The tale of Little Red Riding Hood is a story that addresses two big ‘struggles’ as Coles claims that we have faced as a society for centuries. Coles claims that these “…stories…broaden(ing) and even heighten(ing)…our struggles,” and he’s right. Little Red Riding Hood is a tale meant to teach a lesson to all children about the bad intentions that some people may have and comes to show how society perceives women and the sexism our society faces. 

As an overly protective older sister I have always told my brothers to not talk to strangers. Not necessarily to avoid them but to merely just be cautious of what they tell people who they do not know. Little Red Riding Hood tales do the same thing but in different ways. This little girl who is given a task and is expected to obey and follow instructions (more likely to make a point across and give authority to a parent or guardian) and then finds herself in some trouble when the bad ‘guy’ in this case the wolf asks where she is going and she tells him. Children are innocent and since they are younger they do not yet know that sure enough not everyone has good intentions and some may even want to purposely harm them just like the wolf does in the story. The wolfs intentions were bad from the beginning he’s hungry and he has one goal; to eat the child. The lesson to be learned in this tale of not following instructions and learning that not everyone is good is described in the tale Little Red Cap by Brothers Grimm “Never again will you stray from the path and go into the woods, when your mother has forbidden it.” 

In several of these different versions of Little Red Riding Hood another issue that is indirectly addressed is the way society has viewed woman for centuries. Girls(women in general) are often perceived as eye candy; “If you set eyes on her you could not but love her” Little Red Cap by Brothers Grimm. Which then leads me to the next point about sexism. The wolf is bad and it is implied that he is male but why is that? Why is Little Red Riding Hood the naive, pretty little girl who is expected to obey and listen and why is the wolf implied to be a male who is automatically bad and dangerous. As seen in this version of the story Little Red Riding Hood by Charles Perrault “He threw himself on the good woman and devoured her in no time…” Both men and women can be evil and not good people but why is the man automatically the dangerous, harmful one. What message do we indirectly give the little boys who read/get read this story ‘when you grow up you’ll probably be a bad guy and the girls are automatically the good and pretty ones’? In a perfect world I’d be much happier if little boys would not be told that they are indirectly evil and have bad intentions with every “pretty” girl that they too can be nice, kind and always have respect for the opposite gender as well as for themselves. There is bad people everywhere, not everyone has genuinely good intentions. That’s something I try and communicate to my brothers as they get older; that the world will not treat you better just because you are a good person.  

Good evening loves! My name is Lizbeth Arevalo but I go by Liz I’m 19 and this is my third year at Chico State and I am a local. I was born in a very small town in the state of Michoacan, Mexico I was brought to the U.S. when I was 6 months old but I was raised here in Chico. Chico, is all I have ever known I visit Mexico here and there but when I think of home I think of Chico. Home is where the heart is and my heart, soul and spirit is my family. Everything that I am, everything that I have is thanks to them. I am the oldest of four and the only girl. They say that oldest sibling always has it harder and I can definitely relate to that. I started Kindergarten knowing, no English whatsoever my parents only speak Spanish and I learned as I went. I clearly remember coming home and having questions about my homework and crying to my parents because there was no one I could ask for help. I struggled a lot with the English language growing up, I did however have an amazing support system; my teachers. I have come across the most amazing teachers, thanks to them I have come this far into my educational career. My three younger brothers, are my children. I have two boys in high school (Go Vikings!) and one in first grade. I’m the one who speaks to the teachers during parent conferences, who volunteers etc. My parents work, they work a lot so I am their right hand. They are obviously involved but the language barrier that I went through when I was growing up is no longer there because now I am able to interpret and be involved. I now work part time at Tea Bar & Fusion Cafe; I love my job and my coworkers and attend school full time. Throughout the semester; I’ll be relating a lot to the struggles I’ve had with my boys’ educational careers as well as mine. I am a total Mom. I don’t go out much if at all, when I have spare time (rare but occasionally) I nap and I eat. I go hiking with my brothers, I tell my parents jokes and I dance it out when I’m stressed. I believe that in this world where there is so many different choices you can make for yourself; we should be kind to one another. I chose to smile, to laugh and to love.

To be a reader to me means is someone who is able to read and comprehend whatever it is they have just read. I read a lot of emails, posts on social media, order tags when I am at work(lots and lots of those), text messages and lyrics. I do read differently outside of school, there somethings that I merely glance at and when it’s school related I dive deep into the reading. Like at work, I see the first three words and I automatically start making the order I don’t have to sit there and stare at it and then start making it unless there is a modification in which case it shows up in red and I take 20 seconds more and boom orders out. My outside of school reading does relate to school for example when I read with my 6 year old brother I read children’s books and when my brothers have questions about a novel they’re reading I read those too. From the Williams article I stand by his argument that we all have very different definitions of how to identify a “reader” teachers as well as a society in general. My favorite princess growing up and to this day is Belle I love her. My face as a little girl was always shoved in a book; reading was so helpful when I was learning to speak English. It was a key factor to my reading, writing and speaking skills. Any one can read, it’s being able to interpret and comprehend what you just read that makes all the difference in my opinion.