Blog assignment #1.
I have chosen "Little Red Hat" because the tied intestines on the door caught my attention. I think the intestines replacing the latched string symbolizes something even though the story doesn't go into much detail with it. Perhaps it represents something sexual, dirty minded. Little Red goes on to mentioning how what she is pulling is soft, and she gives out the sense like she likes it.
"Little Red Hat tried to open the door, but when she noticed that she was
pulling on something soft, she called out, "Grandmother, this thing is so soft!"." It can also be portrayed as if Little Red is innocent because she is a child and she does not know what she is doing. But then again no one is that stupid. It is hard to believe that she eats her grandmothers teeth, jaw, and drinks her blood with out knowing,cannibalism, something must have tasted odd. She must have known , either that or she must be a blond.
Another take in the story that i can conclude from is that everything had a meaning. Maybe the ogre was somewhat the devil(the punisher). The devil is tricky. The soft intestines on the door was how Red Hat was going to feel in the ogres stomach, soft. The rice teeth that she munched was how he was going to much on her, and the meat jaw she ate was maybe how he was going to chew her up with his jaw. The blood she drank was the blood that soon would be Little Reds bloods dripping from his jaw. So he tricked her into eating her grandma and now she must be eaten.(Just a thought.)
There indeed is an internal conflict with Little Red. Throughout the visit in her grandmothers house she senses that something is wrong and she asks so many questions. She knows there is something wrong with the food she swallows, but immediately discourages it. She states that the rice teeth is hard,"Grandmother, these things are very hard!" and that the grandmothers jaw meat is so red,"Grandmother, this is very red!". Red questions her fake grandma because she feels like there is something not right but at the same time she isn't sure. The ogre helps her loose her internal conflict by calming her down. "Eat and keep quiet!" is the phrase he repeats over and over again. Red Hat definitely knows something is wrong when she gets into bed with the ogre. "Grandmother, you are so hairy!"
"That comes with age," said the ogre.
"Grandmother, you have such long legs!"
"That comes from walking."
"Grandmother, you have such long hands!"
"That comes from working."
"Grandmother, you have such long ears!"
"That comes from listening."
By the time she asks her last question,"Grandmother, you have such a big mouth!", it is too late to turn back because he answers"That comes from eating children!". This is when she looses her internal battle.
Kiara,
ReplyDeleteYou write, " I think the intestines replacing the latched string symbolizes something even though the story doesn't go into much detail with it." I certainly agree with you. Though I'm much less familiar with this version, I'd suggest they could symbolize the "insides" of someone/something showing despite a neat/clean/nice exterior. Since she notes its soft but doesn't actually NOTICE what it is, we've got a pretty implication that she, at the very least, doesn't pay attention to her surroundings.
This is true: "It is hard to believe that she eats her grandmothers teeth, jaw, and drinks her blood with out knowing,cannibalism, something must have tasted odd. She must have known , either that or she must be a blond." However, I'd suggest not thinking about it quite so literally, since many fairytales don't make much sense when interpreted at the literal level.
You write, "Red questions her fake grandma because she feels like there is something not right but at the same time she isn't sure." This is certainly an internal conflict, and this process could be interpreted as a conscious/unconscious dynamic: she already knows the truth subconsciously, but she can't allow herself to know it on a conscious level (doing so would likely destroy her, so it's a basically a defense mechanism). Or, perhaps it's that the consequences for ignoring one's gut/little voice are dire.
This is an interesting idea: "The ogre helps her loose her internal conflict by calming her down." Good observation. Perhaps it suggests that a woman is by nature rather hysterical and "needs" the logic of a man to calm her down?