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Destinee Garcia – Once Upon A Time: Snack Edition

Destinee Garcia – Once Upon A Time: Snack Edition

If you ask anyone they are most likely able to summarize “Little Red Riding Hood”. This fairy tale deals with bad consequences from a naive girl befriending a wolf and resulting in him eating her. The message that surrounds the story is to not talk to strangers. Many parents or elders share this story to warn children from the danger that strangers can impose on us. Besides the obvious “Stranger Danger” warning there are many other mixed messages.

In Little Red Riding Cap by Grimm, after the girl and the grandmother were eaten they were found by a huntsman. After the huntsman cut open the wolf he was hunting, he found both ladies were alive in the wolves belly. Since they were free. they decided to plot revenge on the wolf. I think this ending of the story portrays the ideal of karma. Karma is defined as “the sum of a person’s actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences.” That since the wolf ate them, he must face the same consequence or worse. Today, most time when we are hurt mentally and physically by people we hope that “karma gets them”. It implies that forgiveness is not the way to respond to actions but to hope karma finishes the work. Sometimes taking that manner into your own hands is evident too. The story ends with “He slid off the roof, fell into the trough, and drowned. And Little Red Cap returned home happily and safely.”, by Little Red Riding Cap returning home happily just shows that we are not truly happy until the person hurting us is hurt as well.

Little Red Riding Hood by Charles Perrault posts this footnote after the story to give the reader some more depth on the stories message. “Moral: Children, especially attractive, well bred young ladies, should never talk to strangers, for if they should do so, they may well provide dinner for a wolf. I say “wolf,” but there are various kinds of wolves. There are also those who are charming, quiet, polite, unassuming, complacent, and sweet, who pursue young women at home and in the streets. And unfortunately, it is these gentle wolves who are the most dangerous ones of all.” As I read this I am very surprised to see how a young lady who is on her way to take her grandmother some goods is over sexualized and deemed prey for the wolves in this world. Because she is an attractive person she’s automatically a males dinner. In this society, that is very evident in terms of rape culture. Some people blame rape on the victim and the clothes they were wearing or because they were sexy they had it coming. This story just broadens the light on how women are looked at as a snack ready to be eaten up.

In closing, I think these fairy tales give a form of entertainment with messages for the listener to learn from. In terms of Little Red Riding Hood I can take home that many versions of the story can imply different things. From karma to over sexualizing females, we can learn a lot from Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf.

3 Replies to “Destinee Garcia – Once Upon A Time: Snack Edition”

  1. I love that you brought up the strange sexualization of what most reading would consider a child. Luckily, the longer we resist these kinds of writings, metaphors, and opinions about women, the stronger and more powerful we can become. In my opinion the future is female, go lil red!

  2. Your points about karma are so interesting and I appreciate that you offer an alternative option to hoping bad things happen to people. Everyone in this story could use some counseling. Great response. I enjoyed reading this

  3. I found it very interesting reading your paragraph on the concept of karma that you found in the story of Little Red Cap. It is true that society has taught us to think that karma will get the person back for us. It is a little disappointing that this little girl paid the wolf back with the same evilness as he did to her for eating her and her grandmother.

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