Little Red Riding Hood has long been a childhood favorite. Most people have heard the story about a young girl who is confronted by a wolf when going to visit her grandmother. What some of us might not realize, or simply may have never thoroughly considered, is that this popular fairytale explores some very deep, and somewhat dark, human struggles. Parents will often use this story as a lesson to their children to “not talk to strangers”, but why is Little Red always portrayed as a girl? If it was really just meant to be a story warning children about talking to strangers then why is there not more gender diversity. This is because this story focuses on gender inequality and the fact that girls more often than boys are targeted by male predators. Both of which are issues that are still very prominent in society today.

A very common stereotype about women is that they are naive and overly kind. This can be seen throughout the majority of the stories we read with Little Red being welcoming and warm to the wolf by telling him what she is up to and where she is headed. In the Brother’s Grimm version of the story, the wolf was easily able to trick the girl by pointing out flowers to her. Flowers tend to be associated with females, so of course they would be able to distract a little girl from her task. This expresses that at the time, and even today, girls are seen as innocent and too trusting. In the same version of the story, Little Red ends up having to be saved by a brave huntsman. The man rescues the grandma and the girl and is seen as the hero. This is how society sees men a lot of the time. They are the big, strong men who can help the damsel in distress and save the day. Even if this is not the case for all men and women, it is the gender stigma today.

We also need to closely examine the other reason a girl is seen as the target. The sad reality is that girls grow up having to learn to be cautious of men. Wolves truly can be anyone, as Charles Perrault wanted to express in his version of the story. Most women have heard throughout their lives that they should not dress a certain way to draw unwanted attention to themselves, they should not ever walk alone, or they should find a man who can keep them safe. Unfortunately that is how society is today; and women do feel the need to be cautious of men, especially strangers. Sexual assault is a very important issue being discussed hugely today, though it has always been a thing, hidden within the pages of a cautionary child’s tale. I do not want to imply here that women are at all fragile or helpless. Not all of the Little Red stories thought so, either. I think it is important to bring attention to James Thurber’s version of the story while discussing this issue. Though the little girl did still tell the wolf where she was going, she realized very quickly that he was not her grandmother, and, not only that, she pulled out an automatic and shot him. This portrays girls in a more wary, intelligent, and brave light, which most women are nowadays.

All versions of the story held deeper knowledge about societal issues and explored them in their own way. That is what is nice about fairytales. They can seem innocent and “fun”, while still providing an important message.  Stories such as these allow us to bring attention to relevant societal problems in a lighter tone that can often spread farther because it is simply a “child’s tale”.

1. Hello, everyone! My name is Annabelle Taylor and I am a junior this year. I am from Paradise, CA, so I am local to Northern California and have been my whole life. Eventually I hope to see myself moving to Southern California and teaching primary school there. Careers in education run in my family. My grandmother was an elementary school teacher, then my mom after her. My dad was a high school teacher before he moved to being a principal, and now he is the Director of Human Resources for the Paradise Unified School District. My brother is currently a high school math teacher, as well, and my older sister is in schooling to become an agriculture teacher. Clearly, I am not the only one in my family with a love for making a difference in young people’s lives. Something to know about me is that my family is the most important thing in my life for me. We are all very close and I am beyond grateful for that. I have an older brother, an older sister, and a younger sister, not to mention a really adorable puppy named Koda. I also love reading, but don’t get the chance to do it often, so I am really looking forward to having a class where it is the primary task.
2. When I hear that someone is a “reader”, I think of them as being someone who makes reading a priority. They are the types of people to get lost in a book and enjoy making trips to the bookstore. I understand that all people can be readers and most all people read regularly, but that doesn’t mean they enjoy it necessarily or are willing to set time aside in the day for it. I used to read for joy a lot more than I do now. Mostly I read Instagram posts and Snapchat articles. I also spend a lot of time reading street signs or classroom boards, but I don’t always recognize that as reading. It is such a common daily routine that it can be easy to forget that we are always constantly reading. When I get the chance to, I still love being able to get lost in a good book. I don’t read the same outside of school as I do inside of school. When I read for pleasure, I don’t like to over-analyze a book. It makes me lose the joy of reading because it begins to feel more like a chore than something fun to do. That is why when I read outside of class I tend to pick books that don’t require a lot of analyzing to be able to appreciate and understand them. Inside class it’s a different story. Most the books I read for school are big textbooks with lots of fancy words that require a lot of extra time and re-reading, so they are very different from what I would normally choose. Whichever instance I am reading in, I am still reading. This is a big point Williams tried to make. We are all readers, we just might be different kinds. Another big take-away for me was how Williams mentioned that we should not base how good readers are on how fast they can read. Someone may be able to read incredibly fast, but not comprehend a thing of what they just read. Meanwhile, another student may take their time reading because they are analyzing and attempting to understand what they are reading. Both people would be considered readers, just different types, which should be recognized.