Kristen Baranek Professor Signorotti English 300M Response #1 8/30/11 Folks & Fairy Tales Little Red Riding

Hood Reading the preface to the collection of Little Red Riding Hood style stories baffled me because it truly never occurred to me how many different versions of the tale existed, and how they differ in such interesting ways. As I began to read each authors piece, it was interesting to see details I had either never remembered from the original story I was told as a child, or never really caught onto to begin with. Delarues The Story of Grandmother made my jaw drop when almost immediately the word slut was used. It makes me wonder whom exactly these fairytales were aimed towards when written, because any childrens tale I was exposed to never involved a grandmother being murdered, blood passed off as wine, or derogatory names blasted towards a little girl. However, after the sexual innuendos and violent details, it was shocking to me that Delarues version ended in the girls safety. Perraults Little Red Riding Hood seemed the most familiar to me, and I truly got a kick out of the moral. I agree with the fact that the smooth-tongued wolves are the most dangerous beasts of all, and that is very important for little girls to learn at a young age as well as reinforce a story they have been told but may not truly comprehend the morals involved. The presence of wine being mentioned in several of the stories also struck me by surprise because I find it unusual for that to happen in a childrens story due to the taboo alcohol possesses in American society for young people. The recurring violence possesses a similar taboo, and whether it was aimed towards the wolf or the women, I still found it to be unexpected.