In order to post on our course blog, you will need to log into (or create a new) google or blogger account. If you have a gmail, blogger, or other google account, you can use your login. If you do not, or want to create one just for this class, follow the instructions given by blogger. Click on the "comment" button below to leave your blog post. Be sure to post at least one TEST blog post before your first for credit post is due. I will hand around a sign up sheet at the end of the week.You may discuss one or more of the following texts: Perrault's "Little Red Riding Hood," Grimm's "Little Red Cap," Millien's "The Grandmother," and/or Young's Lon Po Po. I suggest you type your response first in a word document and then copy and paste it into the comment box. Be sure to write your full name and word count at the bottom of your post.
Discussion Leaders: Prof. Howard AND anyone who wants to practice posting
One of the first things I noticed when reading Charles Perrault’s “Little Red Riding Hood” and Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s “Little Red Cap” was the characterization of Little Red. In Perrault’s version, she is characterized in the first paragraph as pretty, spoiled, loved, and distinguished by the clothes she wears. She is dressed up in red, which as the annotations note, brings to mind sexuality, blood, menstruation, vibrancy, danger, playfulness, and so on. In Grimm’s version, she is similarly characterized as well loved specifically because of how she is seen by others, indulged, and defined by the clothes she wears.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that in both versions the reader is introduced to the protagonist of the story through how she is perceived by others. This sets the narrator apart from Little Red. The reader does not experience the story of Little Red from her point of view, but instead from the omniscient (all-knowing) narrator’s point of view. In these stories, the narrator knows more than the character knows. Additionally, it is clear to the reader that Little Red lacks knowledge. In Perrault’s version, this is made clear by the following passage: “The poor child, who did not know that it was dangerous to stay and talk to a wolf, said to him…” Similarly, in Grimm’s version, this is made clear by the following passage: “Red-Cap did not know what a wicked creature he was, and was not at all afraid of him.” Both of these passages signal to the reader that the narrator is more knowledgeable than Little Red. The narrator is stepping outside of the story—drawing the reader’s attention out of the story—in order to interject a moral. This is the exact moment when each text becomes didactic (in other words, begins to teach a moral lesson).
Continuing this discussion of the tale’s moral lesson, both Perrault and Grimm’s versions strive to teach the readers something about the dangers of the world. In Perrault’s version of the tale the moral is clearly visible and labeled at the end of the story. Perrault’s moral warns against talking to strangers, especially if one is a small, attractive girl. Perrault warns that children, especially girls, must guard themselves against the evils of the world (especially the hidden/disguised evils), and they must do so with knowledge—knowledge of what is out there. In Grimm’s version, Little Red speaks the moral at the end of the story: “As long as I live, I will never by myself leave the path, to run into the wood, when my mother has forbidden me to do so.” Grimm’s version warns against disobedience and straying from the path—both the literal path and the metaphorical path. Grimm’s version also teaches that the child must learn from their trials. This is clear from the addition of the italicized second meeting with the wolf, in which the grandmother and Little Red learn from the previous encounter and defeat the wolf.
Questions for Discussion: How does Young’s _Lon Po Po_ repeat and/or subvert the characterization of the main characters (Little Red/Wolf)? What is the moral in Young’s version? How do the shifts that occur from the time Perrault’s version was published to the time Grimm’s version was published reflect the historical time period? How can we interpret the shift in the endings in the Perralut and Grimm versions?
Krystal Howard
Word Count: 559
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ReplyDeletetesting, testing, 1, 2, 3
ReplyDeletetesting this out
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