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.