child did not know how dangerous it is to chatter away to wolves” (Perrault). The protagonist blindly answers all the wolf 's prying questions and relays all the information he needs to outsmart her, which really was not that hard to do. In her world everyone is nice to her, no one wanted to harm her. This naivety runs so deep she even allowed this stranger to dictate the path she would take to her grandmothers house, “I will take this road and and you shall take that road and let 's see who can get there first” (Perrault). Upon arrival, though seeing things are amiss Little Red Riding Hood innocently continues to comply and in the end, “the wicked wolf threw himself upon Little Red Riding Hood and gobbled her up...” (Perrault). The protagonist 's protected upbringing left her unprepared for the dangerous world outside. However, not all Red Riding Hood characters are so effortlessly lead to their …show more content…
In Patricia McKissack 's version of the Little Red Riding Hood tale entitled “Flossie and the Fox”, the reader is introduced to Flossie a young ill-educated little girl who is sent by her grandmother to deliver eggs to “Miz Viola” (McKissack). Early in the tale it is easily assumed that Flossie is a naive little girl as she asks her grandmother “How do a fox look? I disremember ever seeing one” (McKissack). Unsure what a fox actually looked like, when the protagonist encounters an unknown critter she faced him head on, “ nodding a greeting the way she had been taught to do” (McKissack). In this tale the critter is forthcoming that he was indeed a fox expecting to invoke fear in the mere child as he is accustom. “I aine never seen a fox before. So, why should I be scared of you...” (McKissack). Through her language, Flossie showed that though young and seeming naïve she was street smart and did not give him the conditioned response that fed the foxes over inflated confidence. Despite his adamant attempts to prove to her that he is truly a fox, Flossie denies him comparing him to small insignificant animals such as a rabbit, rat and Squirrel. By causing the foxes confidence to falter, Flossie successfully has the fox so discombobulated that he did not realize he was actually the one in danger. Instilled with the knowledge that there is dangers in the world, Flossie unlike