Mario Gomez: The Wolf Inside (And Out)

We can look at almost any fairy tale or book or story and come to some conclusion that the characters are metaphoric for something. In particular, Little Red Cap by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, we see the antagonist as the wolf and the protagonist as Little Red Riding Hood (Cap). Now metaphorically speaking, these characters can represent a lot of things. For instance, one might say that the wolf is a predator and must seek out his prey. Now tie that with little red riding hood being a cute innocent little girl and now one might go to the extreme and say the wolf is a molester or rapist and is out to kidnap this child. I think its pretty crazy because even in the bible, Mathew 7:15, he writes to be aware of the people in sheeps clothing because inwardly they are like wolves. And in life, we would never really know someone is a molester or rapist until it’s too late. Now me personally, I believe that the wolf can actually be broadened into the sense that he exemplifies human struggles. In other words, the things that we deal with in life are kind of like that wolf.

In the Little Red Cap, basically in a nut shell, the wolf eats grandma, Little Red Riding Hood comes and gets eaten up as well and then a lumberjack comes and gets his knife out and rescues them from the wolf. It’s a kids story, so there has to be happy ending. Unlike Charles Perrault version where they both get eaten and die and that is the end. So the point of the happy ending is to show that in life, we are given second chances. Going back to metaphoric reasoning, If you do something you’re not suppose to at work or do something wrong, you don’t get fired right away. Rather, you just get written up. Also to add, Grimm’s version also continues on about how there is a second wolf on the way, so grandma and little red riding hood have to come up with something to stop him from eating them. What I love about most about this ending is now it show WHAT they are going to do deal with the wolf. As a teacher, I would totally love to come up with a kids assignment where the kid gets to come up with their own idea of what they would do knowing the second wolf is coming. What would they come up with? And I would go to the extreme and tell them that they can do whatever they want. I would then see how many of them would decide to kill the wolf, lock the wolf up, or maybe something completely different. It would make for a great discussion.

To sum up, I think that we all have our own wolves that we have to deal with in life. For me, that wolf would be the wolf of distractions. To easily am I getting caught up with things that are keeping me from helping me become the person I want to be. What it comes down to is how are we going to deal with it? How are you going to deal with the wolves that cross your path?