How Little Red Riding Hood Warns Girls to Be Wary of Meeting a Man in the Woods
Man or Wolf?
A young girl is walking alone in a forest. Shadows fall against the forest floor, darkening her path. She is miles from home and miles from her destination when she comes across a wolf.
Her mother told her not to speak to strangers, especially wolves and not to stray from the path, but the wolf seems quite kind and even charming. He tells her where some pretty flowers are and asks her where she is going. “To my grandmother’s,” she says. Ignoring her mother’s warning, she leaves the path to pick the flowers.
When the girl arrives at her grandmother’s house her grandmother doesn’t seem quite right. Her mouth and ears and nose are all too big, but as the girl gets close enough to be sure of this, her grandmother –who is really the wolf from the woods — gobbles her up.
So many of the older versions of fairy tales have dark themes. They were not necessarily meant to be fun, escapist tales like the tamer Disney versions audiences are more familiar with today. Rather, they were meant to help prepare children for a harsh world using metaphor and fantastic elements to help soften the unsettling truths.
The story of Little Red Riding Hood is a warning to children and young girls in particular, not to stray…
