Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Prompt #3 LRRH
Ronald Dahl's version "Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf" where Little Red Riding Hood shoots the wolf in the head because she knows that it is not granny, only works because of the prior knowledge of the original story that everyone knows. Because if this version were the 1st and original then it would not have caught on and been a story that people would enjoy telling their children. The Grimms version is a story with a moral that teaches children to not stray from the path and never disobey your mother. The Dahl version is more of a social commentary of how there is no longer woods and helpless little girls roaming around. Instead we live in a world with weapons and smart and educated young ladies that can take care of themsleves and not be taken advantage of by older men. Dahl empowers Little red riding hood and gives her a gun to shoot the wolf in the head in order to prove that she is above silly tricks and games.
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I guess I'm just missing the point of how giving someone a gun is empowering them. In my opinion, the author is already empowering Hood by giving her the common sense to see that a wolf looks nothing like her grandmother and instead of falling victim to the wolf she has the sense to kill the wolf. To me, the gun is not what is empowering Hood but rather the new knowledge that she has acquired in the evolution of this story.
ReplyDeleteI agree that giving someone a gun doesn't necessarily empower them, but I do think that women empowerment was a part of this version. No matter what the weapon is, LRRH killing the wolf instead of having to wait for a man to save her is enough for me to understand the long way women have come socially.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I like the part about the lack of "helpless little girls running around." Although I'm pretty sure there are helpless girls running around, I like the added point that young ladies can take care of themselves.
So, do you think that this story is intended for an audience of children?
I also agree that there is a sense of empowerment in this version compared to the Grimm's tale, as LRRH is not a silly, innocent, young girl.
ReplyDeleteAlso like Anna, I wonder about the question of audience with Dahl's version. The style of his writing is very childlike, yet I don't know if I would read a child any story involving guns and murder. Perhaps Dahl's version of the story is a critique of fairy tales or children's literature in general. I sense a satirical tone about how we present children with these neat, cute stories, yet they are so far from reality and what can happen in our harsh world.