Blog Post #1-Roxy

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Question #1

The version of "Little Red Riding Hood" that I chose was the one from Poland/Austria. One of the first things that I noticed is the way that Red Hood’s mother tells her to act. While she is giving her directions to her grandmother’s house, she tells her that she must act and walk: "But be pretty behaved, and don't peep about in all corners when you come into her room, and don't forget to say 'Good-day.' Walk, too, prettily, and don't go out of the road, otherwise you will fall and break the bottle, and then poor granny will have nothing." 

It would appear that Red Hood’s mother may have a reputation that she wants to uphold, due to the fact that Red Hood must first walk through the village to get to her grandmother’s house. This arguably could reflect a society with rigid gender roles; a mother telling her daughter how she must do things, so society deems her acceptable? Furthermore, the fact that Red Hood is so gullible begs the question of Red Hood's personification of the "naive little girl". After the Wolf distracts her, he goes to Granny’s house and eats her. As we discussed in class, the wolf can clearly be a representation of perhaps a sexually lascivious (God, I love that word) man. When Red Hood is talking to the Wolf, disguised as her grandmother, she questions all the physical characteristic of the Wolf/Grandmother. Again, as discussed in class, this could be a clear indication of Red Hood's sexual curiosities, but we could perhaps also argue from the previous perspective of rigid gender roles in society and that women are meant to look a certain way. It is undoubtedly a long shot, but anything is really possible in the analysis of these tales, is it not? Furthermore, the fact that, "granny ate the cake and drank the wine which little Red Hood had brought, and became strong and well again" is ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS. Is the grandmother a raging alcoholic who goes through withdrawals and gets "sick" until she gets her wine and some food? Maybe I'm just way too cynical.

Question #2

The unspoken internal conflict within "Red Hood" is her decision to betray her mother's wishes to go directly to her granny's house "prettily" and without straying off, to which, "Red Hood said, "I will observe everything well that you have told me," and gave her mother her hand upon it." From the tale's progression, or at least what we are blatantly told, there doesn't seem to be much of a struggle at all between Red Hood's sworn promise to her mother and her decision to go frolic in the flowers. 

A few external conflicts become evident as the tale progresses. Perhaps the most blatant is Red Hood's external conflict with the Wolf when she is questioning him as to why he looks so "strange" as her granny. Whether or not there is a more innocent struggle of trying to comprehend the presence of the wolf, or a more insidious sexual struggle (which assumedly would include an internal conflict as well...?), there is a clear conflict arising between little girl and beast. Another external conflict arises between the huntsman and the wolf when he confronts him and cuts the two women free (again...ridiculous!).