Blog post #1

Question 1, "Little Red Hat"

The tale “Little Red Hat” ventures a little farther off than usual from classic Red Riding Hood stories. This story is intended to strike readers with fear rather than good lessons and morals with happy endings.

"’I am going home now. You come along later and bring me some soup.’" In the beginning of the tale, there is no warning of the dangers of exploring through the woods or talking to strangers, giving mystery as to why the grandmother didn’t communicate to Little Red Hat more. Maybe the grandmother’s death was punishment for just that. 

Little Red Hat may not act differently in this tale, but the actions of the ogre bring out the stupidity in Little Red Hat more than any other tale. First off, the ogre bluntly tells Little Red Hat that he will be going to grandmother’s house too, on a separate trail.  Ogres are described at large monsters that feast on human flesh, the reason Little Red Hat wasn’t in the slightest alarmed may be to cause tension and anxiety in the reader, and also disbelief. Second, Little Red Hat cannot make judgments on her own, she relies on the answering of her ‘grandmother’ to verify that what she is eating is not harmful/sinful. And even then, the ogre never lies to her; he tells Little Red Hat the truth the whole time, however, she doesn't quite hear him or doesn’t believe what she hears and continues on anyway, following his orders to eat, drink, and keep quiet. I feel like this is trying to teach the reader to be more aware and alert of ones surroundings. 

Question 2, "The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck"

In ‘The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck’ by Beatrix Potter, there are numerous cases of external and internal conflicts which push meaning into the story. The tale begins with a description of external conflict, “…the farmer’s wife would not let her hatch her own eggs.”  From this quote we can see that Jemima is given a nest on a farm and every so often the farmer’s wife comes around to collect her eggs. The act of taking these eggs away from Jemima is most troubling for her, thus creating internal conflict within her. Jemima becomes insecure with the ways she nests her eggs, unsatisfied with the farm she lives at, and, feeling desperate, craves for a second home outside of the farm to raise her young.  At the conclusion of the story it is told that Jemima lays a number of eggs and four of them hatch, however, she is disappointed in the small number of hatchlings. “Jemima Puddle-duck said that it was because of her nerves; but she had always been a bad sitter.” Jemima is in denial that her sitting skills are lacking and blames the low number of hatchlings on the encounter with the evil wolf. 

Jemima may never find a safe haven outside of the farm and may never overcome her inpatient attitude while sitting (she left her nest various times, leaving the eggs in the wolf’s company), her internal conflict may never be resolved.