Reading Response 1

Danielle Kuschnik
Reading Response 1

Little Red Riding Hood
During the lifetime of a story being passed along from generation to generation and across
cultural lines, many times the story itself and sometimes even it’s moral may end up altered. This is the
case in the two different versions of Little Red Riding Hood, each having a different moral. The first of
the versions by Charles Perrault has a moral that women, especially attractive ones should be very
careful of whom they associate with, in many cases men may turn out to be “wolves in sheep’s
clothing”. The second version by an unknown author has a moral that when going on a new path or
even a familiar one, you should not go astray, because that is when bad things may occur.
In the first version of Little Red Riding Hood, the author Charles Perrault, adds one very
important detail to the story in the first sentence of the story. Once upon a time there lived in a certain
village a little country girl, the pretties creature who was ever seen. This small detail which may go
unnoticed at first, lays the framework for the moral of the story. The moral of the story being that
women need to be very careful with whom they come in contact with, because men especially can be
very manipulative and harmful in the end. This story also takes a different approach to how women are
viewed. Women are being, viewed as gentle, and caring, but yet naive creatures. The blame is being
completely placed on men. The wolf is a metaphor for slick and charring dominant male, who in the end
will take advantage of the naive girl and leave her broken hearted or even worse. This story is used as a
reminder to all women, to be very careful of whom you let into your life, because anyone can always
turn out to be someone different then who they say they are.
The second version of Little Red Riding Hood, by an unknown author has a bit of a different
moral and places the blame in the end on Little Red Riding Hood. The moral or this story is that in life it
is very easy and temping to go astray on the road of life and that there is always as chance of a negative
consequence occurring because of thoughtless actions. In this version the blame is placed solely on
Little Red Riding Hood, she is almost eaten because of her carelessness and curiosity. In addition to the
blame being placed on her, it is also mentioned in the story previously that she became lost in the
woods, being to consumed with looking at all of the natural beauty in the forest, ad was eventually led
back on the path by the birds. This small detail in the story illustrates the fact the Little Red Riding Hood
is involved in thoughtless actions and does not pay attention, this makes it easier in the end to place the
entire blame on the her.
In the end the stories are very similar but have very different but equally important morals, one
being to be careful of whom you associate with, because people are not always who they say they are
and the other being that in the road of life be careful not to go astray because you never know exactly
where it may lead you.

Writing can be quite a challenge at times, especially when starting out. I myself like many start up word on my laptop and start typing. The use of computer programs makes writing not only easier but it also makes writing three dimensional. Composing a paper on the computer differs from hand writing a paper, because with programs such as Microsoft word and Word Perfect you are able to type, untype, undo and move text around without scribbling out or drawling arrows all over the paper to show new ideas. With each key stroke I am reminded that my word are not something that sits on paper but something that speaks out and is easily changed.
However when I took a screenshot of my resume and uploaded it onto the blog, my resume went from three dimensional object while I was creating it, back to a two dimensional object. Another way to consider digital composing is that the writing in progress is like a painter painting a portrait. Each and every brush stroke allows the artist to change the painting as his opinions and feelings of the work change. When a panting is finally finished and hung on wall as a piece of art, the painter in now able to view his painting more objectively. For example, once the painting is finished the painter is now able to look at it at a different angle. The same principle goes for writing. When I looked at my screenshot I was able to view my resume with a fresh set of eyes, the way in which the reader sees my paper. With digital composing becoming more and more popular and new technologies being introduced every day it is very important to continually further our knowledge of digital composing. One way to better understand digital composing is through constant editing through blogs and online chats. Receiving several different opinions on a paper can provide the writer with different sets of eyes and opinions. In addition the editing process has a more constant flow and it is easier to build upon the peer reviews. With each peer review posted it allows each person in the class to respond to not only the writer’s’ paper but also to other classmates reviews about the paper. The digital editing is also more efficient, faster and easier to read then traditional hand written peer editing.
Digital composing changes a paper from a two dimensional object (a written version) to a three dimensional version while being composed on word, and even back into a two dimensional object through screen shots. Also digital composing can be better understood and further developed through blogs and online chats.