Blog Assignment #1

I chose the Charles Perrault version of Little Red Riding Hood because I found it interesting that it did not have a happy ending as most fairy tales do. In the end both Red Riding Hood and her grandmother die making the Wolf (the villain) win. This is different from most fairy tales as well as movies because in them it is the good guys or the innocent that live and the villains or the wicked that die. In making the villain win the story becomes much more realistic in the sense that in the real world it isn't always the good guys that win, many times the innocent suffer much more than the wicked. In the end of the story Perrault gives us the moral of the story and tells us that the wolf is a metaphor of men who lie and deceive the innocent women that they prey upon in order to get what they want without being caught. "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." In many cases the rapists or murderers aren't the scary looking men that most people imagine but they are the ones that appear normal or ordinary and thus no one has a reason to suspect them to be capable of committing such horrible crimes. This tale cautions young and vulnerable women to be aware of everyone they come into contact with especially men and to not be so naive. Just because they look good doesn't mean that they are a good person.

The internal conflict that the Wolf was going through was whether or not to eat Little Red Riding Hood right when he ran into her but he noticed that there were men nearby and knew that they would kill him if he tried. "she met with a wolf, who had a very great mind to eat her up, but he dared not, because of some woodcutters working nearby in the forest." The internal conflict that Red Riding Hood faced was whether or not to follow her instincts. When she first heard the wolf reply as her grandmother she was frightened and she knew that she did not recognize the voice but she entered anyways thinking it was because her grandmother had a cold that she sounded different. She also noticed that her grandmother looked different as well which made her ask so many questions to put her mind at ease. "Grandmother, what big legs you have!"
"All the better to run with, my child." "Grandmother, what big ears you have!" "All the better to hear with, my child." "Grandmother, what big eyes you have!" "All the better to see with, my child." The external conflict is when the wolf decides to eat Red and her grandmother.